Filmed Locally - Slugs

SCHOHARIE COUNTY — It’s 1988, and people in a rural community have been suffering grotesque fates, leaving a slime trail of bodies and a mystery no one can solve. After stumbling on the gruesome death of local drunk Ron Bell, health worker Mike Brady has a hunch, an admittedly wild one, about what might be happening. Brady is convinced that the bodies popping up all over town are not the work of a deranged serial killer, but murderous slugs with a taste for humans! Local authorities laugh off Brady’s theory (and who wouldn’t?!), but the carnage continues. Mike and his co-worker realize the locations of the murders line up precisely with the town’s sewer system, a fact augmented by the many animal carcasses they have discovered clogging up the sewers. Could it be that chemicals from the nearby abandoned toxic waste dump have created some kind of mutant slug?! Time is running out, and if the town wants peace, they may need to believe Mike’s crazy idea before it’s too late! 

So goes the plot of Slugs, also known as Slugs: The Movie, a campy 1988 horror film directed by cult-film director Juan Piquer Simón based on a 1982 book of the same name by Shaun Hutson (who reportedly hated the movie so much that he never again allowed a film adaptation of any of his books). The English language Spanish production lists two official locations for its productions: Lyons, New York, and Madrid, Spain. However, rumors have swirled since the 1980s that Slugs also used parts of Schoharie County for its rural, small-town scenes, including storefronts and woods near Middleburgh and Cobleskill. Now, certainly, Lyons (in Wayne County) could offer the same small-town Upstate New York vibe as Schoharie County, but adding to the lore are accounts from residents who claim to have seen film trucks around and strange and mysterious props in the woods. 

The full movie can be viewed on Hoopla, a free streaming service that requires a library card for access, and on YouTube through a less-than-stellar upload from a VHS, which might appeal to those nostalgic for the days of video rentals (and is perhaps fitting for the vibe of Slugs!). Do you remember seeing Slugs being filmed in our area in 1986? Can you identify a specific location by watching the film? If so, email me at mountaineaglebradley@gmail.com and let’s get Schoharie County added to the official location list of Slugs!