Metascore
69 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 27
  2. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. 88
    If your idea of fun involves zombies, monstrous physical transformations and alien slugs bent on world domination, look no further than James Gunn's gleeful homage to all things gross and horrible actually makes good on the "horror comedy" label by being both flat-out creepy and darkly funny.
  2. There are times (and plenty of them) when Slither slops over from smart, affectionate homage into unmodulated frat goofiness as Gunn cannibalizes so many horror plots with such high spirits.
  3. 83
    Though it occasionally dips too deep into a well of redneck humor, Slither cleverly exploits the nervous laughter that fills a theater whenever a horror movie gets too frightening to bear.
  4. Reviewed by: James Dyer
    80
    Undeniably funny and gooey to boot, Slither may not be groundbreaking but it is a rarity: a horror-comedy that does both its genre-parents proud.
  5. 80
    It's the kind of movie that used to be called "trashy good fun," only there's nothing trashy about it: Gunn, who scripted the 2004 "Dawn of the Dead" remake, is clearly punch-drunk with horror-movie love; Slither is, among other things, a freewheeling homage to "The Blob, Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and just about everything by George Romero.
  6. Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    80
    Slither begins briskly, gradually accelerates and eventually achieves a breakneck momentum that makes the wild ride even more exhilarating.
  7. 78
    Of course, Slither isn't for everyone, but if you've a yen for gallons of grue and a smart, sassy story to boot, you couldn't do better than Gunn's hellishly fun horror show.
  8. Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    75
    Aside from Henry, Gunn's cast is on a collective wavelength. Banks, whose perkiness carries a slightly demented edge, matches up well with Nathan Fillion, who plays the lovelorn police chief.
  9. Slither is neither repetitive nor reverent. It is a dark and hilarious spoof of those movies, one in which both the characters and the audience seem to be in on the jokes.
  10. Like "Tremors," only ickier, Slither is a tongue-in-cheek horror flick that skewers the genre while delivering seat-squirming scares.
  11. Reviewed by: Neva Chonin
    75
    In a variety of forms, Slither excels in imaginative gore and shows that first-time director James Gunn has learned much about the joys of linking humor and horror.
  12. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    The acting is playful aces all around: Fillion gives good exhausted incredulity, Banks gives good virginal idiocy, and Rooker gives great conflicted monster arrogance even before the aliens get him.
  13. Reviewed by: Winda Benedetti
    75
    A funny, freaky, fiendishly good flick that might just find a following beyond the standard cadre of horror fanatics.
  14. Gunn maintains the ideal glib pitch for most of the picture, flirting with camp but never hanging around it long enough to water down the squirm-inducing stuff.
  15. Reviewed by: Matt Singer
    70
    Gunn doesn't reinvent the wheel but he does tighten its spokes a bit with some terrifying sequences and a witty, deadpan screenplay, and he leaves the audience hungry--for "Slither 2."
  16. Reviewed by: Jordan Harper
    70
    Slither is what it is, unapologetically, and unlike Gunn's work on "Dawn of the Dead," it's probably too weird to be a crossover hit. Either you've got worms in your heart or you don't.
  17. 70
    Slither is a gross, disgusting, but undeniably amusing treat laden with homages and in-jokes.
  18. While Slither sometimes feels like a monster-mash, what makes it work is how nimbly it slaloms from yucks to yuks, slip-sliding from horror to comedy and back again on its gore-slicked foundation.
  19. Reviewed by: Josh Levin
    70
    This is not a thinking man's horror movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there were slugs that could find gaping holes in the plot. But there's something winning about this grab bag of orally fixated invertebrates and mucus-covered Noids.
  20. Gross-out horror comedy is my least favorite genre, but this movie's so skillful I have to take my hat off to it.
  21. Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    63
    This is one horror film that could make the syllabus at Bob Jones U. The way the squid blasts its tentacles into doe-eyed girls seems designed to steer your daughters away from sex until they're about 40.
  22. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    Slither is old-school gooey, slimy, silly B-movie fun.
  23. 63
    Let's get this straight from the start: Slither isn't great art, but that doesn't mean it isn't good entertainment.
  24. This is well-crafted retro horror, too familiar to be really scary but smart enough to be fun. And funny too, with the kind of pure laughs that grow organically from the script, untainted by the chemical spray of irony.
  25. 50
    There are better movies opening this weekend. There are better movies opening every weekend. But Slither has a competence to it, an ability to manipulate obligatory horror scenes in a way that works.
  26. 50
    Slither purports to be a "horror comedy" but in embracing the hybrid, it falls flat, never committing full-out to mining for giggles or gasps.
  27. Reviewed by: Don R. Lewis
    40
    B movies are fun because they're rinky dink. I got the joke and just didn't like the joke even though I respect Gunn for doing what he wanted to do.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 52 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 32
  2. Negative: 8 out of 32
  1. Ryencoke
    4
    I'm not sure why everyone is giving this movie such good reviews. It really wasn't that good. The first half was just boring. The second half got okay, but nothing special. It was not worth the $10, maybe cheap theater or rental. It was fairly lame... Also, everyone is saying how gory it was, it wasn't gory at all. If you want gore watch something else, like Hostel (Although that wasn't really gory), or even Evil Dead 2. Full Review »
  2. One thing I can say about this movie is that it's disgusting, I was utterly grossed out through the entire thing, and it's some kind of horror comedy, I can see the comedy part as there is some funny dialog, and the whole plot is just ridiculous, but it's really not a good movie in the least, this is one you can safely pass on watching. Full Review »
  3. Last night while working on a project on the computer I watched Slither and found it to be some goofy fun although it is NOT a good movie. I did smirk and laugh a bit at different comedic moments; I had seen similar stories on the Twilight Zone while a kid but though the movie did have some fun, the shorter Twilight Zone stories seems to work better having less filler. In the end Slither was meh to ok, a bit of fun in the back ground but was not something that I would praise (at least too highly) Full Review »