Slugs (1988 film)

Last updated

Slugs, Muerte Viscosa
Slugs-film-poster.jpg
Spanish theatrical release poster
Directed by Juan Piquer Simón
Screenplay byRon Gantman
Juan Piquer Simón
Based on Slugs by
Shaun Hutson
Produced byJosé Antonio Escrivá
Francesca DeLaurentiis
Juan Piquer Simón
StarringMichael Garfield
Kim Terry
CinematographyJulio Bragado
Edited byRichard Rabjohn
Antonio Gimeno
Music by Tim Souster
Production
company
Dister Films
Distributed byDister Group (Spain)
New World Pictures (United States)
Release dates
  • 5 February 1988 (1988-02-05)(United States)
  • 16 September 1988 (1988-09-16)(Spain)
Running time
89 minutes
CountrySpain
LanguageEnglish

Slugs, also referred to as Slugs: The Movie (Spanish: Slugs, Muerte Viscosa, lit. "Slugs, Slimy Death") is a 1988 English-language Spanish natural horror film directed by Juan Piquer Simon, and co-written by Simon with Ron Gantman. Based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Shaun Hutson, it tells the story of a small town whose locals are terrorised by aggressive carnivorous slugs.

Contents

Plot

In the fictional small town of Ashton, a low-life alcoholic named Ron Bell is eaten alive late one night by a large swarm of slugs in his living room. The following day, health inspector and sewer manager Mike Brady and Sheriff Reese head to Ron's home, preparing to deliver an eviction notice, only to discover his near-skinless body. Exploring the house, Mike finds multiple trails of slime leading from the basement, but he and Reese are unable to determine what exactly happened to Ron. Later that day, Mike and his friend and co-worker Don Palmer are called in to fix a blockage in the sewers, where Don discovers several animal carcasses stuck in the pipes.

Meanwhile, local gardener Harold Morris puts on a gardening glove which, unbeknownst to him, has a slug hiding within, which starts eating his hand. As he thrashes about in pain, Harold accidentally knocks over some of his chemical jars, causing a fire which ignites a tank of gasoline, resulting in an explosion that kills him and his wife Jean. Upon returning home, Mike is informed of the deaths by his wife Kim, a high school teacher. They then both discover a group of abnormally large and aggressive slugs in their garden. Mike gathers some of the slugs in a jar and leaves them with the school's science teacher John Foley for investigation. During his investigations, Foley witnesses one of the slugs attack and eat the class hamster. Elsewhere in town, the slugs attack and eat two teenagers, and Mike's friend David unknowingly eats part of a slug that was hidden in a salad made by his wife.

Mike and Reese are brought in to investigate the deaths of the teenagers the next morning, where Mike postulates that the slugs are responsible for the murders, only to be disregarded as crazy. Later, Mike is called over by Don, who has discovered that the locations of the murders line up with the layout of the town's sewer system. Don theorises that the slug's aggressiveness may be a result of chemicals being leaked into the sewer from a long-abandoned toxic waste dump that exists close by to the town.

Meanwhile, whilst dining at a restaurant, an unwell David begins profusely bleeding from his nose and collapses, before multiple blood flukes abruptly burst from his eye sockets. Having learned of the death and witnessed slugs crawling through the sink in his own home, Mike approaches the town mayor, begging him to cut off the downtown water supply so that the slugs can be dealt with, but is once again dismissed as crazy, causing him to leave in frustration. Later, at the school lab, Foley shows Mike a lithium-based arsenic that Mike hopes to use to kill the slugs in the sewers, which he has discovered are the slugs' place of origin. Mike convinces Don to join him in helping getting rid of the slugs, as Foley creates a large batch of the arsenic. That night, Mike and Don enter the sewer system and locate the slugs' breeding ground, but Don accidentally falls in and is eaten alive. Mike then climbs out of a nearby manhole and gets Foley to pump in the arsenic from a firetruck hose into the sewer, causing an explosive reaction that successfully kills all the slugs, despite causing serious damage to the rest of the town in the process. Mike reunites with Kim as the emergency services arrive, whilst unbeknownst to rest of the town, a singular live slug writhes ominously on a vent cover.

Cast

Release

The film opened in the United States on 5 February 1988.

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 38% approval rating based on 8 reviews. [1]

Variety praised the "convincing special effects and make-up and snappy direction" and said it "has enough thrills and spills in it to keep youth audiences alert". [2]

Box office

The film flopped at the U.S. box office. [2] It opened in seven theaters in the United States and grossed $15,842 in its opening weekend. [3]

Awards

The film won a Goya Award for Best Special Effects by Gonzalo Gonzalo, Basilio Cortijo and Carlos de Marchis. [4]

Home video

Anchor Bay Entertainment released a DVD of the film in 2000. In 2011, Image Entertainment released a DVD of the film under the Midnight Madness Series. In 2016, British home video distributor, Arrow Films, released a special edition Blu-ray of the film, which contained a commentary track and interviews with several people associated with the film.

Related Research Articles

<i>It</i> (novel) 1986 novel by Stephen King

It is a 1986 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It was King's 22nd book and the 17th novel written under his own name. The story follows the experiences of seven children as they are terrorized by an evil entity that exploits the fears of its victims to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It" primarily appears in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown to attract its preferred prey of young children.

<i>Sexy Beast</i> 2000 comedy crime film by Jonathan Glazer

Sexy Beast is a 2000 black comedy crime film directed by Jonathan Glazer and written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto. It stars Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, and Ian McShane. It follows Gary "Gal" Dove (Winstone), a retired criminal visited by a sociopathic gangster (Kingsley) who demands that he take part in a bank robbery in London.

<i>Beverly Hills Cop</i> 1984 film directed by Martin Brest

Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, with a screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., and story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr. It stars Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit detective who visits Beverly Hills, California, to solve the murder of his best friend. Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Ronny Cox, Lisa Eilbacher, Steven Berkoff, Paul Reiser, and Jonathan Banks appear in supporting roles.

<i>Beverly Hills Cop III</i> 1994 American action comedy film by John Landis

Beverly Hills Cop III is a 1994 American action comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, written by Steven E. de Souza, and directed by John Landis, who had previously worked with Murphy on Trading Places (1983) and Coming to America (1988). It is a sequel to Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and the third film in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise. Murphy again plays Detroit detective Axel Foley, who once again returns to Beverly Hills and teams up with detective Billy Rosewood to stop a gang of counterfeiters at a local amusement park called Wonder World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francisco Rabal</span> Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (1926–2001)

Francisco Rabal Valera, better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter born in Águilas, a town in the south-western part of the province of Murcia, Spain. Throughout his career, Rabal appeared in around 200 films working with directors including Francisco Rovira Beleta, Luis Buñuel, José Luis Sáenz de Heredia, Carlos Saura, Pedro Almodóvar, William Friedkin, Michelangelo Antonioni, Claude Chabrol, Luchino Visconti, and Gillo Pontecorvo. Paco Rabal was recognized both in his native Spain and internationally, winning the Award for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for Los Santos Inocentes and a Goya Award for Best Actor for playing Francisco de Goya in Carlos Saura's Goya en Burdeos. One of Spain's most loved actors, Rabal also was known for his commitment to human rights and other social causes.

<i>Blood and Wine</i> 1996 American film

Blood and Wine is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Bob Rafelson and starring Jack Nicholson, Stephen Dorff, Jennifer Lopez, Judy Davis, and Michael Caine. The screenplay was written by Nick Villiers and Alison Cross. Rafelson has stated that the film forms the final part of his unofficial trilogy with Nicholson, with whom he made Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens in the 1970s.

<i>The Loves of Carmen</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by Charles Vidor

The Loves of Carmen is a 1948 American adventure drama romance film directed by Charles Vidor. The film stars Rita Hayworth as the gypsy Carmen and Glenn Ford as her doomed lover Don José.

<i>Butterflys Tongue</i> 1999 Spanish film

Butterfly's Tongue or Butterfly, is a 1999 Spanish film directed by José Luis Cuerda. The film centers on Moncho and his coming-of-age experience in Galicia in 1936. Moncho develops a close relationship with his teacher Don Gregorio, who introduces the boy to different things in the world. While the story centres on Moncho's ordinary coming-of-age experiences, tensions related to the looming Spanish Civil War periodically interrupt Moncho's personal growth and daily life.

<i>Diamond Jim</i> 1935 film

Diamond Jim is a 1935 biographical film based on the published biography Diamond Jim Brady by Parker Morell. It follows the life of legendary entrepreneur James Buchanan Brady, including his romance with entertainer Lillian Russell, and stars Edward Arnold, Jean Arthur, Cesar Romero and Binnie Barnes.

<i>The Grandfather</i> (1998 film) 1998 Spanish film

The Grandfather is a 1998 Spanish drama film written, produced and directed by José Luis Garci. It stars Fernando Fernán-Gómez, Cayetana Guillén Cuervo and Rafael Alonso. The film, an adaptation of the novel of the same title by Benito Pérez Galdós, tells the story of an aristocrat's search to discover which of his two putative granddaughters resulted from an extramarital affair by his daughter-in-law.

<i>Beverly Hills Cop</i> (franchise) American action comedy franchise

Beverly Hills Cop is a film franchise of American action comedy films and an unaired television pilot based on characters created by Daniel Petrie Jr. and Danilo Bach. The films star Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit cop who travels to Beverly Hills, California to investigate a crime, even though it is out of his jurisdiction.

<i>Dog Eat Dog</i> (2008 film) 2008 film

Perro Come Perro is a 2008 Colombian thriller film by director Carlos Moreno. The film depicts the violence among the low life, crime-filled life of some criminals in the city of Cali. The film was shown at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The soundtrack of the film included a song by Colombian band Superlitio.

<i>Slugs</i> (novel) 1982 horror novel by Shaun Hutson

Slugs is a 1982 UK horror novel written by Shaun Hutson. In 1988, it was adapted as an American/Spanish horror film of the same name. In this book, carnivorous slugs go on a rampage.

<i>Hold That Woman!</i> 1940 American film

Hold That Woman! is a 1940 American crime comedy film directed by Sam Newfield and starring the husband-and-wife team of James Dunn and Frances Gifford. The film follows the adventures of a skiptracer and his girlfriend as they attempt to repossess a radio that has not been paid for. Unbeknownst to them, a bag of stolen jewels has been concealed inside the radio by a gang of criminals.

<i>I Spit on Your Grave 2</i> 2013 American film

I Spit on Your Grave 2 is a 2013 American rape and revenge crime film directed by Steven R. Monroe. It is a sequel to the 2010 film I Spit on Your Grave, also directed by Monroe, which in turn was based on Meir Zarchi's 1978 film of the same name. The film stars Jemma Dallender, Joe Absolom, Yavor Baharoff, Aleksander Aleksiev and Mary Stockley.

<i>The Good Nurse</i> 2022 crime drama film by Tobias Lindholm

The Good Nurse is a 2022 American thriller film starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne, about the serial killer Charles Cullen and the fellow nurse who suspects him. The film is based on the 2013 true-crime book of the same name by Charles Graeber. It is directed by Tobias Lindholm and written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns. The film also stars Nnamdi Asomugha, Kim Dickens, and Noah Emmerich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javier Bardem filmography</span>

Javier Bardem is a Spanish actor and producer who made his acting debut as a child in an episode of the Spanish television series El Pícaro (1974). Bardem made his feature film debut with a minor role in the 1990 Spanish erotic film Las edades de Lulú. The film's director Bigas Luna was impressed by Bardem, giving him his first leading role in the romantic-comedy Jamón Jamón (1992), alongside future wife Penélope Cruz. In 1993, Bardem starred in another Luna film, Huevos de Oro, and in the Vicente Aranda-directed El Amante Bilingüe. The following year he appeared in Días contados (1994) and El detective y la muerte (1994). For both films he was nominated for the San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actor.

<i>Things</i> (film) 1989 Canadian film

Things is a 1989 Canadian independent direct-to-video horror film, directed by Andrew Jordan and written by Jordan and Barry J. Gillis. The film was shot in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario, with a cast consisting of co-writer Barry J. Gillis and pornographic film star Amber Lynn. The plot follows two friends who, while visiting a relative's house, encounter a horde of hostile creatures that are the results of experiments by a demented doctor.

The Baron and the Kid is a 1984 American made-for-television Drama film starring Johnny Cash. The film was directed by Gary Nelson.

<i>Vacation Friends 2</i> 2023 film by Clay Tarver

Vacation Friends 2 is a 2023 American buddy comedy film written and directed by Clay Tarver. It is a sequel to Vacation Friends and stars Lil Rel Howery, John Cena, Yvonne Orji, Meredith Hagner, Steve Buscemi, Ronny Chieng, and Jamie Hector. Distributed by 20th Century Studios, the film was released on Hulu in the United States on August 25, 2023.

References

  1. ↑ "Slugs (1987)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 Besas, Peter (April 5, 1988). "Film Reviews: Slugs". Daily Variety . p. 13.
  3. ↑ Greenberg, James (February 10, 1988). "Fresh Pics Stir Up National Boxoffice, But 'Nam' Still Tops". Variety . p. 3.
  4. ↑ Besas, Peter (April 5, 1989). "'Women On Verge,' 'Rowing With Wind' Lead Spain's Goyas". Variety . p. 10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.