Squirm: Collector's Edition

Somewhat dismissed by its creator, Jeff Lieberman, and largely-forgotten, 'Squirm,' about a sleepy southern town besieged by miffed bloodthirsty, flesh-burrowing earthworms, is a 1976 creature-feature belonging to a subgenre that achieved a short-lived period of popularity. In the mid to late 1970s, studios rushed to theaters — or in many cases, simply greenlit to capitalize on a trend — a variety of stories having to do with nature and animals suddenly turning violent against humanity. Known as "natural horror," the best examples of these types of movies are those from the 1950s, such as 'Them!,' 'Tarantula' and 'Gojira,' where the carelessness of human progress and technology is the cause. Thanks to the massive box-office success of 'Jaws,' the subgenre resurfaced with wonderfully-bad little ditties 'The Food of the Gods,' 'Orca,' 'The Swarm,' 'Nightwing,' 'The Pack' and cult classics 'Piranha' and 'Alligator.'

Although in a similar vein as the Roger Corman-produced 'Attack of the Giant Leeches' from director Bernard L. Kowalski, Lieberman's movie amazingly stood out from the 'Jaws' rip-offs crowd by doing something slightly different and crawling underneath the audience's skin. It's nothing that caused an uproar or revamped the genre, mind you, but through its simple concept of worms wreaking havoc to the close-knit, peaceful town of Fly Creek, Georgia, the filmmakers accomplished lots with a limited micro-budget. Using live critters in every scene, specifically the cringe-inducing, borrowing and carnivorous Glycera worms which are otherwise disgustingly but appropriately named "bloodworms," Lieberman manages to make viewers writhe and wiggle in their seats. He does this by having the number of worms on screen slowly pile up from a few and a handful seeping through cracks to a revolting ocean and waves crashing down.

It's a shame, however, that the story — also written by Lieberman — is the production's major drawback, along with several of the silly performances. Supposedly taking inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds,' another notable classic of the subgenre, Lieberman admittedly does an adequate job in selling his premise and succeeds at building towards a shockingly fun climactic finish. Worth mentioning are the worms turning bloodthirsty not due to radiation or harm caused to the environment, but because of a wind storm accidentally knocking power lines. Still, the characters are ridiculous stock caricatures, laughable, over-the-top stereotypes that can't ever be taken seriously, starting with the Sanders family (Patricia Pearcy, Jean Sullivan and Fran Higgins). Though comical, next-door neighbor Roger (R.A. Dow) is a buck-toothed cartoon while his hot under the collar father (Carl Dagenhart) can barely muster an intelligible sentence.

To their rescue from the horde of creepy-crawlies is the big-city outsider Mick (Don Scardino) — is there any other name more New Yorker than that? Only problem is that for the sake of characterization, the overtly-friendly redhead visiting the slightly shy Geri (Pearcy) is a bit of a wimp — you know, the reluctant hero type — who butts heads with Roger for the good country girl's affections and the irritable local sheriff (Peter MacLean chewing up every scene). The storyline is a very generic and predictable setup, but what maintains interest is the great special-effects work from award-winning makeup artist Rick Baker, especially the moment when Roger's face is suddenly attacked. In fact, Dow's performance is a great highlight, as the attack transforms the timidly mousy Roger into a crazed maniac, allowing for a few creepy instances in the second half. Ultimately saving 'Squirm' is the big finale, making the movie a cringe-inducing hoot.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

Shout! Factory brings 'Squirm' to Blu-ray as a Collector's Edition under the distributor's Scream Factory line. The Region A locked, BD50 disc is housed inside a blue, eco-elite case with brand new reversible cover art and cardboard slipcover. At startup, viewers are taken to a basic menu screen with music and full-motion clips.