British distributors Arrow Video have officially announced their upcoming Blu-ray release of director Jeff Lieberman's
Squirm (1976), starring Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, and R.A. Dow. The release will be available for purchase online and in shops across the United Kingdom on September 23.
Lovingly restored for Blu-ray, a process approved by Lieberman himself, Arrow's HD presentation of
Squirm is uncut and comes loaded with special features and bonus material, including interchangeable artwork and exclusive writing on the film by UK horror aficionado Kim Newman.
One of the most original and entertaining of the revenge-of-nature films that characterised mid-1970s American horror,
Squirm begins with a pylon being downed by a thunderstorm, sending millions of volts into the wet, conductive mud, giving its hundreds of thousands of wriggly inhabitants an insatiable hunger for human flesh.
Since the fallen power lines have also cut-off the electricity supply to Fly Creek, Georgia, its population could hardly be more vulnerable as the sun goes down... Houses can be barricaded against most intruders, but what happens when the things you're trying to keep out are small enough to get into the water supply?!
In his debut feature film, writer-director Jeff Lieberman (who also made the cult classics
Blue Sunshine and
Just Before Dawn) achieves a near-perfect blend of knowing wit and good old-fashioned scares, with Oscar-winning make-up genius Rick Baker (
An American Werewolf in London) on hand for some of the most memorably disgusting special effects ever committed to film.
Special Features:
- High Definition digital transfer of the film, approved by writer-director Jeff Lieberman
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD uncut presentation, available in the UK for the first time
- Original Uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with Jeff Lieberman
- Filmed Live Q&A session with Jeff Lieberman and star Don Scardino from New York's Anthology Film Archives (2012)
- The Esoteric Auteur - Kim Newman on Jeff Lieberman and Squirm
- Original Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
- Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Lee Gambin, author of Massacred by Mother Nature and an interview with Jeff Lieberman by Calum Waddell, illustrated with original archive stills and posters