Squirm (1976)

Well it is a new year and time to focus on some interesting films and to write my blogs and give my opinion on these films.

Squirm is a 1976 film about killer worms.  I know what your thinking, how on earth can worms kill someone?   My answer even after watching the film is I have no idea,  they claim that the killer worms are blood worms that bite. 

Now I admit that these worms are ugly and appear to have teeth, but still they are worms they aren't fast or very big.

So on with the film, it starts with a text scrawl explaining that on September 29thh 1975 a sudden electrical storm struck the small coastal town in Georgia, which caused the power lines in the town of Fly Creek to collapse, the power cables put electricity into the ground.  The storm also cut the town off from others. 

Yet another mother nature film claiming to be a true story with a text scrawl that states Fly Creek experienced what scientists believe to be one of the most bizarre freaks of nature ever recorded.  Seriously how gullible do they think we are to believe worms can kill.

We are then introduced to the stars of the film after shots of nature and worms we are shown a red headed girl in the shower and a gardener, Think Lawnmower man before VR.  The red head called Geri catches Roger the lawnmower man staring at her while undressed, well that's what happens when you stand naked in front of the window.

Geri needs to pick up her new boyfriend who is visiting her from New York, but with the roads flooded, she asks to use Rogers Truck.  I must explain Roger's Father is a worm farmer and sells them for bait, Roger transports the worms in the creates in the back of  his truck.

Mean while we finally see Geri's boyfriend Mick who appears to have everything you would need to camp out, he gets off a bus that has to turn back in the middle of the woods because there are trees down and the road is flooded.  Mick then asks the stupidest question "you don't know if there any toilets around here."

Just when you think he won't make it out of the woods, he falls into a deep hole and Geri finds him right then and bursts out laughing.  Ain't that lucky.

We see the road, which doesn't appear to be badly flooded at all, she tells him to hang on as they drive through a puddle.

Geri stops in town to get a block of ice for the house.  and Mick goes into a diner where the sleaziest sheriff ever has his hand right up the waitress' dress.  everyone in the diner is talking about the storm and Mick asks for a Egg cream which appears to be a chocolate milkshake and a worm is in it.

Now this is a diner for local people and as Mick is not local they all think he played a prank and that will continue for the rest of the film.

The film just doesn't make much sense, the sheriff doesn't believe Geri and Mick when they tell him on two separate occasions about dead bodies that they find as they appear to have disappeared when they take him to them.  This is classic of horror films that the law do not believe the protagonist.  but it's the fact that Mick takes a scull off a dead body and goes to the town dentist office, breaks in and checks the teeth against x-rays.

Mean while Geri is fishing with Roger and he tries hitting on her and ends up face first in worms and they burrow into his face but don't kill him, instead by the end of the film he appears to be a worm king.

The film seems to jump about and when Geri is busy doing stuff with Roger and Mick needs a companion for his investigation then we are introduced to Geri's annoying little sister.  All the town's people are weird and keep trying to sell their rubbish as antiques.

About an hour into the film even though we have seen skeletons and Mick decides that the worms are killing people though Roger wasn't killed. a tree falls on to Geri's house which leaves them open to the elements and all the worms the next half hour of the film is watching millions on worms swarm and squirm around and kill people, my favorites are Geri's Mother in a rocking chair becoming a mass of worms as they eat her alive and the sheriff who is sleeping with a women in a prison cell.

I have to say it is a well shot film and not the worst mother nature revenge films I have ever seen, but the script and acting are awful.  would I recommend this, well, I would if you like bad films that are so bad they are funny.  The early make up effects of Rick Baker are awesome and I seriously feel like Jeff Fahey based his performance of The Lawnmower Man on Roger in this film.