Slugs (1988)

Very well executed

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good movie but grossly overrated

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The paint-by-numbers plot of "Slugs" is hardly innovative, even for a horror movie: chemical wastes generate mutated, flesh-eating killer slugs in a small community whose authority figures refuse to believe the stalwart head of the local health department until it is too late. Our heroes are on their own to devise a way to kill the beasties and do so with explosive vigor and sacrifice...except. And although the film was made after Roger Corman left New World, it has his trademark drive-in blend of teen sex, blood, and gross-out makeup effects. But the direction is tight, efficient and never lagging, with good production values within its budget and mostly competent acting and dialog that lets the clichés roll. Special effects are quite well done (if generally repulsive), and the small town atmosphere (exteriors were primarily filmed in the upstate New York town of Lyons) is effective. Slugs is an above average entry into the low budget eco-horror genre, good for those who still miss Saturday night at the drive-in.

As you may have suspected from the simple title and accompanying promotional poster(s), "Slugs" is exactly the sort of film it appears to be. Mashing the creature-features of the '50s with an '80s body count sensibility, the film about sinister slugs snacking on the unsuspecting delivers on its simple premise. Looking for gross bugs, gnarly special effects, sometimes silly characters and equally ridiculous plotting? It's slimetime.Director Juan Piquer Simón's film (which is also known as "Muerte Viscosa" due to its Spanish origins) is certainly a special kind of late-night treat. While admittedly light on plot or compelling characters, the main stars of the flick remain the ugly black slugs who leave a trail of carnage in their wake. If you've just eaten dinner, this may not be the best film to watch. Even by '80s low-budget standards, you really won't find more sickening special effects elsewhere. Even today, a scene where two lovers are pulled to their doom by a bedroom floor full of slugs is hard to choke down. Likewise, a poor patron at a restaurant who would have been well advised to not drink the water. I sincerely hope somebody wrote a negative review on Yelp for that one.Sure, the film can be a little bit laggy between the outlandish scenes of carnage. And yeah, nobody in the film is terribly interesting to watch (though a lead character named Mike Brady might elicit a snicker or two). "Slugs" plays to the strength of its titular stars, and there's nothing wrong with that. Best viewed late at night, slightly intoxicated and/or as a double-feature with the likes of "C.H.U.D." or "Sssssss".

If you go into this with an open mind, you'll see that this movie has just enough of everything to keep most people happy and entertained for the duration; mutant bugs, gore, bad dialogue, bad dubbing, sex, nudity, yet another toxic waste site, explosions, cheap thrills; you name it and you'll find it in Slugs.Apparently a mutated form of slug has turned into ravenous bloodthirsty killers and is picking off random towns people in fairly gruesome ways.The only one who seems to have some kind of clue as to what is going on is the local health inspector who puts all the pieces together and concludes that the slugs are to blame, however all of his warnings to the mayor and the police chief go unheeded so he and a friend of his decide to take matters into their own hands.Now before anyone asks how can slugs, (even mutated slugs), be able to kill people, we learn that not only can they bite, but their slime has some kind of paralysing neurotoxin, so these things literally eat you alive. Given that fact, the death scenes are fairly gory, in particular the business man who's eyes explode out of his head with blood flukes, and the young couple eaten alive after a session of gratuitous love-making.The movie is also not without its flaws and annoyances though. As part of this was filmed in Spain, the dubbing in parts is quite obvious. The police chief tries in vain to be a straight and narrow hard-nosed cop, but just comes across as rude and annoying. The whole segment of the old couple who are blown up in their greenhouse was just too ridiculous even for a B-grade horror. One of the slugs had crawled into his gardening glove, and yet he doesn't notice it's presence as soon as he puts it on? It's only after the slug starts to bite that he freaks out and then for some reason he's unable to get the glove off again. Solution? Cut of your hand with an axe! I don't get the need to have highly corrosive acid in a greenhouse, but when the bottles fall over and eats its way through power cables, it's clear that this is not going to end well.Slugs is a movie that's fit for a late night horror marathon. Some sources claim that kids who watched Slugs in the 80's or early 90's have remained scared of slugs ever since. So while it's an incredibly silly movie, it's also a lot of fun and you can decide for yourself whether or not it's safe to go back into the garden.

It's a monster film's homage with lots of man-eaters slugs and loads of blood , including revolting , repulsive scenes. This chiller with middling budget packs thrills, chills , some good action , gore , horror and few funny moments. It's a hybrid of monster movies from the 50s and modern American production in B series style . People are dying mysteriously and terrifyingly , and nobody has a track what the cause is . Only health inspector named Mike Brady (Michael Garfield) finds a possible origin , but his theory of murderous slugs is laughed at by the authorities . When his wife named Kim (Kim Terry) is attacked , he discovers that spilled toxic waste is being helpfully cleaned up by the slug population and causing countless deaths . Only when the slugs are mutating into blood-thirsty man eaters and the body count begins to rise , the police goes into the action . A slug expert from England begins snooping around does it begins to think Mike had the right idea after all.This humdrum adaptation based on Monster movies from the 50s results to be a special version based on the bestseller titled ¨Slugs¨ by Shaun Hutson with screenplay written by also producer José Antonio Escrivá , Ron Gantman , and the same director Juan Piquer Simón (as J.P. Simon) . The thrilling screenplay is a bit yawn-inspiring but nifty special effects will keep you from dozing off , its author is Emilio Ruiz , he's a nice creature effects designer, a perfect craftsman who made effects , monsters , miniature and matte shots in ¨Pan's labyrinth ,The Devil backbone , Dune , Conan , Cat's eye¨ and many others . There're gruesome killings , rip-roaring action , thrills , chills and results to be briefly entertaining . Plenty of repellent images , it was X classified in England and was banned in the Australian state of Queensland until the early-'90s when the Queensland Censorship Board was disbanded . Average main cast with unknown actors as Michael Garfield and Kim Terry . There appears usual secondary actors seen in co-productions of the 60s and 70s , Spaghetti and Terror genre , as Frank Braña , Manuel De Blas and Patty Shepard . It's a slight fun with acceptable special effects by Emilio Ruiz Del Rio supported by Benito Cortijo and Juan Mirame , passable set decoration , functional art direction and none use of computer generator . The slugs monsters are the real stars of this production , being rightly realized , some of them are authentic Asturias (Spain) slugs and others are made by plastic miniature ; it has numerous "older technique" special effects such as matte paintings, rubber-suited monsters, Piquer uses the standard film technique of reverse-footage to create certain effects .The fable is silly and laughable ,though the effects and action are professionally made . Among the most spectacular of its visuals there are some deeply shrouded caverns , several monsters roaring menacingly towards the camera , the colorful backgrounds of the sewers and slaughters and massacres committed by the horrible slugs . On the whole this is a suspenseful and tense thriller especially at the amazing ending tableau when Michael Garfield and his helper have to tackle the massive slugs at the lair in the final . Some scenes are clumsily shot but the movie has some good moments here and there . Some illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by the slugs , though sometimes are a little bit cheesy . Highlights of the story includes a roller-coaster ending , some terrifying frames in a restaurant and many others . Functional cinematography by Julio Bragado , being filmed the interiors in Madrid and exteriors in Lyon , (New York) , a population about 5.000 inhabitants . The motion picture was middlingly realized by Juan Piquer Simon . Piquer who recently passed away was a good craftsman , he owns his own studio and created and/or designed many of the simple special effects sequences you see in any of his many imaginative undertakings . Juan who was director of the Mostra of Valencia (Spain) , displayed a professional career and specialized on all kind of genres as Terror (Slugs, Piezes , Cthulhu ) and Sci-fi (The rift , The new Extraterrestres, Supersonic man) and made some adaptations about Jules Verne novels ("Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth" , "Mystery on Monster Island") . While his films have been universally panned by the prestigious reviewers, they have a kind of quality that must be endured to be fully appreciated .