ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Neither radiation nor environmental abuses were invoked to explain the carnivorous earthworms that surface in a small Georgia town -- just plain old electricity.

When a couple of power lines fall to the ground on a rain-soaked night, the electricity brings up these nasty people-eaters who threatened Don Scardino, R. A. Dow, Fran Higgens, Patricia Pearcy, Jean Sullivan, and Peter MacLean.

Critics vary in their opinion of this thriller by writer-director Jeff Lieberman. Reportedly he used 250,000 earthworms (a trivia fact guaranteed to make you the hit of any party).

The poster for this one is a real winner. It reminds me of the one done for "The Bat People".


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's something new! A YouTube video of the trailer for this movie that has a button on the screen at the end which let's you click and order the Blu-ray from SHOUT FACTORY (even though the video lists it as SCREAM FACTOR).

Kinda cool, I think.
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______________ Squirm (1976) Official Trailer


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IMDB has quite a few interesting trivia items about this movie. Here's two of them.
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The amount of sea worms used in the film was countless, as the production would order shipments of 250,000 Glycera worms at a time. The production would end up wiping out New England's supply of Glycera fishing worms that year.

Sylvester Stallone eagerly pursued the casting agents for the part of Roger, and Martin Sheen was briefly attached to the project to play Mick. Kim Basinger auditioned for the female lead.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bogmeister]

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SQUIRM, foolish humans, Squirm when the worms come to town!

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There's something about this one that's extra gross. I can sit through FOOD OF THE GODS and EMPIRE OF THE ANTS many times, no problem. I can even stomach KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS and BUG fairly easily.

But this . . . this one is too creepy, too squishy, too something . . . yuck! Worms — just not my cup of tea. And not my kind of egg cream — see the film to figure that one out, I dare ya.

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There's creepiness beyond just the worm factor. I appreciated the gloomy, eerie beginning during the night storm. One camera shot is on a swaying street light as the rain whips through the night, and we hear a kid's voice singing (badly).

The director (Jeff Lieberman) was up to something here — it's not just a simple shock fest. Some of the characters are creepy, too. There's the expected creepy sheriff, but the one who takes the creep-o honors is the dumb hick played by R.A. Dow. I kind of figured he would be in the middle of a Texas Chainsaw-style Massacre anyway, even if there was no worm problem. Check it out.

______________________ Scene from Squirm


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In the plot, there's a new arrival (Don Scardino) in the rural area where this story takes place, there to visit his girlfriend. He picked the wrong time to visit.

A DVD of this film came out about 5 years ago. It has an audio commentary by the director (who was also the writer). Yeah, I have it. Why do I have it? One of these days I might have someone over whom I'd like to knock down a peg or two. I'll sit 'em in front of the TV and say, "Hey, I want you to check out this movi. See what ya think."

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10

As it happens, I found the paperback novelization of SQUIRM by Richard Curtis, based on Lieberman's screenplay. I guess it's a chance to sample the gross, squishy quality in a novel format.
The back cover to the paperback had some shots of the action.

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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus