Squirm (1976), dir. Jeff Lieberman, American International Pictures
A thunderstorm ravages the small town of Fly Creek, located deep within the wilds of Georgia. Power lines are knocked down, roads flooded, and generally making everything a mess, including sending thousands of volts into the ground; an effect that seems to have stirred up the local worm population.
Into this mess walks Mick, literally, as the bus was unable to travel the flooded roads. Mick is in town to meet up Geri, a girl he met at an antique show some time ago. Geri’s sister Alma mocks her for her worry, while the girl’s mother Naomi slowly goes insane.
Finally making their way to town, Mick makes a big first impression of the other locals by ordering an egg cream (chocolate, milk, and soda water for those who don’t live in New York), but it seems something extra was added to his order: a giant worm.
The sheriff promptly straightens the mess, i.e. blames it all on Mick and threatens to lock him up. From there we met Roger, a local worm farmer who’s a bit off and has the hots for Geri. And then we spend a great deal of time padding. Bones are found, but the worms somehow hide the body and sheriff again refuses to believe Mick or Geri.
By the time we actually get to the worm uprising, far too much time has passed. The film goes in bits and spurts, but otherwise refuses to do anything. I would recommend only seeing this with Mike, Tom, and Crow. As a bonus, the MST3K episode has the short A Case of Spring Fever, which is far more disturbing than this film.
“This was the night of crawling terror!”