Slither - 10.24.06

Not exactly true. James Gunn via his MySpace blog:

Thank God. The release date in Blockbuster's computer's said it was tomorrow, and seeing as we hadn't gotten any copies of it, I figured Blockbuster's estranged relationship with Universal lead to us not carrying it (the same way we don't carry Land of the Dead or The Perfect Man).

Why is it that the stuff that sucks ass gets to DVD in 3 months, but the stuff that we really want takes a long time? Oh well, I can wait, expecially for this, and what looks like an awesome package.

So we get all the kick-ass special features mentioned earlier.

Oh well, I guess I will have to wait. Movies like this and Brick never got released in theaters here and dvd is the only way to see them.

Cool. I really liked this movie. It was a bunch of fun and I think a well done balancing of funny and scary.

Just re-read those features for the DVD and I have to say, I love Lloyd Kaufman.

Yeah, I'm so pre-ordering this.

Is that the same Lloyd Kaufman doc on the "Lollilove" DVD? Fun stuff from him, though he seems a bit bitter, constantly comparing the "Slither" production positively to a Troma one.

FUn stuff, I look forward to this whole set. But I really just wish they stopped releasing Full Screen versions of anything.

I'm impatient for this. All good things come to those who wait...

I liked this movie okay, but it's far from great because a.) it's not scary and b.) aside from the main monster, there's little going on in the way of gore or kills that really thrill you.

Sounds like a solid disc, though. Universal's funny in that their smaller movies tend to get better treatment than their heavy-hitter flicks do.

Believe it or not there's still a market for fullscreen movies, so as long as there's also a widescreen version why should it matter?

On topic though - I really REALLY liked this movie. Not sure what it was that kep me from just LOVING it (I need to watch it again) I am definitely psyched about this release. Sounds like a GREAT set of features.

Because the director's vision should not be compromised just so they can market it to moronic America.

Universal's one of the last remaining companies who releases fullscreen versions for EVERYTHING. Even that Jaws anniversary edition got a fullscreen release, I believe.

Warners I think may have stopped releasing fullscreen DVDs, but I could be wrong. You see less and less of the dual "Widescreen/fullscreen" displays around.

I don't shop at Wal-Mart, though, so I don't know much about how the rest of this country's retarded assholes do anything.

The justification is usually "those black bars suck, I don't own a widescreen TV, and besides, it's just a movie". Even after I spend the extra time explaining the whole difference, that's what it comes down to.

As long as "moronic America" spends more than movie loving, fandom, geek artistic value America that won't happen.

TCM has a great little short that explains why fullscreen is crap that I think should be placed on every fullscreen DVD. You generally have to show people the difference rather than explain it to them, and you have to use a movie where composition actually counts for something, like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

Though, really, fans of fullscreen wouldn't watch LAWRENCE to begin with.

No way, there's alot of older film fans who prefere pan 'n' scan. It's just what they're used to. I've tried to explain the difference, hell, I've demonstrated the difference, but older folks don't seem to care for those "black bars." It's screwy, but it doesn't make them assholes. And it certainly doesn't make them less likely to watch a masterpiece like Lawrence of Arabia. That being said, yes, that TCM featurette is excellent.

I've seen that short, with Scorsese explaining things, it's pretty good.

Blockbuster only carries wide-screen movies, with an exception of some really smaller titles, and the only thing worse than people complaining we don't have Full Screen is people being angry at me for not carrying full-screen. Idiots get very defensive about their idiocy.

It appears you work at BB, but this isn't true in my area. My local BB carries what they are given (according to clerk), there was a movie (don't remember), that I tried to rent a few months ago, that I know was in WS, but all the had was FS. When I asked the clerk, she told me that was all they had. I even made her look it up in the computer, because I was so shocked, and sure enough - nothing but.

Well, like I said, some smaller titles, and some older titles (Jackass the Movie, for one) are fullscreen, but all the new stuff we get, with an exception of some Disney Channel stuff, is widescreen.

There's a similar featurette with John McTiernan on the Die Hard 5-Star Edition that I so wanted to install on a few of the TVs when I was at Best Buy for that very reason. I even printed out the whole Widescreen.org flash animation frame by frame along with the comparison page to use for example in my early days. It simply didn't take with lots of folks.

That said, the "all TV will be widescreen in a few years" fear-of-God speech usually worked better anyway.

And I completely agree they really should put a featurette like that in front of fullscreen films instead of that shitty "Hey Kids, Stealing Is WRONG!" ad.

I wish I could remember, because it was a major new release. It really doesn't matter a whole lot, I was just really annoyed.

My girlfriend has the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in Full Screen. It's maddening.

When I worked at Suncoast years ago, I had a greeting card style demo of WS vs FS. The front of the card had a FS window cut out and when you opened it you could see the complete WS shot. It used a boat scene from Jaws and it even explained how showing the complete picture changes the emotional perception of the scene by the audience. The FS frame cut off important 2ndary character action, half of the shark's imposing frame, and most of the empty ocean background (which emphasized the feeling of isolation)...

Bitchy white-trash house-wife still didn't get it. Pearls before swine...

The Ben-Hur chariot race is ridiculous and confusing in FS.

I had Star Wars action figures for aliens in Jabba's Palace I don't remember seeing as a kid on vhs (before getting the WS versions)... I was robbed of the those aliens & spaceships as a kid. FS raped my childhood, not Lucas.

It also amazes me how some guy somewhere determines which person in a 2-person conversation should be the focus of the frame when altering for Pan & Scan. How does that guy sleep at night? And 2 separate sku's for one movie because of format? If you must have FS, make it a bonus feature on disc 2 or an Easter Egg... make people work for their ignorance. Or learn to use that zoom or re-format feature on your remote if you hate the "black bars".

;_; I weep for you...

EDIT: spelling

I borrowed her copy of Spiderman 2, because I've never seen it, only to discover that IT TOO is fullscreen. I haven't watched it yet because I'm not sure if it's worth it.

Great cover, by the way, featured in the Special Edition here:
http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=specialed&id=7335

Don't. Get the widescreen.

Sorry to continue derailing the thread, but anyway...
I Finally got around to watching V For Vendetta the other day. I got in a small argument with my friend who rented it.

"Oh fuck, you got the fullscreen", I say.
"What?", he says.
"You lose half the picture basically." (I assume V is 2.35:1)
"No you don't, it's modified."
"You lose half the fucking picture, man!"
"Dude, it's modified."
"Oh goddammit."

Some people just don't "get" widescreen. I practically did a slide-show for another friend of mine several years ago and he still didn't get it. All I got was a blank stare. There should be a lot more stuff on DVDs and in stores informing people. I never got into lasers, but I was one of the few people I know who was buying widescreen VHS movies. I seem to remember the FOX WS releases such as Strange Days and The Abyss having little "trailers" in front of the film explaining the whole thing. Too bad they were preaching to the choir.
I have no problem with black bars. I hate it when people with widescreen TV's use the "stretch" function all the time too. No matter the show or movie, they stretch that fucker to fill the screen. I've dealt with black bars for a long time, I can deal with them when I get a HDTV as well.


Back on topic. Slither never came around here, I look forward to checking it out. In widescreen!

*edit- Listen to g-dude Patrick. Spidey 2 is a much better looking movie than the first one(no doubt thanks to Bill Pope), and they went super-wide for the sequel.

The extra features on the DVD are incredibly good. This thing is worth buying just for "Who is Bil Pardy?" - hilarious.

The worst is the "I paid for 20 inches of screen and I'll be damned if I'm gonna only use 14 of those inches while watching a film" statement or whatever the measurements are.

Fucking idiots don't realize that they're missing whole performances or parts of the background that are pivotal to the film (although they don't care because they don't even understand the film to begin with, and would probably enjoy The Marine '2006'). So yeah we're all preaching to the choir.

Back on topic, I can't wait to see Slither on dvd. I may just buy it for the cheapest price on the 24th.

Is there any chance of this coming out in an Unrated version, or is this one going to be it? I loved this movie when I saw it in theaters and I'll most likely be buying this on release, but I'm going to be annoyed if they announce an Unrated version a few months later.

On his myspace blog someone asked the same question and he said the version in theaters is the one he wanted so no down the line unrated release.

I read that Raimi used 2.35:1 because of the special effects, and to get all of Doctor Octopus' tentacle's in frame. I believe it's the only one of his movies that he's shot in the scope format, since all of his others have been in 1.85:1.


To get back to Slither, I was one of the only people to catch it when it came out in theaters, and I was there the saturday of the opening weekend, I guess this great throwback 80's flick just didn't click with most people. I for one enjoyed it immensly, if only for Gregg Henry's spectacularly comical performance. I'll definitely be picking it up on dvd, in widescreen of course.

But is there a Fullscreen HD-DVD? I demand High-Definition Pan & Scan!!

Loved this movie in the theater, and I'll love it on DVD. Those features look mighty, mighty tasty. Can't wait for the commentary alone.

Apparently, it ruins your HDTV if you don't stretch a 4:3 image.

I guess it depends on how well your set deals with "burn in" of images. My friend's HDTV has grey bars instead of black when watching 4:3 television. Not sure if that's supposed to prevent burn in or something.

Back to Slither, I've read enough. I think I might buy it sight unseen. It's been a while since I've done that.

Agreed. It seems that EVERYONE on that set, cast and crew alike, seemed to be operating at the same level.

Also saved the blood recipe for use around Halloween.

I still don't understand why Slither tanked. The crowd in my theater laughed and jumped all the way through it. It did exactly what is was designed to do, and it did it very well.

The only thing I can think of is that it's a throwback to the cult 80's splatstick (Evil Dead) and latex monster movies (The Thing) that I ate up as a kid and still cherish. Those flicks grow in popularity over time on home vid, but never did well in the box office.

I think Slither is great (one of my new fave horror-comedies), but it's genre was never mainstream... unfortunately. The masses want remakes of When a Stranger Calls. Ugh.

Most people I talked too didn't understand what it was supposed to be. They thought it was a monster movie. The kids of today, the kinds that flock to horror movies every weekend and make them profitable, don't have that nostalgia for when horror movies used to be fun and gross. They see the trailer, they see a dumb cheesy monster movie. They don't get the fun of it. The bastards.

I find it endearing that the barely-legal Patrick uses the phrase "kids of today" like some old curmudgeon.
Glad you relate more to us dinosaurs. You've got decent tastes and you're young impressionable mind is perfect for our needs here.

Hopefully the DVD will be a better success. It's deserving of all the praise.

Age ain't nothing but a number. I hardly consider these people my peers.

Right on. You've got my support.

Gooble gobble! One of us! One of us!


EDIT: More appropriately... Welcome to the fold.


No matter how crappy the marketing, WOM used to be able to help flicks like this, but it got yanked from the theater way too quick. I had to hunt for it on its 2nd week. I'm showing my buddies this and Feast next week on dvd for a Creature Double Feature. Should be a blast. They can't help but like em.

It is.

That pic alone makes me want to see it more.

Oh, I might also try to watch this alongside Shaun of the Dead and Feast next week hopefully.

You'll be glad you did.