dmonton-born Nathan Fillion had no way of knowing to what extent appearing in the short-lived TV series Firefly would affect his career. A veteran of series such as Miss Match, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and One Life to Live, he'd never broken through to star status. And it didn't seem likely to happen with Firefly, either, especially when the show was cancelled after only a few episodes had aired.

  Until something amazing happened. The fans complained long and loud, and Joss Whedon, the creator of the show, decided to do the unheard of: he wrote a script for a big screen version of the failed show.

  Fillion was called upon to reprise his role in the film, called Serenity, and suddenly, he found himself catapulted to big screen leading man status. As the wise-cracking Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Fillion's tongue-in-cheek charm was in demand.

  He was immediately cast as Sheriff Bill Pardy, Chief of Police in
actors
Nathan Filion
Elizabeth Banks
Michael Rooker
Gregg Henry
Don Thompson 

director
James Gunn

location
British Columbia

outtake
James Gunn wrote 2004's very scary Dawn of the Dead and the not-so-scary Scooby Doo movies

the sleepy little southern town of Wheelsy in Slither. Sounds like it might be about snakes, right? Wrong. At first glance, it's actually a horror film about slug-like aliens. However, it soon becomes obvious that the outrageous happenings are funny.

  That's not to say there's not plenty of gross-out material. Grant Grant (nope, not a typo, that's his name), one of the town's richest citizens, is married to the beautiful young Starla. One night, he ventures outside their home to investigate a noise and is attacked by something strange. He begins to mutate -- although he tries to blame the outrageous swelling on a bee sting. Pretty soon he turns into a sewage-spewing monster with slimy tentacles and huge fangs.

  "Marriage is a sacred bond for better or worse," vows Starla fervently as she stares at the disgusting creature that was once her husband. "Much worse," mutters Bill Pardy unbelievingly under his breath as he's called to the scene.

  As Grant begins to infect his fellow townsfolk, Sheriff Pardy and the town's inept mayor Jack MacReady go on a mission to stop him. While the mayor's busy laughing at his own jokes, Pardy becomes increasingly terrified.

  Writer and first time director James Gunn, told CHUD.com he wrote Slither as a throwback to the creep fests of 20 years ago. "I really discovered what I felt was missing in horror movies today, that sort of big over-the-top extreme fun feeling of the horror movies of the '80s… gooey, gory, oozy movies." Slither is all that served up with side of wit, he said. "It's a horror movie first, 100 per cent, but with a lot of humorous elements."

- Alexandra Heilbron