Review of Squirm (1976) by Justin P — 03 Mar 2008

This is a low budget frightfest. I originally read the book of the novel first before I even knew there was a movie based on it. It was a while until it was finally aired on Bravo and I saw it for the first time.

Not quite as chilling as the book but still very creepy and a little bit scary.I was surprised to know that Sylvester Stallone wanted the part as Roger. Can you imagine Sly doing this film? He must have really loved the book.

Squirm is one of those platinum classics. Not brilliant but still eeriely watchable. The attack scenes were too few to set up the tension of the film which is a shame. If there had been more focus on the attacks and less on the characters then this might have actually creeped everybody out and become a reel for reel cult classic like Jaws.

When one of the attacks does happen, it is done very well. I was shocked to see that a young Rick Baker (An American werewolf in London, Thriller, Nutty Professor) actually did the effects for that scene.

A few of the characters were either too strange for the story or just seemed out of place and the accents were appalling. The saving grace of the movie are the worms. Most of them real and towards the end some rubber, but it doesn't kill the tension which is good.

Squirm could have been so much better than it is, maybe if a remake is on the cards (which nowadays seems likely) then they will focus on the worms more than the people and deliver a film that will truely make you SQUIRM in your seat.