Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Squirm Blu-ray Movie Review

Not to be confused with 'Nightcrawler'.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 31, 2014

As if everything from Watergate to “malaise” didn’t give people enough to worry about throughout the seventies, filmmakers were only too willing to offer more to fear, from rogue sharks (Jaws) to, well, worms in Squirm, a decidedly lo-fi effort from 1976 that turns “night crawlers” into a force to be reckoned with. Squirm plies a number of well worn horror tropes, but does so with a bit of a wink that gives the film a somewhat sly sense of humor that helps it to overcome some less than stellar acting and a clunky screenplay. Set in the kind of backwoods rural environment that gave banjo players (among others) a bad name in Deliverance, Squirm sets up its rather basic conceit right off the bat. A horrible storm wreaks havoc with a high voltage power line, which in turn jolts the seething mud with a Frankenstein-esque blast of electricity that rather mysteriously sets a horde of underground worms out into the big, wide world to begin marauding through isolated (and powerless, in every sense of that term) Fly Creek, Georgia.

City slicker Mick (Don Scardino) arrives in Fly Creek in the aftermath of the storm, finding that he has to navigate some roiling waters and take a detour through a forest to try to find his girlfriend, local girl Geri (Patricia Pearcy). The first clue that something slithery is happening is at a local diner, in a scene that has attained a certain cachet in horror circles, and may have you looking at soda fountain drinks differently forever afterward. It initially seems like an isolated incident, but Mick’s reaction and interloping status are enough to instantly set off xenophobic Sheriff Reston (Peter MacLean).

When a local bait salesman named Willie Grimes (Carl Dagenhart) is confounded by the disappearance of an ungainly amount of worms, he accuses his dunderheaded son Roger (R.A. Dow) of losing them, but Mick and Geri feel they may have been inadvertently responsible and offer to take Roger fishing as a sort of consolation prize. That sets up the only real traditional gore moment in the film, when Roger, making an amorous advance at Geri, falls out of the boat and is attacked by the ravenous worms. While the effect designed by Rick Baker may not have the impressive qualities of some of Baker’s later (and much higher budgeted) work, it’s a memorable sequence and one that provides Squirm with an appropriately squirm worthy moment.

But aside from that moment there’s little traditional horror blood and guts on display in Squirm, and in fact the film takes about an hour of its more or less ninety minute length to even get to the main “attack” sequence, one that becomes harder and harder to see since it takes place at night and none of the residents have electricity and thus are reduced to using things like candles or flashlights. It’s all probably part and parcel of the miniscule budget writer-director Jeff Lieberman was forced to work with, but it does deprive the film of a bit of the visceral intensity that typically is a major part of the “when wild things attack” subgenre of horror films.

Also tending to enervate the film is the use of several Georgia locals in bit parts. While these folks give the film a certain backwoodsy ambience, they’re often a bit stilted and stiff, not blending especially well with the more seasoned performers like Scardino. Even some of the “professionals” like Jean Sullivan don’t seem to fully understand the lo-fi film they’re appearing in. Lieberman mentions Sullivan’s attempts to “do” Tennessee Williams in the film, something he was too young to rein in at the time.

Still, Squirm offers some creepy fun along the way. The effects are bargain basement for the most part, but for a certain element of horror fandom, that can actually add to the fun. The film has the good sense not to take itself too seriously, and that kind of insouciant air helps it to overcome its less than glossy production values and performance styles most of the time.

Squirm Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Squirm is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. My colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov reviewed the British release of Squirm from Arrow here, and while it's unclear whether this was sourced from the same 2K scan of an IP that that release was, the look seems very similar if not identical. I'm just a bit less pleased with the overall color space of this transfer than Svet was, finding it just slightly on the yellow side of things quite a bit of the time. But for such a lo-fi entry in the annals of horror, things look surprisingly spry in this high definition presentation, with above average levels of detail and clarity. Things are certainly not sharp by contemporary standards, but they maintain a suitably organic appearance that is only hobbled by a light dusting of noise in some of the darkest sequences. The elements are in surprisingly good shape, with only a few instances of speckling and minus density. Contrast is also fairly strong, though the dark last third of the film struggles to really provide much in the way of shadow detail.

Squirm Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Squirm features a serviceable if unremarkable DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix that adequately supports the film's dialogue, oozing sound effects and occasionally surprisingly effective score by Robert Prince. The mix is very well prioritized, with no problems or damage to report. Things can occasionally sound just a bit brittle in the upper registers, especially with some of the music cues, but overall there's nothing to warrant any major concern.

Squirm Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Jeff Lieberman. Lieberman wastes no time in disparaging MST3K, which he claims never understood the film was a "goof" in and of itself. Lieberman also provides a lot of interesting information, including the use of a snippet from Ocean's 11 (!) and some of the other people considered for some of the roles.


• Digging In: The Making of Squirm (1080p; 33:31) is a very enjoyable piece that also features long interview segments with Lieberman. Star Don Scardino is also on hand.


• Eureka! With Jeff Lieberman (1080p; 7:04). He's baaack--this time showing us the house where he came up with the idea for Squirm.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:56)


• TV Spot (1080p; 1:56)


• Radio Spot (1:01)


• Still Gallery (1080p; 2:11)

Squirm Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Squirm is no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it's good (if not exactly clean) fun most of the time. Hobbled somewhat by an inadequate budget, Lieberman manages to get around the obstacles fairly well for the most part. Some of the effects are laughable, but the big set piece utilizing some early work by Rick Baker is appropriately squirm inducing. Scream has put together a very appealing package here, with generally strong technical merits and some good supplements. Recommended.