Slither: HD DVD And DVD Combo Format Disc Review

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Title: Slither: HD DVD And DVD Combo Format

Region: One (Standard Definition DVD Side Only)

Genre: Dark Comedy Horror

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Gregg Henry, and Michael Rooker

Writer: James Gunn

Director: James Gunn

Feature length: 1 hour and 36 minutes

Extras: Audio Commentary With Writer/Director James Gunn and Actor Nathan Fillion, Deleted and Extended Scenes With Optional Director’s Commentary, Bringing Slither’s Creatures To Life, Slithery Set Tour With Nathan Fillion, A Making Of: The Sick Minds and Slimy Days of Slither, Gag Reel, Visual Effects Step By Step, The Gorehound Grill: Brewin’ The Blood, The King Of Cult: Lloyd Kaufman Video Diary, Who Is Bill Pardy, Universal Studios Home Entertainment Previews

HD DVD Languages: English French, and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound

DVD Languages: English, French, and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For Deaf and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Elite Red HD Case

Chapter Stops: 20

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2006/HD DVD And DVD Combo Format Release: 2006

Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

I wanted to follow-up my HD DVD review of Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s John Carpenter’s The Thing and have it online before Halloween, but was unable to do so. Still knowing that this might be the perfect companion HD DVD review for John Carpenter’s The Thing, I made it a point not to review any other optical disc titles until I had fully screened this one. Lately the horror genre has become more interesting to me than the sci-fi genre in part because of successful genre television anthologies like Nightmares And Dreamscapes From The Short Stories Of Stephen King and Showtime’s Masters Of Horror and the compelling drama interwoven into the new Showtime original series, Dexter. These are arguably the three best genre television shows to air this year. Science fiction is still my first love, but right now I really think that the horror genre is looking more exciting to me these days with the mix of classic talent from the 1970s and 1980s such as George A. Romero, David Cronenberg, Tobe Hooper, and John Carpenter almost passing the genre baton to the new generation like Guillermo Del Toro, Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, and James Gunn. Personally I find writing horror to be as difficult as writing science fiction because in my opinion, the best horror writers have the ability to truly explore what scares them on a primal level and then distill that fear into a coherent story that has a certain ring of truth to it and resonates with the reader.

Slither was both written and directed by James Gunn, who wrote the screenplay for the popular 2004 remake of Dawn Of The Dead. Gunn actually got the idea while working on the remake of Dawn Of The Dead and subsequently developed the screenplay for Slither, which was shot in Canada. The film stars Nathan Fillion (Serenity) and Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer) as well as Elizabeth Banks (The 40Year Old Virgin) and Gregg Henry (Payback) and Gunn really gets his money’s worth especially from Nathan Fillion, who plays the not always so successful, but never-the-less heroic Officer Bill Pardy and Michael Rooker as the unfortunate man who becomes the host to a sentient virus like organism that infects another host with blood red slithering slugs that enter through a victim’s mouth, killing them, and then re-animates them into flesh eating zombies that eventually all return to the master to be absorbed until the creature consumes the entire planet. Rooker brings an infantile quality to his characterization as if the alien inside that has melded with his character’s mind and body is a giant new born just learning how much fun being human could be.

The film has a nice subtext to it with a depressed deer-hunting town that suddenly becomes lively only after people start to die and then resurrect as alien controlled zombies. There is also a running theme about not taking chances whether it is not asking the woman you truly love out and then losing her to someone else or not taking a chance on a dream like the cliché bus ride to Hollywood to become a movie star. There are elements and nods to so many horror films in Slither that honestly it is hard to keep up with every single one. Despite what some might think, Night Of The Creeps was not one of the inspirations though I can certainly understand why one would think so. Gunn states that Shivers was actually an inspiration as well as John Carpenter’s The Thing and the early work of filmmakers that include Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, and so forth. The film’s sentient virus monster also reminded me of the viral extraterrestrials in Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher. The film is also at times completely implausible, like how could some people cover their mouths with their hands and prevent a slug from entering their mouth while others can’t seem to do so. Why would the slugs just decide to move on when surely enough of them could certainly overcome one or two people and there are lots of these things in the movie. Then there is a scene where a girl locks herself in a car while slugs and zombies completely cover the vehicle while zombies might not be strong enough to get in a car, a slug could most likely find a way inside the way even insects can sometimes squeeze through tight crevices or fly indoors through the smallest open space. Yet it’s all in fun and very gross so it’s easy for me to forgive these moments and at face value just go along for the ride. So overall Slither is a nice blend of horror and dark comedy with a light touch of sci-fi. Rob Zombie and Lloyd Kaufman have cameos in the film too.

With a maximum high definition resolution of 1080p where available, even at 1080i on my Toshiba HD DVD Player HD-XA1, Slither looks nothing less than stunning and it should look stunning considering this is a brand new film release to both HD DVD and DVD of a 2006 theatrical feature. I don’t recommend eating or much less drinking anything while watching it and although the film mixes gallows humor with genuine horrific moments, some scenes may give young kids nightmares. The big difference I find between a true high definition DVD image and a standard definition DVD conversion to 1080i lies in the level of detail. It’s the little things that get lost in the background whether it is the texture of one’s skin or clothes or consistency of the blood and guts, the standard definition DVD version unconverted to 1080i or even played at 480p, just does not match quality of true high definition, regardless if it is 1080i, 1080p, or 720p. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Soundtrack is also superior to the English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack found on the standard definition DVD side. Dolby Digital plus yield a higher fidelity and more enveloping soundtrack experience than simple Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. On the HD DVD side, which is an HD-15, there are also French and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Soundtracks while the DVD side, which is a DVD-9, features French and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtracks. Both versions on each side feature English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as French and Spanish Language Subtitles as options. In addition to the Universal logo screensaver that automatically will start if you pause the machine and or leave it without executing a command, new HD DVD features on this Universal Studios Home Entertainment hybrid disc include a nice bar that appears when pausing the unit and so forth that shows exactly where one is in minutes and seconds in the film and you can now bookmark your favorite scenes similar to the way Warner Home Video HD DVD titles allow one to save scenes to return to automatically for later.

The HD DVD side features an audio commentary with Writer and Director James Gunn and Actor Nathan Fillion, who phones in his commentary from Canada, but if they never mentioned it, I doubt I would have noticed. The commentary is quite screen specific and one can get a sense that Fillion and Gunn had a lot of fun making the film and are now friends. The commentary is also on the standard definition DVD side. Please note that after credits there is an extra scene as well as extra audio comments to listen to for it. The other extra value features are found only on the standard definition DVD side, which includes eight deleted scenes that can be viewed individually or as one reel (9:56) and four extended scenes that can also be viewed individually or collectively through a “Play All” features (7:14) and both feature optional audio commentary by James Gunn, who is quite candid and informative. My only caveat is if I understood correctly, Gunn mentions some scenes shot that were not used, perhaps partial sequences that I can’t go into detail about due to spoilers. I was disappointed not to find them on the disc and I was also disappointed that the film’s theatrical trailer was not included on either the HD DVD or DVD side of this combo format disc. The trailer should always be included as far as I’m concerned no matter what. So there is one less preview or one less featurette novelty that most people will only view once. Trailers are my favorite extra features and I feel all distributors should include them on any optical disc format.

Next are a series of featurettes that reveal various behind the scenes interviews with cast and crewmembers as well as production video from the set that includes A Making Of: The Sick And Slimy Days Of Slither (10:03), Bringing Slither’s Creatures To Life (18:37) There’s also a set tour with Nathan Fillion (4:41), Visual Effects Step By Step (5:04), which gives demonstrations of the various phases an effects sequence goes through between initial planning and the finished scene, a self explanatory featurette entitled The Gorehound Grill, Brewin’ The Blood (3:17), a rather goofy Who Is Bill Pardy? Featurette (5:20), a video diary with Lloyd Kaufman (8:58) and a gag reel (8:12). All of these featurettes are presented in a (1.33:1) aspect ratio with some portions letterboxed. A reel of previews for Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5, American Dreamz, and The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (1:51) appear before the main menu on the standard definition DVD side. The main menu on the standard definition DVD side is animated with motion transitions to the subsequent still frame menus and all are easy to navigate. The interactive menus on the HD DVD side, which can be activated while the film is in progress without interrupting it, works flawlessly.

Gross, but still fun to watch, Slither: HD DVD And DVD Combo Format is available at retailers now on and offline courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

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