SLITHIS (1978)
I feel like this review needs a disclaimer of sorts. Something along the lines of "this movie will not entertain most normal people." I accidentally slid into Slithis (a.k.a. Spawn of the Slithis), but as it turns out, it's comprised of the stuff, the very physiognomy, that appeals to the horror-centric circuits of my brain. It has everything I need from a cult classic, regardless of whether or not it qualifies as a cult classic. Of course, there is a monster. And it might...might be a fishman. Soil samples contain traces of radioactivity that might...might be coming from nuclear reactor spillage off the coast of California. The script mentions that this ooze might...might have seeped into a lagoon. A lagoon! To me, that spells "fishman." I'm taking it and running with it. It should be noted that Slithis is not terribly concerned with the viewer. There is a lot of talking, a lot of sedentary "action" that only bogs down the pace. But! If the characters are talking about ridiculous pseudo-science (and most of the time, they are), I'm hooked. Can't help it.
For a no-budget production, the creature design is pretty fantastic. Apparently, the poor guy in the suit was stuck in rubber on 15-hour shooting days. I say, give him every Academy Award, even Best Sound Mixing. Speaking of which, Slithis deserves serious consideration in the category for Best Gore. After removing objectionable violence to secure a PG rating, producers edited those scenes back into the movie before it was shipped off to theaters. Ha! So you see that I have to dig this flick on principle alone. The cast does make an earnest effort to give implausible lines of dialogue some degree of gravity. While I can't say that Slithis holds a candle to Humanoids From the Deep or Island of the Fishmen, it certainly ranks above Bog. And Blood Beach. It's way better than Blood Beach. Don't watch Blood Beach.
The German one-sheet.
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