Story of movie Squirm Film : Squirm is a 1976 American natural horror film directed by Jeff Lieberman, and starring Don Scardino and Patricia Pearcy. The plot follows a small Georgia town that becomes inundated with flesh-burrowing worms. It features early makeup work from Oscar-winning makeup artist Rick Baker. The film was shot over the course of 24 days in Port Wentworth, Georgia.
| Squirm | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jeff Lieberman |
| Produced by | George Manas |
| Written by | Jeff Lieberman |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Robert Prince |
| Cinematography | Joseph Mangine |
| Edited by | Brian Smedley-Aston |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Screenplay
This article needs an improved plot summary. (August 2014) |
When a powerful storm knocks Fly Creek, Georgia's power lines down onto wet soil, the resulting surge of electricity drives large, bloodthirsty worms to the surface and out of their soil-tilling minds. The townspeople soon discover that their sleepy fishing village is overrun with worms that burrow right into their skin. Inundated by hundreds of thousands of carnivorous creatures, the terrorized locals race to find the cause of the rampage before becoming tilled under themselves.
- Don Scardino as Mick
- Patricia Pearcy as Geraldine "Geri" Sanders
- R.A. Dow as Roger Grimes
- Jean Sullivan as Naomi Sanders
- Peter MacLean as Sheriff Jim Reston
- Fran Higgins as Alma Sanders
- William Newman as Quigley
- Barbara Quinn as The Sheriff's Girl
- Carl Dagenhart as Willie Grimes
- Angel Sande as Millie
- Carol Jean Owens as Lizzie
- Kim Leon Iocovozzi as Hank
- Walter Dimmick as Danny
- Leslie Thorsen as Bonnie
- Julia Klopp as Mrs. Klopp
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The film was released theatrically in the United States by American International Pictures on July 30, 1976.
This movie was initially rated R by the MPAA and released theatrically in that form in the United States. Shortly after this initial theatrical release, the U.S. distributor, American International Pictures, made some minor cuts to the picture and resubmitted it to the Classification and Rating Administration. This new cut of the picture received a PG rating and, subsequently, was also released theatrically by AIP. No additional edits were made specifically for the United States video release. The R-rated version has a slightly longer shot in the shower in the beginning of the film, and a slightly longer shot of the worms burrowing into Roger's face.
Since the PG-rated version is considered the official theatrical release version of the film, the original R-rated cut is now classified as an unrated version of the film.
Home media
The film was released on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment in 2003. The VHS version of the MGM re-release contained the PG version, while the DVD contained the R version. The R-rated version is one minute longer than the PG-rated version.
The uncut R-rated version was released in the United Kingdom on Blu-ray and DVD by Arrow Video on September 23, 2013. This same version was released in the United States on Blu-ray by Shout! Factory/Scream Factory on October 28, 2014.
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 36% based on 14 reviews with an average rating of 4.6 out of 10. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film has "two decent performances by John Scardino and Patricia Pearcy and some effectively revolting moments when it deals with real worms photographed in close-up. It sort of goes to pieces, though, in its spectacle scenes. The sight of a young man sinking slowly up to his eyeballs in worms looks no more terrifying than a busboy having an accident at Mama Leone's". Variety declared, "Some genuine creepy special effects are offset by clumsy and amateurish low-budget location production, yet there is some admirable earnestness to the effort". Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a nifty little horror film that strikes a good balance between humor and terror ... writer-director Jeff Lieberman displays plenty of panache, deftly playing a disarming folksy atmosphere against rapidly escalating peril". John Pym of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This low-budget shocker adheres to a familiar plot pattern; nevertheless Jeff Lieberman's restrained use of the worms, his flourishes of black humour and, above all, his determination to trim the narrative and not to strive for overblown or fantastic effects combine to make Squirm a commendable and at times genuinely startling addition to a recently thriving genre".
Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, calling it an "above-average horror outing builds to good shock sequences".
Influence
Squirm was a popular late-night feature on TBS in the 1980s after Atlanta Braves baseball games. Braves announcer Skip Caray famously "promoted" the movie by sarcastically offering Braves fans an autographed baseball if they actually stayed up to watch it, then sent in a review of it. TBS received over 1,000 reviews in response.
Pittsburgh musician Weird Paul Petroskey created an entire album, Worm in My Egg Cream, dedicated to the "worm in the egg cream" scene and making extensive use of samples from the film. All 16 tracks on the album are titled "Worm in My Egg Cream".
In 1999, Squirm was one of the final films to be featured on the original Mystery Science Theater 3000 series.
