`SLITHER' MORE SCARY THAN CLEVER.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

True horror comedy (not the "Scary Movie" parody brand) is rare. So even a half-workable attempt at the genre splice, such as "Slither," can seem like a whole lot more fun than it actually is.

Outrageous ickiness crossed with deadpan dialogue and a few over-the-top characterizations triggers a lot of laughs. How well they're earned is a different matter.

Written and directed by James Gunn, who scripted the recent "Dawn of the Dead" remake, and no relation to the 1970s caper comedy "Slither," this one depends a great deal on slovenly Southern stereotypes, psycho-sexual undercurrents, warmed-over H.P. Lovecraft concepts and, when all else fails, a load of zombies.

That noted, there are some swell squirmy moments, decent lead performances and at least a dozen hearty, well-conceived laughs. As these things go, though, "Slither" does not quite operate at the sublime, creepy/comic level of Gunn's inspirations such as "Re-Animator" and "The Brood," nor of the more recent zombie comedies "Shawn of the Dead" and "George Romero's Land of the Dead."

A baldheaded Michael Rooker (the immortal "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" star), plays Grant Grant. A rich cracker in a small Carolina town, Grant gets implanted with the master alien spore one night and starts mutating into a giant, hugely carnivorous squid creature, while doing his best to impregnate local women with his slug progeny.

Soon, hundreds of the goo-pups are slithering into whatever mammalian orifi they can find - and turning their hosts into walking-dead extensions of the Grant/alien's master consciousness. Or something like that. Anyway, it's up to Grant's beloved, much-younger wife Starla (Elizabeth Banks) and Bill (Nathan Fillion), the local police chief who also loves Starla, to try to keep the viral monster from world domination.

Still, nothing quite as clever as "Shawn's" going to the pub as usual, despite the sudden outbreak of zombie fever, manifests here.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

SLITHER - Two and one half stars

(R: violence, language, nudity, children in jeopardy, mutant sex)

Starring: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker, Tania Saulnier, Gregg Henry.

Director: James Gunn.

Running time: 1 hr. 37 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Slugs from outer space invade a Southern town, implant themselves in local cretins, seek meat. Attempts to be funny and scary, sometimes succeeds at both.