I agree! Squirm is an excellent movie for what it is. The acting is... decent by most of the cast. I think because it's set in a small Southern U.S. town that the people are supposed to be folkish. I doubt the Mystery Science Theater 3000 people are from the South, so their jokes at the expense of this movie are more than a little distasteful. And the only scene in the movie that seems like it was made for that Mystery Science show is the "egg cream" thing in the diner. And yeah, the guy says "egg cream" way too much and it sounds stupid. But, at least the director isn't afraid to poke fun at "yankee" stereotypes.
There's a lot going on in this movie, and all of it heightens the atmosphere. The mother who is slowly going more and more out of her mind as the strange events keep unfolding, that amazing scene on the boat, the fact that Roger is a creepy guy who's a bit of a stalker but when the worms attack him, it's almost as though they give him a superpower.
Yeah the worms look fake in some scenes. And that's almost why it's sheer brilliance on the part of the director that Roger takes over as the film's main threat. And it's downright provocative and completely unpredictable that Roger seems to become a worm himself. As the director says, "Roger becomes one with the worms." Why? Who cares? It leads to so many great damn SHOCK moments toward the finale. Look at how incredibly creepy his eyes are in that ending. It's the stuff of pure nightmares. And the director deserves credit for all of that and the damn impressive way this movie was shot (very art-film inspired), over all the idiot people who take stupid potshots at this movie. You ever hear those losers? They honestly can't come up with 1 good argument against this movie.
This movie's rating on this site was absolutely the product of Mystery Science Theater 3000's show on the movie. So, ignore the rating because most of the people who gave it a negative rating just did so because of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Seriously- just look up all the other movies that that show put on their program. Most of them are incredibly obscure movies that no one's ever heard of before. But suddenly, all these votes just spring up overnight? I'm not buying it!!! And neither should anyone else.
"Carol, one word of advice: send Cindy to a special school"
reply
share
nsavage3-1
17 years ago
I completely agree. This movie actually didn't get alot of publicity when it opened in 1976. I caught it a year later as a "second feature". It became one of my favorite movies then, and still is today.
Back in the 70's when I was a young teen, I liked most of the killer-insect-nature-strikes-back movies. Now, 30-some years later, most of them seem very silly (although I still enjoy them). "Squirm" was one of the few movies of that genre that held up well through the years. "Frogs" and "The Savage Bees" are others that have fared pretty well. These movies have atmosphere and character developement, even if some of the FX are out-dated.
reply
share