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Slugs… Mutant killer slugs!
Yes, they’re not just irritating little blighters that crawl onto your path, slither their muck all over the place, eat your plants and then complain to their MP when you pour salt on them… these slugs are EVIL!
They’re also somehow faster than the average slugs and leave your body eaten down to the bone. When it happens to an elderly man, his dog is so shocked, it somehow manages to hook its own leash to the pillar outside the house, since his owner certainly didn’t do that!
Mike Brady (Michael Garfield) and Don Palmer (Philip MacHale) are tasked with finding a way to stop the creatures, and one of the pair (I forget which, probably Mike) starts poking around in the sewers, finds a couple of dead giant slugs, and then… his poking stick gets taken back by something inside!!!!
Belong long, they enlist the help of scientist boffin John Foley (Santiago Álvarez, speaking with a far better Received Pronunciation voice than most people ever have done in the England), and until the problem is resolved, Slugs is stupidly gory, but very funny when the deaths happen. And when they’re happen, they’re brilliant, but there are fair chunks of the film – particularly early on, when they feel very few and far between. However, who can say no to eyeballs exploding with mini-slugs!
That said, even more deadly is one guy’s mullet!!
The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition, and like a lot of Arrow releases, the picture’s a little soft and hazy at times, but there aren’t too many issues with it and settles down to a decent image for the rest of the duration.
The audio is in DTS HD 1.0 (Mono) – it’s fine and functional. Slugs attack. People scream and, often, die.
There are some interesting interviews in the supplementals below:
- Here’s Slugs in Your Eye (7:39): an interview with actor Emilio Linder, who tells how, all his life, he had a thing for both Lauren Bacall and Silvana Mangano, the latter of whom ended up working in the same scene as him, quite by chance. Sadly, she passed away the year after this was released, due to lung cancer.
- They Slime, They Ooze, They Kill (10:46): the man in the hot seat this time, is special effects creator Carlo De Marchis. He states that the films director, Juan Piquer Simón, was as good as Spielberg when it came to the special effects, and in trying to direct slugs to do what you want to do, De Marchis likens it to when he worked on Alien, and had to get the cat in the cage to behave the way they wanted… and it took all day!
- Invasion USA (11:52): Art director Gonzalo Gonzalo is in the frame, here, talking amongst other things about how he’d aim to get everything done on a low budget, and that’s why he worked well with the director, whereas other directors would squander the cash and not achieve a result nearly as good.
This and the above two interviews were shot in April 2016, and all interviewees are speaking in their original Spanish language, with English subtitles.
- The Lyons Den (21:00): Production manager Larry Ann Evans gives an interview and takes us on a locations tour, in Lyons, New York, in an interview recorded in May 2016. This includes the outside of the restaurant where Emilio Linder’s character fell a little bit ill, and as he confirmed in his interview, the interiors were shot in Madrid, even though Ms Evans confirms the exteriors are in New York. She also states that Juan Piquer Simón was like a second father to her – “My father in Spain”, she adds.
- Trailer (1:37): In the original 1.85:1 theatrical ratio.
- Reversible sleeve: featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Wes Benscoter.
- Booklet: Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by writer Michael Gingold.
- Audio commenaries: There are two on this disc. One from Shaun Hutson, who wrote the novel on which this film was based, and the other from writer and filmmaker Chris Alexander.
The Arrow website states there is also a 1988 Goya Awards promo reel, but that’s not on the check disc I received.
The main menu features a short piece of the theme set to clips from the film. There are a bog-standard 12 chapters to the film, and subtitles are in English.
Slugs is out now on Blu-ray and DVD, and check out the full-size cover by clicking on the packshot.
|
FILM PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
6 8 7 7 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 92 minutes
Year: 1988
Distributor: Arrow Films
Released: September 19th 2016
Chapters: 12
Cat.no: FCD1366
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS-HD 1.0 Master Audio (Mono)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.85:1 (35mm)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Juan Piquer Simón
Producers: Francesca DeLaurentiis, José Antonio Escrivá and Juan Piquer Simón
Screenplay: José Antonio Escrivá, Ron Gantman and Juan Piquer Simón (based on the novel by Shaun Hutson)
Cast:
Mike Brady: Michael Garfield
Kim Brady: Kim Terry
Don Palmer: Philip MacHale
Maureen Watson: Alicia Moro
John Foley: Santiago Álvarez
Maria Palmer: Concha Cuetos
Sheriff Reese: John Battaglia
David Watson: Emilio Linder
Bobby Talbot: Kris Mann
Donna Moss: Kari Rose
Mayor Eaton: Manuel de Blas
Officer Dobbs: Andy Alsup
Frank Phillips: Frank Braña
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.