JAMES Gunn cut his film-making teeth writing unashamedly trashy fare for micro-budget, gore-friendly Troma Films. He was responsible for such classics as Tromeo and Juliet, where the Bard's tale of star-crossed lovers was spiced up with plenty of lesbianism and decapitation.

His first film as writer and director, Slither, retains a B-movie sensibility, merging horror and humour, while benefiting from a big studio budget.

Events take place in a small town in South Carolina, which has its lazy daily rhythm disturbed by the arrival of some very slimy aliens.

First to discover the visitors is the town's richest man, Grant Grant (Michael Rooker). He pokes a stick at one of the eggs and is promptly entered through the stomach by the beast, in an Alien-like impregnation.

Slither is full of references to other films such as the emetic work of David Cronenbourg and George Romero's zombie output.

With the alien inside him, Grant starts acting very oddly. His skin breaks out in ugly boils and he develops a rapacious appetite for meat. He starts eating his way through most of the town's pets and livestock.

His wife Starla (Elizabeth Banks) is incredibly accepting of Grant's ways and his physical transformation, even when he resembles a squid crossed with Jabba The Hut.

As she puts it: "Marriage is a sacred bond."

The film is both genuinely funny and seriously creepy.

Starla joins with gruff Sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillian) to save the town when her husband hatches hundreds of little slugs which hunt out their own hosts.

They enter and possess the townfolk in ever more disgusting ways, turning them into plodding, flesh-hungry zombies.

Yes it's silly and derivative but the film is so smartly done and aware of its own insignificance it's impossible not to enjoy.

Despite the film featuring a load of slugs, it moves at a breakneck pace.

After the souless sheen of the recent horror releases this is a messy delight.