Squirm (1976)
Squirm is a horror film about flesh eating earthworms in Georgia from 1976. The film was directed by Jeff Lieberman. Starring Don Scardino and Patricia Pearcy. The film takes place in the fictional town of Fly Creek, Georgia, which becomes infested with carnivorous worms after an electrical storm. Lieberman’s script is based on a childhood incident in which his brother fed electricity into a patch of earth, causing earthworms to rise to the surface.
Plot
In Fly Creek when a storm knocks down the power lines worms are mutatet in fleash eating creatures.
Mick travels from New York to meet his girlfriend Geri Sanders and stays at her home with her mother Naomi Sanders and her sister.
On the arrival, Mick has a falling out with Sheriff Jim Reston and with Geri’s neighbor Roger Grimes. Soon they find that Fly Creek is infested of flesh eating worms that are eating the villagers.
Notable scenes
The huge amount of earthworms falling on the actors.
Making of Squirm
Most of the financing came from Broadway producers Edgar Lansbury and Joseph Beruh. Millions of worms were used over the five-week filming in Port Wentworth, Georgia; worms were brought in from Maine to augment local supplies. Makeup artist Rick Baker provided the special effects, using prosthetics for the first time in his career. After American International Pictures picked up Squirm for distribution, it was edited to remove the most graphic scenes in an unsuccessful attempt to lower its “R” rating to “PG”. The film was a commercial success, but opened to lukewarm reviews. It has since become a critical favorite and a cult classic.
The amount of sea worms used in the film was huge. The team would order shipments of 250,000 Glycera worms per order. This would end up wiping out the whole New England fishing industry’s supply of worms that year.
The inspiration for the film came from a childhood experiment between director Jeff Lieberman and his brother. One evening the two hooked up a train transformer to wet soil and used the electricity to drive hundreds of worms out of the ground. Young Lieberman noticed that the worms tried to get away from the glare of the flashlight that the boys were using to see by because worms are sensitive to light. It became the scientific basis behind this film and the story of the experiment is re-told by the character of Roger Grimes.
Our view on Squirm
a silly plot of flesh eating and sometimes screaming worms, bad acting and sometimes very bad audio so you can’t understand what the people are saying. This movie has it all. You have to see it to believe it. The special effects are sometimes too gross to be seen. Like worms on a guys face. The only classy thing about this movie may be the poster by a young Drew Struzan, known for posters of Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter. He was with this poster inspired by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. If you like a good creature feature you have to see this movie that has quite a cult following.
