Slither

Analyse a film in Terms of its Genre
Slither
The film slither blends multiple genres together, including Horror, Comedy and Sci-fi.
The genre horror can be first perceived from the introduction of an ‘alien pod’ that shoots a spine into the character Grant. The spine seems to be alive and burrows its way from his chest up through into his brain, taking control of the character. Grant has slight pains in his chest which are accompanied by noises that sound very similar to the breaking of ribs, and later sees marks on his neck which certainly cannot be classed as healthy. It becomes obvious from these facts that his body is beginning to change due to this alien spine within his brain. A pair of tentacles begins to protrude from the entrance wound of the spine on his chest and he sneaks up on his partner in the shower suggesting to the audience murderous intentions. Many missing animals turn up dead, butchered by Grant, in the basement of his house. The genre is then later confirmed by the introduction/discovery of slug-like creatures that tear there way out from the inside of a missing girl who has increased in size and must have been acting as an incubation unit. The slugs then begin to slaughter the lesser characters in the film including the residents of the town. This a common feature of a horror movie.
All of these scenes containing the genre of horror either occur at night or in dark rooms. The presence of darkness or lack of light is a great boost to the effect of the horror. If all this isn’t enough to turn set the genre of horror, it turns out that the slugs don’t kill people, they use them as vehicles turn them into zombies. Lastly no film can be classed as a horror film without a bit of blood and gore, and this film has plenty.
These visual generic conventions are accompanied by mystifying music that sets the mood and impression of horrifying scenes while at the same time intensifying them.
A hint of romance is thrown in with Grants attempt of sleeping with his wife Starla Grant, and the adultery committed between him and a crush from the past. Seeing as all of the zombies all share the same mind (Grants mind), they stroke and brush her hair, though this may be seen as a bit creepy. What is even creepier is the fact that they change her clothes while she is still unconscious into a sexy nighty. The mutated zombie Grant is still in love with his wife and puts on some romantic music for her.
The genre of comedy may not be agreed by all as mixing horror and comedy does not always work well, but is present, not so much in events but crude lines such as “it looks like something that fell off my dick during the war.” The Villain Grant Grant has the same first name as his surname which may also be found amusing to some and not others
I personally also found a scene with a woman hysterically stabbing a zombie with a 7 foot pole followed by another character saying “bitch is hard core” in a red-neck accent, hysterically amusing, as well as the line that followed shortly after “so… how’s everybody’s evening? Good? Good.”
Science-fiction is obvious from the moment that the ‘pod’ is shown and opens a slit resembling a mouth. This means that Grant being shot by a stinger is not too big a leap from the genre/plot up until that point. Before the genre of sci-fi becomes obvious, it is suggested in the opening scene by a meteor travelling through space, entering the atmosphere and crashing into the earth.