If I need to elaborate on that title you either ain’t had your coffee yet, or you need a refill...
I’m not completely sure what my expectations were from J.P this time around. Being the man behind the gory chainsaw-wielding slasher flick Pieces (1982), of course, I was prepared for a sick ride. But was I ready to witness a movie that could potentially make no sense whatsoever? Well, there was that one weird castration scene…
In an opening sequence that pays tribute to movies such as Jaws (1975) and Piranha (1978) – by the broadest stretch of the imagination – it quickly becomes apparent, the level of silliness we are dealing with here. But there is still a glimmer of hope.
I recently gave George McCowan’s 1972 creature feature Frogs a shredding, mostly due to how fucking dumb the characters were. As it transpires, some of the motherfuckers in this picture are even dumber. Bearing that in mind, the most crucial difference between this movie and that is that Slugs gives you the violent, blood-drenched pay-offs that Frogs does not.
It really does make the leap. Especially when you grow up hearing the usual urban legends such as strangers calling babysitters and more particularly, spiders laying eggs inside your head. This all gradually builds to a rather unnerving dinner sequence. It’s a shame that the scene wasn’t a little more reserved to make it all the more frightening, as opposed to going from zero to Total Recall (1990) in a matter of seconds, but that just wouldn’t be true to the outrageous nature of the film.
The use of snails that bite, with their teeny-tiny little fangs is a cute move. Within seconds I am thinking back to blue furry caterpillars in Labyrinth (1986) walls and racing snails carrying messengers to the Ivory Tower to see The Childlike Empress.
LAST WORDS:
At least its silliness is overshadowed by how gross it is.