Spawn of the Slithis - 1978

I totally forgot I saw this movie.  I also went into it wanting it to be really good Z grade trash and I have to admit it didn't quite scratch that itch.  This was a little while back, like 4 days or so ago that I saw this one.  This is one that actually has a fun story.

A long time ago, producers used to invent fun and original ways to get people to come see the movie.  In the 50's when the monster movie was exploding, producers invented all sorts of movie gimmicks to get audiences talking about their flicks.  William Castle of Castle films was also known to go above and beyond absurd in making these gimmicks.  Commonly, movies would offer you insurance if you died during the film, money if you could PROVE that the monster didn't exist, and more.  Here are some awesome gimmicks!  Anyways, this was obviously not a idea that would stick around forever, and most of these played out well before the 80's.  Spawn of the Slithis is known to have been a late subscriber to the gimmick idea, offering up....a "Slithis Survival Kit"!

Now, isn't that just awesome?  You can join a fan club, you can ward off the Slithis should it attack your neighborhood....  Aw man.  I searched long and hard to find a scanned copy of that thing online.  I want to join the fan club, do you think that address is still right?  And do you think they still get people sending these things in?  I love it.

Slithis is about a toxic monster that's created by a leak of nuclear fluids.  It goes around murdering the townsfolk who happen to be around it's little river home (usually these are homeless or hippies).  Police are on the trail pretty soon, and this movie follows every regimented idea about how police track down a weird toxic monster.

The Slithis itself varies from shot to shot.  It's clear they reuse one specific shot time and time again:

This shot.

In the faraway shots, the monster looks different, which was vaguely confusing.  Also, note how different the monster looks from the one on the Survival Kit.  It's mostly the mouth, I guess it does look somewhat similar.  Also, what the fuck city is in the back ground on the Survival Kit?  A weird dome building with two rows of lights?

It's definitely a classic 1970's horror monster movie, one I already want to see again.  For purposes of the review, I found it slow paced and yawn inducing, but it still gets 3.5 stars, damnit.