Slither was marketed in the UK as America's answer to Shaun of the Dead, I'm not sure its really on the same level as Shaun of the Dead or even in the same category of films nor do I think it was ever intended to be. While Shaun is a comedy film with a setting of horror this is a horror with a bit of comedy a small distinction you might say but it makes a fundemental difference to the way the film works. Anyway marketering aside, on with the review.

Slither opens with a meteor heading towards earth cut to a small American town somewhere with two cops sat in a patrol car late at night the chief of police (played by Nathan Fillion of Firefly/Serenity fame) and his deputy Wally.

They are basically bored and using the speed radar gun to clock eagles and completly miss the meteor crashing down in the forest behind them. Theres then some introductory stuff showing the cast of characters Gregg Henry as the mayor Jack MacReady a bit of a wide boy politician, Elizabeth Banks as Starla Grant a local teacher and the attractive young wife of Grant Grant (played by Michael Rooker) a older succesfull business man. The afore mentioned Nathan Fillion plays chief of police Bill Pardy who secretly carrys a torch for Starla. After recieving the "not tonight I've got a head ache" speech from his misses a frustrated Grant Grant goes out for a walk (that takes him via a bar where he picks up a young lady called Brenda played by Brenda James) and into the forest where the meteor landed earlier they stumble across the meteor and find it has split open and a trail of slime leads away from it. They find something crawling along the forest floor and it shoots a needle into Grant's chest. After this Grant begins acting strangley begins physically changing and a lot of pets go missing and eventually police Chief Bill and Grands wife Starla have to try and stop him.

This is a fairly good Horror film with a touch of humor in there, its takes a load of horror film references and weaves them into a new story adding its own touches to the mix. Takes a while to get going and the setting of the scene and character intro drags a bit. There are some good performances and its generally entertaining. Its definately more horror than comedy and the comparisons with Shaun of the Dead are really only because they couldn't think of another horror plus comedy film to compare it to its maybe more comprable to the first Evil Dead film before they got completely comedy tho its not really in the same class as that. The effects are good with equal parts CG to physical effects. Gore factor is not particulary high its more outragous than realistic.

All in all enjoyable if not exceptional horror with a touch of comedy.

I'm not sure about the "horror with a dash of comedy" diagnosis. A good deal of the film is serious, but its interspersed with mildly rediculous humour in places beyond the point of laughter to lighten the scene or a set of quirky characters.

I'd put the overall comedy/horror mix as something similar to Scream. OK, the horror part is a completely different type, but it has the same level of seriousness in places with some tongue in cheek (had to use that phrase somewhere for this film :D) pokes at the genre. So many classic horror elements were drawn on at various points to make this film, and although I agree its a very different film it does share some elements with Shaun of the Dead, although the balance is very different. In Shaun I found that some of the serious sections jarring... the transition between comedy and serious horror film was very rapid and (to me) didn't fit to an extent. Don't get me wrong, I love the film (I have it on DVD...) but those bits make me cringe a little. Anyway, I'm reviewing the wrong film here. The point is that the serious/comedy transitions in this seem to be a lot less harsh here, and although some of the shock value is lost it feels more like continuous story.

The horror aspects are not all that horrific. Although the mood of the scenes is sometimes serious, most of the horror elements are overemphasised to the point that they seem mildly silly even in the setting (although not exaggerated to Evil Dead II levels)

Overall the film, while enjoyable, sends a bit of a confused message. Its not entirely clear whether the audience is supposed to be horrified or amused, and although the mix is entertainingly different it makes it somewhat hard to rate.

This film feels like its either trying to be or will be a cult classic.