Squirm
All actors and roles (10)
All team (35)
Short description
A violent storm damages a high-voltage power line in the rural community of Fly Creek, sending electricity straight into the rain-soaked ground. The current drives the local earthworms to the surface in vast numbers and turns them into something far more dangerous than ordinary worms: large, aggressive creatures that attack people. A young man named Mick, newly arrived in town, finds himself in the middle of the growing chaos as the worms spread through the area.
Squirm was directed by Jeff Lieberman, who also wrote the screenplay, and it was produced by Edgar Lansbury. It was Lieberman's first feature as director. Don Scardino plays Mick, with Patricia Pearcy, R.A. Dow, Jean Sullivan, Peter MacLean and Fran Higgins among the credited cast of twenty. The film runs 92 minutes.
Made in the United States by American International Pictures and the Squirm Company, the film was released in July 1976. Its reception has been modest: audience ratings sit at 4.9 out of 10 on IMDb from around 7,000 votes and 4.9 on TMDB from about 130 votes, alongside a critics' rating of 4.5 out of 10 based on 16 reviews. Lieberman went on to direct Blue Sunshine the following year and Just Before Dawn in 1981.
What's left behind the scenes
- Kim Basinger auditioned for the role of Jerry.
- Martin Sheen wanted to play Mick, but since he wanted to significantly rework the script, he was turned down.
- The number of sandworms used in the film is uncountable, as the filmmakers repeatedly placed orders for worm deliveries, each costing $250,000 at the time. That year, the New England fishing industry lost its annual supply of polychaete worms of the species Glecera alba specifically due to the filming of this movie.
- The inspiration for the screenplay came from an experiment that the film's screenwriter and director, Jeff Lieberman, conducted with his brother as children. One night, they ran an electric current through damp soil and watched hundreds of worms crawl to the surface. Lieberman noticed how the worms tried to hide from the light (as they are light-sensitive). This became the basis for the plot, and a character played by R.A. Dow recounts a similar experiment in the film.
- The house used during filming is known as one of the most famous haunted houses in the state of Georgia.
- When worms are shown falling from the ceiling in the living room, a so-called “reverse shot” was used. The camera was turned upside down and worms falling onto the floor, decorated to resemble a ceiling, were filmed. When the footage was played back in normal mode, it created the impression that the worms were falling from a hole in the ceiling.
- According to director Jeff Lieberman, no special effects were used when filming the scene where a tree falls directly onto the roof of the Sandersons' house and ends up in the dining room. Everything was shot in one take. The tree had been felled in advance and suspended by a crane over the dining room set, where the actors involved in the scene were located. The scene was filmed using multiple cameras positioned around the set.
- R.A. Dau worked using the Stanislavski system, and he arrived in the town in Georgia where filming took place in advance to try and immerse himself in its atmosphere before playing one of the locals.
- For the filming of the scene where Willie Grimes is found dead, Carla Daggenhart was actually buried in the ground so that only his head remained visible. A mannequin was placed near the head, with worms crawling on it, creating the impression that the worms were devouring the body lying on the ground.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
