Digital Dismemberment: Squirm Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray Review

Director- Jeff Lieberman

Producer- Joseph Beruh, Edgar Lansbury and George Manasse

Special FX- Don Farnsworth, Lee Howard and Bill Milling

Cast- Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R.A. Dow, Jean Sullivan, Peter MacLean, Fran Higgins, William Newman, Barbara Quinn, Carl Dagenhart, Angel Sande, Carol Jean Owens, Kim Iocouvozzi and Walter Dimmick

Released By- Scream Factory

Release Date- October 28th, 2014

The Premise- 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 then out of their soil-tilling minds! Soon, the townspeople discover that their sleepy fishing village is overrun with worms that burrow right into their skins! Inundated by hundreds of thousands of carnivorous creatures, the terrorized locals race to find the cause of the rampage- before becoming tilled under themselves!

The first horror film in Writer/Producer/Director Jeff Lieberman’s quirky and stylistic library of films, Squirm was the result of experiments with his brother in the back yard when Jeff was younger, using a train transformer and the electricity it produced to drive worms out of the ground. The film includes the early work FX work of Rick Baker with the addition of almost a million Glycera worms (which wiped out the supply of worms in New England for almost a year!). Some of the early casting ideas included Kim Basinger (as Geri Sanders), Sylvester Stallone (Roger Grimes) and Martin Sheen (Mick)! Not a creature feature in the sense of mutations or science gone wrong, the film instead trends towards an accident displacing millions of worms from the ground due to storms and electric current flowing through the ground. More of a wrong place, wrong time type of deal, Jeff manages to make the small country locations and gives it a sense of isolation once the worms begin flowing and eating the townspeople. Authentic looking and sounding due to using locations in Port Wentworth, GA and the use of many locals, you believe the surroundings and circumstances. Capable acting, camera work and FX makes this film worth watching, all while watching nature run amok. The soundtrack has a way of pleasing the ears as well and fits the general tone of the film to a T. A under-rated film that is finally getting its just due…

The film opens with a narrative telling us about a storm that hits Fly Creek, Ga in 1975, sending thousands of volts of electricity into the ground. The intensity of the storm rocks the small town, with widespread damage being done to the town and the electrical wires. The next day, we see Geri (Patricia Pearcy) showering, getting ready to pick up her friend Mick (Don Scardino). Roger (R.A. Dow) is outside cleaning up after the storm for Geri’s mother. The power and water is out at the house, and the mother expresses concern over whether Mick can make it. Geri asks to borrow Roger’s truck to pick up Mick. Roger is reluctant, but relents and tells her to be careful as he has a shipment of worms in the back. Mick’s bus can’t make it into town, so he hops off of the bus and walks into town. After trudging through the woods, Mick and Geri meet up and head back to the house. Geri runs into the local store for ice as Mick goes to the local restaurant to get an egg crème and water. As Mick drinks it, he is shocked to find a worm in it and spills it. As he argues about it with the waitress, the Sheriff (Peter MacLean) interjects himself and runs him off. They get back to the house and meets her family, including her sister Alma (Fran Higgins)…

As they head out to see someone, Roger stops them and yells at Geri about his shipment of worms being missing from the back of the truck. Geri apologizes and she and Mick continue on. When they arrive, Mr. Beardsley does not answer. They search the property for him and find a skeleton in the back yard. They rush off to find the Sheriff, but when they get back, the skeleton is missing. The Sheriff get irate, thinking they are pulling a prank on him. Mick changes clothes at the house and smokes a joint with Alma, where she gives him some details about the town and people. They head to Quigley’s bar to find Beardsley, but he has not been seen. They run into Roger, and they all agree to go fishing. They go to meet Roger at his house, but he is not home. They check the shed in the yard and find the skeleton that went missing earlier. They later run into him at the dock and they go fishing. Mick is bitten by one of the worms and goes back to shore, scheming to get the skull as evidence, and Alma winds up seeing it as well. Geri goes back to fishing with Roger, but he tries to get rough with her on the boat. She struggles with him and pushes him down in the boat. The worms attack and burrow into his face and he falls out of the boast and runs away. She gets back to house later and lies to her mother about what happened…

Alma and Mick break into the dentist’s office and he compares the teeth x-rays to the skull. They are shocked to find out that the skull matches the x-rays of the missing man Beardsley. When they get back, Geri tells Mick about the worms attacking Roger. They head to the worm farm to try and find him, but Mick finds Roger’s father, his torso eaten away by worms. They rush to find the Sheriff again, but he is having dinner with his mistress. He refuses to believe their story and they leave, unsure of what to do next other than to head back to Beardsley’s house to search for clues. They head back to the house for dinner, and while eating, a huge tree falls on the house. They find tons of worms under the roots and plan to burn them, but the sunlight drives the worms back underground. Mick runs out to get wood to seal up the house, but is attack by Roger in the woods and is left for dead. As night falls, the worms start showing up around town and devouring anyone in their path, including the Sheriff. Mick makes it back to the house, only to find it worm infested and with Roger waiting. Do Mick, Geri and Alma survive the onslaught of worms and Roger’s jealous rampage or do they face the same fate as others in the town? You are going to have to watch to find out…

Bonus Features

Digging In: The Making of Squirm- (Run Time of 33 Minutes) Excellent retrospective interview with Jeff Lieberman (Writer and Director) and Don Scardino (Mick in the film) discussing how the concept for the film came about, the cast and crew, the locations, Rick Baker’s FX work, problems on set and the creative ways they fixed them, audience reactions and of course, the worms! Really a wealth of information on every aspect of the film, including the distribution end.

Eureka! With Jeff Lieberman- (Run Time of 7 Minutes) Jeff Lieberman takes on a tour of his old house where the idea of Squirm came from. He shows us an old Lionel train transformer and talks about how his brother showed him how to run the electricity into the ground to draw the worms up, and even shows us one of the last prop worms from the film!

Original Theatrical Trailer- 1 Minute 55 Second Theatrical Trailer

TV Spot- 55 Second Alternate Footage Trailer

Radio Spot- 1 Minute Radio Trailer

Still Gallery

More From Scream Factory- Trailers (un-retouched) for other Scream Factory releases, including Pumpkinhead, Motel Hell and The Beast Within

Discs: 1

Format: NTSC

Color: Color

Rating: Unrated

Aspect Ratio: 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1.85:1)

Language: English

Shout!/Scream Factory has once again brought to us a 70’s classic horror film that is more than deserving of the Blu-Ray upgrade! This version far superior to the MGM/UA Triple Feature DVD Release (that also included Swamp Thing and Return of the Living Dead released in 2011) and the MGM/UA single disc DVD release (released in 2003) in every way. The clarity of the film is amazing, barely retaining and scratches or grain. The sound is also vastly superior and rich. As with most Scream Factory titles, the delight is in the Special Features. The Digging In: The Making of Squirm feature is highly informative and Jeff does an outstanding job detailing the issues on the set and how he came about with the concept of the film. The Eureka! With Jeff Lieberman feature was cool as well, taking us back to the house where he grew up and giving us the back story on how he and his brother used a train conductor and electricity to drive worms from the ground. The definitive version of this film, you will find fewer examples of a well put together Blu-Ray release. Special mention also goes to the unique cover art Scream Factory put together for this release as well! Once again, this release is the perfect example of why Shout!/Scream Factory is the standard bearer for Blu-Ray horror releases!

Movie Rating: 3.5 out of 5

DVD Rating: 7 out of 10

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