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1976 - 93m.

Squirm is just one of those movies I've never thought much of to revisit. Despite its amazing poster artwork and seeing it late at night as a youngster and being creeped out by a few moments of wriggling terror this effort from debuting writer-director Jeff Lieberman was the kind of movie I gladly bought on DVD when it was released and never actually got around to re-watching until years later . Which is kind of a shame as it's a watchable time that's sporting the vibe of a Scooby-Doo cartoon while offering up some Southern fried characters, a whole slew of icky worms, and a premise that's rarely been used before (or since) the flick's 1976 release.

Our text scrolling introduction and narration tells us a few facts about earthworms and takes us to Fly Creek, Georgia where a massive rainstorm is happening. Shown to us through scenes of residents scrambling for cover while an eerie children's sing-a-long plays on the soundtrack, the storm soon knocks down an electrical tower which sends thousands of volts through the ground and into the worms that live there.

The focus shifts to a pretty unattractive Southern family, handyman Roger (R.A. Dow) and the visiting Mick (Don Scardino). They live on the outskirts of town and daughter Geri (Patricia Pearcy) has invited Mick to spend the weekend with the intention of introducing them to the family and trying to make them into a couple. Amongst all this they soon discover that the worm farmer next door has gone missing which kicks Mick into full-on detective mode as he sets out to figure out what's happened. Soon enough the entire town fall victim to some electrified worms that have a newfound taste for human flesh. This gives Lieberman chance to have the slimy Roger tells a bizarre story about his father shocking worms and stage a few highly memorable moments including a great scene where worms imbed themselves into a face and what could possibly be horror's second best shower scene after Psycho.

Sporting an obvious low-budget, Squirm is a solid and decently made time that takes a little while to get rolling. Not a heck of a lot goes on for the first third but it still somehow manages to be compelling and by the time a tree has torn through the house and our characters find themselves under siege by our wriggling killers in the finale I was having a pretty good time. There's just something to be said about a literal tidal wave of worms!

Scardino, who would go on to a career directing episodes of such television shows as "30 Rock" and "2 Broke Girls", channels his best "Fred from Scooby-Doo" impression as he spends a lot of the movie poking around gathering clues. Pearcy tags along as the sidekick and does get a partial nude scene in the aforementioned shower moment. Dow steals the show as our scummy handyman and this would mark his only film role. Most curious here is actress Jean Sullivan playing Geri's mother who co-starred in a trio of movies in the 1940's before appearing here thirty years later (and not acting again afterwards).

Now that I've watched Squirm again after all this time am I likely to pull it off the shelf more often? I don't think so. It's an entertaining time with a unique premise for a killer insect flick but I can't see myself getting the desire to watch it for quite some time. I still think the poster is one of the genre's finest (and it makes me long for the days of hand drawn art) and the attack scenes work pretty well but I didn't love it as much as I could have. It's definitely worth watching at least once because Lieberman is an interesting genre contributor who, while he might not make many movies, followed this with the trippy Blue Sunshine, joined in on the 80's slasher movie craze with the much loved Just Before Dawn, melded sci-fi with video stores for 1988's Remote Control, and last directed the Halloween-themed horror/comedy Satan's Little Helper. (Chris Hartley, 12/2/15)

Directed By: Jeff Lieberman.
Written By: Jeff Lieberman.

Starring: Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R.A. Dow, Jean Sullivan.