Thursday, October 14, 2010

31 Days of Halloween - Day 14 - Movie 1


In the 1970s there were a bunch of ecological horror movies; Day of the Animals, Frogs, Prophecy, and Empire of the Ants among them. Squirm (1976) is another. This time loose high voltage wires a spreading electricity through the rain saturated ground and driving all the worms on a small Georgia community crazy. The high voltage does not affect anything else, including people. In the midst of it, an out of town young man who looks a young David Letterman and his local girlfriend play young investigators and uncover skeletal remains that disappear before the local asshole sheriff can see them. they also figure out that the worms have gone crazy, for all the good it does. It's flatly directed and acted, but oddly compelling to watch. The special effects are pretty low tech but do the job. There's also a nice bit of early Rick Baker make-up effects work which shows a handful of worms burrowing into one victim's face.

if you've seen any of the other ecology films of this time period, this one is on par with them.



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