"Slither" is a B-movie, but with a higher budget. It contains some well-known, gifted actors and decent special effects. Though nowhere near awe-inspiring, the effects seem to be carefully constructed to just the right level of cheesiness. In fact, the entire movie is about as cheesy as those Jessica Simpson Pizza Hut commercials (cheesy as in second-rate, not like the bites that are made for poppin').

The difference is that James Gunn, the director and writer, knows exactly what he is doing. It is not cheesy for lack of talent. It is cheesy because it is paying homage to all the delightfully bad horror movies that have come before it.

The movie opens with an outer-space look at an asteroid hurling toward Earth. Then, viewers are shown a billboard welcoming drivers to the small southern town of Wheelsy. The billboard itself looks like an old-fashioned movie poster.

Next to the sign, Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion, "Serenity"), a local policeman, sits in his patrol car trying to get some sleep while his partner will not shut up about some trivial subject matter. As they discuss something of no importance, an asteroid faintly collides with the Earth behind the car in the distance. They are none the wiser and humorously continue their conversation.

The next day, Starla Grant (Elizabeth Banks, "The 40-Year-Old-Virgin") is finishing up her day of teaching. She walks outside and is greeted by Bill, who has had a crush on her since they were growing up in Wheelsy. Soon after, her somewhat older husband with the redundant name of Grant Grant (Michael Rooker, "Mallrats") arrives to pick her up, warning her not to speak to Bill. With his shaved head and oversized glasses, Rooker portrays a creepy man rather well and, soon enough, a creepy mutant alien even better.

That night, Starla declines Grant's advances for sex, prompting him to go to a local karaoke bar where he and Brenda (Brenda James, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants") decide to go on a little romp in the woods. There, Grant finds a suspicious looking trail of goop that he follows to an egg of some sort. The egg spits a thorn-like worm into his chest and an X-ray of his body shows it traveling up into his brain. He has just become the host of the alien.

Remarkably, among the craziness, the movie contains several moments of genuine fright. The viewer will undoubtedly feel his or her heart rate rise more than a few times. Still, what the movie does best is playing with the over-the-top circumstances.

Some of the biggest laughs occur at moments that are not necessarily a straightforward joke, but rather a ridiculous event or situation. For example, as Kylie (Tania Saulnier, "She's the Man") is taking a bath, one of the many slugs that are taking over bodies around town slithers up the bathtub. It reaches the edge of the tub and falls into the water. The slug begins flailing its tail back and forth to propel itself forward, swimming in a fashion that unmistakably resembles a sperm. This cannot be merely a coincidence. Either way, the sight of this slug struggling to swim is quite comical.

Other funny moments occur when the survivors are arguing over something that is way off topic. The finest instance of this is when, as they are fleeing from the mutants, Bill and the mayor (Gregg Henry, "Payback") argue over the meaning of the term "Martian." Is it exclusively an alien from Mars or has it come to refer to any alien life form?

These moments are hilarious. They nicely parody the stupidity of the stereotypical B-movie characters when they either are unaware of something that has just taken place that will end up having a significant impact on their lives, arguing over something unimportant that will not have a significant impact on their lives or any combination of the two.

Setting the movie in the South is somewhat unnecessary, though. Perhaps this is a commentary on the horror movie genre, but more likely it just a way to use Southern stereotypes as an easy target for jokes. In the end, it's all somewhat insignificant. The characters would have been just as ridiculous no matter where they came from.

Most amazingly, the movie is able to be original among its B-movie roots. Never before has an audience witnessed an alien that overtakes a human body and forces him to impregnate a local woman who then gives birth to an army of slugs that crawl down people's throats, turning them into zombies that possess the same brain as the original host and eventually meld into the host's body.

It all sounds pretty preposterous, but whether or not the movie makes sense is beside the point. Though the following statement may not make perfect sense either, it is safe to say that there has never been anything quite like "Slither" while at the same time, there are countless B-movies just like it.

Rating: 4 out of 5