"Slither" is the film that many horror fans have been waiting for — or at least since "Shaun of the Dead" and the "Dawn of the Dead" remake came along in 2004.

It's a smart, funny and scary science-fiction/horror movie that pays homage to the classics, as well as such cult hits as "Night of the Creeps" and the "Evil Dead" films.

And yes, it is R-rated for gore and language. But it's bloody good fun.

And, of course, it's bombing. The film grossed just $3.9 million in its opening weekend, and in the first six days of business has made less than $5 million.

And Universal Pictures has no one else to blame, since the studio decided not to pre-screen the film in a few markets, or waited until the last minute, thereby ensuring that opening-day reviews were sparse.

Unfortunately, "Slither" is the type of film that needs word of mouth or opening-day reviews, and the reviews for the film were very positive. It currently has an 86 percent favorable rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Web site, which compiles and excepts reviews from around the country.

SCARY? OR JUST PLAIN SAD? You have to despair at the future of the horror genre when a movie like "Slither" can't scare up at least a little business and "Saw" and its sequel, as well as "Hostel," wind up becoming box-office hits. Although part of their success may have had to do with scheduling — none of those films had to contend with a blockbuster like "Ice Age: The Meltdown."

IF YOU CAN'T UP WITH SOMETHING NEW. . . . As depressing as it sounds, things only look bleaker for the horror genre. Films on the horizon include plenty of remakes and sequels (in addition to a third "Saw" installment, there's a second "Grudge" film in production).

And Universal seems determined to strip-mine its old monsters classics. There's a remake of 1954's "Creature From the Black Lagoon" helmed by Breck Eisner, the son of former Disney mogul Michael Eisner. (This one's been in the works for decades. At different times, filmmakers Joe Dante, John Landis and John Carpenter were attached, and Carpenter even commissioned a script by John Sayles.)

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Now Universal has green-lighted a new version of "The Wolf Man," the 1941 film that turned Lon Chaney Jr. into a horror star (before then, he was known for working on more "serious" movies, such as the 1939 version of "Of Mice and Men"). Benicio Del Toro is starring and co-producing this remake, and the current version of the script was written by Andrew Kevin Walker ("Se7en," "8mm").

Let's just hope that Universal treats the character better this time than it did with "Van Helsing," which pretty much defiled the Wolf Man legacy, as well as that of Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster.

By the way, there appears to be no truth to the rumor that the hirsute Del Toro will be playing the werewolf without the aid of makeup.


E-mail: jeff@desnews.com

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