Slither (15) <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

While not a title that would instantly recommend itself, this rollicking horror comedy consistently dinged my funny bone. Director James Gunn has evidently watched a lot of early Cronenberg, John Carpenter and cult-rubbish Troma movies in preparation for his debut feature, which centres upon the invasion of a small North Carolina town by a repulsive mutant slug plague. Its victims end up either zombies or so outlandishly grotesque you can't help cackling, and that goes too for the decidedly unheroic characters of the police chief (Nathan Fillion) and sleazeball mayor (Gregg Henry).