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Squirm

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Squirm
Directed byJeff Lieberman
Written byJeff Lieberman
Produced byGeorge Manas
StarringDon Scardino
Patricia Pearcy
R.A. Dow
Jean Sullivan
Peter MacLean
Fran Higgins
William Newman
Barbara Quinn
CinematographyJoseph Mangine
Edited byBrian Smedley-Aston
Music byRobert Prince
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures
Release dates
July 30, 1976 (USA)
Running time
93 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUnknown
Box officeUnknown

Squirm is a 1976 "nature-strikes-back" horror film starring Don Scardino and Patricia Pearcy. It was the debut of cult horror director Jeff Lieberman and remains the director's most popular film. Squirm also featured some impressive early makeup work from Oscar-winning makeup artist Rick Baker. It was shot over the course of 24 days in Port Wentworth, Georgia. The story takes place in the small town of Fly Creek, Georgia which has a horrible storm one night that knocks the power lines down. Electricity is pumped into the ground. This inadvertently makes the bloodworms in the town go crazy and begin viciously biting people.

In 1999, the movie was featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000's penultimate episode.

Synopsis

Geri Sanders (Patricia Pearcy) lives with her mother (Jean Sullivan) and sister, Alma (Fran Higgins) in rural Fly Creek, Georgia. She has invited a new friend, Mick, (Don Scardino) down to her house for five days, ostensibly for an antiquing trip, though they obviously have some sort of romantic chemistry. Geri borrows the truck of Roger, a neighbor who has an unrequited crush on her. The truck is a work vehicle - Roger and his father operate a worm farm which cultivates the creatures for use as bait.

Mick's bus ride unexpectedly ends early when the driver discovers that a tree, felled by a horrific storm the night before, has blocked the only road into Fly Creek. Mick chooses to walk into town on his own; he meets Geri in the woods after falling into a swamp. He and Geri head into town to buy ice as a favor to Geri's mother; while she's in the general store, Mick is startled by unusual noises coming from the back of the worm truck, and goes into a restaurant. He orders an egg cream, but finds an enormous worm in it. The local sheriff, present in the restaurant, suspects that "city boy" Mick is merely playing a prank. He doesn't find it a bit amusing, setting the stage for an increasing war of hostilities between the two.

Geri returns the truck to Roger, who immediately gets in trouble with his father, who discovers that the formerly full crate of worms in the back of the vehicle is now empty, and berates his son for letting friends borrow it. Geri and Mick placate Roger by promising to go on a fishing trip with him later in the afternoon; first, though, they have a previous appointment with the local antiques dealer to keep. However, when they arrive at his home, they find no one home, and instead discover a skeleton in his yard. Mick and Geri lead the Sheriff back to where the skeleton was and discover that it's gone. Geri and Mick begin to suspect Roger is the killer, but go out fishing with him anyway. When Mick is bitten by a very large worm in the bait bucket, Roger relates a tale (for the purposes of foreshadowing) of how, when his father started the worm farm, he electrified the ground to bring worms up. The roused worms bit and permanently injured Roger. Mick goes back to shore to bandage himself, leaving Roger and Geri in the boat alone.

Roger makes clumsy advances, but Geri pushes him away. Neither of them notice that the bait bucket has overturned, causing the worms to spill onto the floor of the boat; as Roger tries to force himself on Geri, the worms begin to attack and bite him. He screams and the two of them fall off the boat. Roger runs away into the forest, screaming in pain, and soon disappears.

Meanwhile, Mick goes into the back of the old man's worm truck and discovers the skeleton he and Geri had earlier found in the antiques dealer's yard. He has the idea to take the skull to compare to dental records; the dentist's office is closed, as the storm has knocked out all power to Fly Creek. Geri's sister Alma sees him and tags along. Looking at X-Rays, Mick realizes the skull is that of the antiques dealer.

After unsuccessfully trying to convince the Sheriff of the death of the antiques dealer, Mick and Geri give up and return to her home. While having dinner at Geri's house, a tree falls over and crushes part of their house. Alma decides to go take a shower and leaves the water running, but it's not water that's coming out of the shower head. It's worms.

Mick figures out that it's the electricity that's causing the worms to grow and goes to a torn down mill to get some spare wood to patch up the house so the worms can't get in. He picks a big piece of plywood and then starts heading back through the woods. However, he is apprehended by Roger, whose face is horribly disfigured, who throws him into a pit, hurting his ankle. He throws the plywood on him which knocks him out, and worms start to come out of the dirt around him.

Meanwhile, all the power is out and Naomi (Geri and Alma's mother) is knitting. She hears a noise and realizes that Alma left the water on. Alma, with only a lantern, goes up to the bathroom and opens the door, only to be covered by a multitude of worms.

Mick awakens and takes his shirt off and lights it on fire with a lighter. Using a stick, he climbs out of the pit and begins his trek home. No worms have gotten Mick in the time that he was unconscious.

Back at the house, Geri asks her mother, who is getting somewhat paranoid, if she left any of the doors open. Her mother says that she left the back door open to get some fresh air in the house. While going to the back door, Roger covers Geri's mouth and takes her away. Through a hole in the ceiling, worms are coming and they attack Geri and Alma's mother.

Mick gets back to the house and finds that it has been almost completely overrun by worms. He manages to get up the stairs and goes into the attic, where he is attacked by Roger. Geri is tied up in the attic, too. They get to the stairs and Mick flips Roger over into the huge amount of worms. He goes upstairs and frees Geri and starts to climb out the window into a nearby tree. Roger is still alive, but with broken legs, and bites Mick in the leg as he is about to go out the window. Mick beats Roger to death with his flashlight and climbs out the window and hides in the tree with Geri.

Mick and Geri wake up and talk to an elderly electrician who says that the town's power is back to normal. All the worms are gone. It turns out that Alma didn't die. Roger had knocked her unconscious and hid her in a trunk. Waking up, she gets out of the trunk and goes to the window where she greets Geri and Mick. And down in front of the house are many holes in the ground.

Cast

Trivia

  • Once in the 1980s, WPIX-TV in New York accidentally showed the film in black-and-white. Instead of complaining, Jeff Lieberman called the station and mentioned how much he loved the way the film looked. In fact, Lieberman prefers people to watch the film in black-and-white even though a black-and-white version is not available. Instead, you should turn the color down all the way on your television set.
  • According to director Jeff Lieberman, the reason actress Jean Sullivan spoke with such an exaggerated southern accent was because she was a fan of Tennessee Williams and was playing homage to him.
  • The unearthly screeching sounds used for the worms are actually the electronically processed sounds of screaming pigs in slaughterhouses.
  • According to director Jeff Lieberman, there was no trickery used in the scene where the tree falls and smashes through the Sanders' dining room. Lieberman said it was all done in one take with an actual cut tree being released from a crane to fall through the constructed set, complete with the actors on set! Several cameras were placed inside the set to capture the actors literally fleeing for their lives as the large tree landed within feet of them.
  • Aside from the main cast the rest of the people featured in the film were locals of Port Wentworth, Georgia - the small town where the film was shot on location.
  • 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 light-sensitive. It became the scientific basis behind this film and the story of the experiment is re-told by the character of Roger Grimes.
  • R.A. Dow, who played Roger, was a Method actor and lived in Port Wentworth, Georgia, for a few weeks before the shoot began so he could develop a feel for the local character.
  • 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.
  • On the DVD commentary of the film, Jeff Lieberman says that the old farmhouse used for Mr. Beardsley's home during the shoot is known as one of the most infamous haunted houses in Georgia.
  • The shot of the worms pouring out of the living room ceiling was actually a reverse shot. The camera was turned upside down and filmed live worms being dropped onto a floor that was a mock-up of the ceiling. When the footage was reversed, it appeared as if the worms fell from a hole in the ceiling.

Alternate Versions

  • Squirm was heavily edited for its appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1999. Among the many scenes cut from the film was the scene of Mick trudging through the swamp, the conversation between Mick and Alma, the worms graphic attack on Roger, the gruesome fate of Mrs. Sanders, and the climax where Roger crawls after Mick and attempts to bite him.
  • This movie was initially rated R by the MPAA and released theatrically in that form in the U.S. Shortly after this initial theatrical release, the U.S. distributor, American International Pictures, made some minor cuts to the picture and re-submitted it to the CARA. This new cut of the picture received a PG-rating and, subsequently, was also released theatrically by A.I.P. No additional edits were made specifically for the U.S. 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 burying into Roger's face.
  • The current MGM re-release VHS is rated PG and the DVD is rated R. The R-rated version is one minute longer than the PG-rated version.

Cultural References

Legendary Pittsburgh musician Weird Paul Petroskey created an entire album dedicated to the worm in the egg cream scene. The album is called Worm in my Egg Cream, and all 16 tracks are titled "Worm In My Egg Cream". It makes extensive use of sound bites from the film.

Squirm was one of the final films to be featured on the cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000.

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