Note: the onscreen title of this little-remembered 1978 forerunner to PROPHECY and HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP is SPAWN OF SLITHIS, but it was advertised, and is widely known as, SLITHIS.
Certainly the only monster movie ever made whose critter emerges from the canals of Venice Beach, CA, SLITHIS rivals ROLLER BOOGIE (1979) in its period-specific depiction of that town in the late 1970s. It was made for a reported $100,000 and was a sizeable hit, grossing $11 million (despite a claim by Roger Ebert that “The audience sat mired in boredom during the dialog, roused itself for the Slithis attacks and sank into torpor again”). It was the only feature directorial credit for Stephen Traxler—who went on to become a prolific production manager (with credits that include INVASION U.S.A., WATERWORLD and WINDTALKERS)—who was working with a crew that included future director Mimi Leder (DEEP IMPACT) as script supervisor.
Beyond that the film is notable for its publicity campaign, which made sure to trumpet the fact that it was “Nominated for 2 awards by Sci-Horror Academy” (a claim repeated on the VHS and Blu-ray packaging). Also present was a William Castle-esque gimmick in the form of “SLITHIS Survival Kits,” consisting of four-page booklets with instructions on how to survive an attack by the Slithis—with the final and most important of those instructions being to “Join the SLITHIS fan club…he will remember you when he stalks your neighborhood.”
The film begins with the discovery of two mutilated dog carcasses alongside Venice Beach’s major canal, followed by the brutal killings of an elderly couple who live nearby. The high school journalism teacher Wayne (Alan Blanchard) conducts a private investigation into the killings, which come to include a local drunk, a cocksman and the latter’s young woman conquest, who’s subjected to a protracted attack in which she’s stripped naked (providing the requisite exploitation).
The culprit, it seems, is a clump of organic mud called Slithis, created by radioactive waste dumped from a nuclear power plant (actually the Hyperion Waste Treatment facility in El Segundo, CA), that takes on the form of whatever comes into contact with it. The contact in this case was apparently made by the Creature from the Black Lagoon, as a slimier and more rotund variant on that iconic critter is precisely what the Slithis looks like. It’s also given POV shots, seen through what appears to be (and very likely was) the bottom of a bottle. Unfortunately, the proceedings degenerate considerably in the third act, with turns into a JAWS retread as Wayne boards a boat with some colleagues to take on the Slithis in its own element.
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Stephen Traxler had ambitions toward prose fiction, as the narrative construction is very novelistic. Similar to the “Nasties” school of horror writing popular when SLITHIS was in production, the film’s supporting characters are all thoroughly fleshed-out; in the manner of the mini-biographies provided by horror novelists like James Herbert and Guy N. Smith, each character is given a colorful background and speech pattern prior to his/her death. It helps that the acting, outside a ludicrously overplayed police chief whose performer (Alejandro Vass) appears to have been trying to channel Patrick Magee, is less terrible than expected.
The atmospheric depiction of Venice Beach is the major selling point. The film is unique in Venice set cinema in that it depicts life outside that town’s world-famous boardwalk, along with region-specific rituals like a late-night turtle race. The expected low budget exploitation movie filler, consisting of footage of the protagonists walking around Venice Beach and verité montages of the locals going about their day-to-day business, actually works in the film’s favor, as it enhances the sense of place.
Understand, I’m not saying SLITHIS is a good film. It is, in fact, every bit the clichéd, painfully low budget trash fest you’d expect, but its writer-director did at least try to elevate the proceedings.
Vital Statistics
SLITHIS (SPAWN OF SLITHIS)
Fabtrax Films
Director/Screenplay: Stephen Traxler
Producers: Stephen Traxler
Cinematography: Robert Caramico
Editing: Robert M. Ross
Cast: Alan Blanchard, Judy Motulsky, Mello Alexandria, Dennis Lee Falt, Winn Condict, Rocky Fumarelli, Jon Hatfield, Hy Pyke, Daphne Cohen, Stephen J. Hoag, Wendy Rastatter, Don Cummins, David Ridenour, Dave Carlton, Dale Caldwell, Ken Stimson, Gregory Clemmons, Ed Fournier, Prudie Butler