Blu-ray review: ‘Slither: Collector’s Edition’

“Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn’s gooey 2006 homage to 1980s horror films debuts on Blu-ray for American fans in Slither: Collector’s Edition (Shout! Factory, rated R, 90 minutes, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, $22.19).

For those who forgot, Mr. Gunn’s story offered a satisfying mix of tongue-in-bleeding-cheek humor and grotesque thrills. The film featured an alien parasite landing on Earth and entering a local hick named Grant Grant who is from a small town in South Carolina.

Grant’s new friend controls his mind and begins to transform him with monstrous results as it attempts to spread an infection to zombify his neighbors and take over the planet.

Only the love of his wife Starla can potentially save Earth from ruin as the beauty tries to calm the infected beast in this delightful, doomsday scenario.

With gore almost as extreme as “The Return of the Living Dead” or “Re-Animator,” the bloody action picks up quickly to focus on Grant, a grotesque, slithering creature that can split a man in half with the whip of his tentacle and cause mayhem with his new slug-like brood.

The cast of soon-to-be pop culture icons sells the insanity and includes Michael Rooker (“The Walking Dead” and “Guardians of the Galaxy”) as Grant; Elizabeth Banks as his wife; Nathan Fillion (“Serenity”) as the sheriff; and Gregg Henry as a mayor with an addiction to Mr. Pibb.

A very clean digital transfer (potentially culled from the HD DVD release back in 2006, anybody remember that format?) offers nice clarity on outfits such as Starla’s yellow sweater. Outdoors daytime scenes are very crisp, and the vibrant gore generated from Grant and his minions is worthy of urping.

Best extras: Shout! Factory goes above the call of duty as usual by not only offering all of the bonus content from the 2006 DVD release but also a trio of newly recorded features.

First, fans get a 30-minute interview with Mr. Gunn as he reflects on his directorial debut. He offers fun memories about casting and creating the film, and he touches on topics such as his love of John Carpenter and David Cronenberg movies, the budget challenges and fights to get the movie screened by critics.

Mr. Gunn also covers Mr. Rooker’s painful makeup prosthetics, building Brenda the blob, and has a few words on the actors who moved on to his “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies.

Next, an eight-minute interview with Mr. Henry often finds that actor gushing about Mr. Gunn while talking about his favorite lines of profane dialogue, working with the cast, what the arm he had to munch on was made from, and how he enjoyed recently watching the movie again.

Finally for the new stuff, and most importantly, viewers get a fresh optional commentary track with Mr. Gunn, Mr. Rooker and Mr. Fillion. The three successful creators and old buddies have way too much fun looking back at a really odd film, and their enthusiasm is infectious.

Especially entertaining, besides the three reminding each other to talk during some of the more intense parts of the film, is listening to Mr. Gunn giving Mr. Rooker a steady stream of grief during the entire track. I’m still laughing.

Hard-core devotees can also listen to a less ebullient but vintage commentary track from 2006, with Mr. Gunn leading the discussion and Mr. Fillion calling in from Vancouver to assist with information.

Mr. Gunn actually offers more depth to the origins of the movie and some great memories on and off set, but he continues to kiddingly take cheap shots at an absent Mr. Rooker. These two must really like one another.

Among the other older, nine featurettes (roughly an hour’s worth of segments), I enjoyed an 18-minute overview of the special effects, featuring interviews with special makeup effects supervisor Todd Masters and visual effects supervisor John Gajdecki.

They and key members of their teams discuss the use of practical and computer-generated effects, the 500 prosthetic parasites used in the film, the 300 gallons of slime required, and touch on creating the Brenda and Grant house monsters.

Additionally, for amateur horror makeup enthusiasts, effects artist Kurt Jackson delivers a detailed lesson on preparing homemade blood.

Finally, it’s worth checking out the eight deleted and four extended scenes just to hear the optional commentary track by Mr. Gunn. He clearly explains the problems with each and why they were cut or should not have been cut.