Written by: Carroll Jenkins on June 22nd, 2010
Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1978
Director: Stephen Traxler
Writer: Stephen Traxler
Cast: Alan Blanchard, Judy Motulsky, J.C. Claire, Dennis Lee Falt, Mello Alexandria, Win Condict
DVD released: June 1st, 2010
Approximate running time: 86 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono English
Subtitles: N/A
DVD Release: Code Red
Region Coding: Region 0 NTSC
Retail Price: $24.98
Synopsis: A Gill Man develops from radioactive protozoa and randomly eats people.
This is a [very] low budget Creature From the Black Lagoon type flick. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since both Humanoids From the Deep and The Horror Of Party Beach are very entertaining monster flicks. Cheap, but great B movies. On the other hand, even the lackluster Beach Girls And The Monster blows Slithis right out of the water.
The monster is actually rather impressive and the kill scenes are the definite highlights of the movie. The ending is suitably ferocious as well. It’s the lots and lots of in-between time that is quite tedious. Some scenes do have a certain fascination: scenes of bums and winos and the denizens of skid row. Speaking of which, this film is the exact inverse of C.H.U.D. – that is a great movie with terrible monsters.
The DVD:
The DVD is many light years improved from the horrible old VHS version. You can actually almost see what’s not happening in this surprisingly good widescreen presentation. They couldn’t afford anything but ambient lighting, so the picture is always dark and grainy. The audio is not so great either (Sears cassette deck?), and there are no subtitles or close captions. The trailer is beat up and full screen, but does contain virtually every interesting snip from the entire feature.
Sorry to say, Slithis has dry rot. Better to watch Return Of The Alien’s Deadly Spawn one more time.