Review of Slither (1973) by Bethany C — 12 Aug 2015

I have to say, I'm really not normally into gross-out horror. But this is so skillfully done, I'm glad I finally got around to watching it. There were quite a few moments I genuinely laughed out loud, so while it wasn't scary (because gross-out isn't scary to me), the combination of gross and comedy was really intelligent.

Something else I found intelligent, and I may have been seeing what I wanted to see, were the subtle feminist messages. Stuff like the teenaged girl being the only one in her family to survive because she was able to kill the worm with inherently feminine things, such as a long manicure and a hair straightener. And when the same teenage girl saves the police chief, I thought it was both funny and pointed of the film to make a point of saying the male chief would claim that victory for himself.

All in all, despite the weird premise, I didn't find the gore boring and pointless. It was funny, entertaining, and sexual metaphors actually disturbed me a little. Anytime something is done to a woman's body without her consent (including and especially when things are inserted) it reads a metaphor of rape to me, and those always disturb me. It was an excellent movie.