Spawn of the Slithis (1978)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Spawn of the Slithis (1978)* (out of 4) A small town comes under attack by some sort of sea monster, which appears to have been caused by a nuclear leak. Pretty soon pets and humans are going missing with only bloody limbs turning up. A group of friends set out to find the creature and destroy it.If you've read Stephen Thrower's NIGHTMARE USA book then you know how wonderful it is. You'll also know that there are countless exploitation movies that are given the special treatment and this here is one of them. You'll have to check out the book to get all the details but this film was basically meant to be a throwback to the drive-in era of the 1950s when guys-in-costume monster movies were all the rage. By 1978 these types of films were certainly out of fashion but director Stephen Traxler tried to bring them back but sadly the result is rather bad.There are all sorts of problems with this film but the biggest is the God-awful screenplay, which makes one major, major mistake. Yes, the biggest mistake is that the film is deadly boring. It really doesn't matter how bad you're horror movie is as long as you keep it entertaining but I'd say the majority of the people would check out of this one rather quickly. There are way too many scenes that feature people simply talking about stuff that isn't interesting and a lot of times it doesn't even have anything to do with the story. The film only runs 86-minutes but by the time it's over you'll feel as if you had just sat through all three GODFATHER movies.Another problem is the typical stuff that you'd expect from a low-budget movie like this. This includes some rather bad performances, no real style and a rather sloppy looking picture. There are a few things that I liked with the monster being one of them. Again, you can read the book to get more history on the film but it's worth noting that elements of the suit were borrowed from other popular movies. The creature outfit isn't mind-blowing but for a low-budget film I thought it was good. It's really too bad he wasn't used in the film more and that they went for a kid-friendly PG-rated movie.

"Hell hath no fury, like a guy in a Rubber Suit!" Not as good as the "Godzilla" movies, but the dialogue and music are absolutely hilarious.The Box should say made by K-R-A-F-T on it. It's definitely a brain clogging experience.There is some flirting going on -- especially with pick up lines like:"Oh and Wayne, let me know if you decide to pursue this...I sense your interest..and I feel the same way..."MMM kay.....I didn't need to know that! All in all, it's NOT as good as a "Godzilla" movie, but it'll still split your sides! One more quote? Oh sure: "What I gotta do is take a leak. You crap your pants again? No I farted. You crapped your pants again." Man with dialogue like that, you just can't miss!Wayno

I won't go into any other mentioned details. But typical of the time period, the death scenes were sexist. Meaning to say, in one scene a young couple are attacked in a house boat. The guy is quickly and cleanly killed and that's it for him. The girls death, however was nothing less than a rape scene in slow motion, as the monster rips her clothes off a garment at a time and casually slurps his leech-like mouth on the exposed body part while she screams while kicking her black-leather booted legs helplessly in the air. We even see her breasts exposed in one slashing, yet they are not cut by his claws...but are slurped on rather noisily. Uh, but being a guy myself, I'm not really complaining...hee hee hee!

When I first saw this movie I went to a midnight showing of it to a theater that was a walking distance away from my home, I was 14 at the time and back then the streets were a bit safer but I was so freakin' scared that I had to call a friend to come pick me up. Starting with the opening scene where the creature goes inside a home and kills the couple living there, I've seen movies involving home invasions but there was something about this one that had me with my feet off the floor. I don't know if I saw it again today it'll have the same effect on me, the parts I remember now seem to be cheesy as hell but it really managed to leave a lasting impression on me.