Spawn of the Slithis

A true throwback film. Upon its release it was both a goofy homage to sci-fi monster flicks of the 50s and 60s AND a gory Drive-In exploitation picture. It's basic plot is about the title creature spawned by radiation. At first, Slithis attacks animals and then.....!

This is Stephen Traxler's only directorial effort, but he had a career behind the scenes including as a Production Manager. It's schlocky fun in retrospect. The 70s hair styles and clothes. The disco bits. The man in a rubber monster suit. The over the top gore with a bit of nudity - all in a PG film! That last note is worth elaborating on. When the film was submitted to the MPAA for a rating, it got an appropriate R. The producers took out some of the gore and the nudity and resubmitted it to get a PG. Did the cut version get released in theaters? Of course not! Wanting to be able to get the matinee audience, they simply released the R-Rated edition as "PG"!

After not having seen SLITHIS for many years, I caught up with it again at the New Beverly around 2007. They handed out copies of the "Slithis Survival Kit" and the crowd ate up the movie as enjoyable nostalgia (or, is it double nostalgia?). I even met a father and son in line who had gone to see the film on its original run together when the son was a mere child. Isn't that sweet - bonding over SLITHIS!?

So I was 10 years old when this movie played in the theater in Marshall, Missouri. And unlike any other movie that I had experienced there. During the climatic suspense parts of the movie there was a person who would burst out from the side of the screen in a gorilla costume and accost movie viewers at he front of the theater! That made it a night to remember. I think I saw Slithis 3 times during it's run. Sure it's cheesy...but it was entertaining.

Absolutely fantastic! This movie gives new meaning to staying up till 3 am, when is the only time it is ever aired. On my first screening I started knocking back doubles to simulate SLITHIS' point of view, and it worked. I'll never see Venice Beach the same again. A true classic, I recommend it to anyone planning a lost weekend at the beach!

Cheesy but watchable. Bad acting by some but not all bad. Has a nice microphone hiss in a few scenes which I enjoy. Nice opening shots of Venice, California. The lead girlfriend continues to get worse as a character the more the film goes, with awkward lines and shots. Has the typical Vietnam vets as street bums. Highly stereotypical and normal for films during this age. An odd play on various scenes with comedic music set to more awkward camera shots. The monster itself is pretty cool, also offering a hint of comedic action with its noises and walk. This film is really an interesting study of a America at the time frame filmed, more specifically California.

Very very average campy horror movie. I did not have great expectations when I queued this movie up and watched the movie. But it definitely exceeded my expectations. Special effects/costumes were OK, but this movie actually had a very decent dialogue and somewhat entertaining characters. If you are looking for a state of the art, horror, movie with awesome special effects, this is not the movie for you. However, if you're looking for something decent and fairly entertaining, this might be a good way to kill a Friday or Saturday night. You will see a lot of plagiarism ripped off from Steven Spielberg's classic movie jaws.