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Jeff Lieberman’s Squirm cheekily suggests what Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds might’ve been like had it been scripted by Tennessee Williams. The film’s deft blend of animal-attack horror and Southern Gothic strangeness yields an experience that’s likely somewhat different than what you might expect when you hear the high-concept pitch: “Killer earthworms run amok in a tiny Georgia town.” Distributor Aip made a few trims to some grisly early FX work from Rick Baker, and a few flashes of frontal nudity, making sure that Squirm would squeak by with a PG rating, thereby allowing an entire generation of underage viewers to be exposed to its gruesome spectacle.

Lieberman takes his time with the buildup, carefully sketching in the dynamics of the Sanders family, whose household serves as the film’s central location. Matriarch Naomi (Jean Sullivan) seems lost in reveries about her dead husband. Hip teen...

The distribution company Kino Lorber recently launched an interesting Blu-ray line called Kino Cult, and so far they have released the 1985 sci-fi Western Alien Outlaw, the Bettie Page double feature Teaserama and Varietease, the 1985 horror film The Dark Power, the 1974 drama Drifter, the 1974 Jess Franco horror film Lorna the Exorcist, the 1973 Jess Franco crime thriller Sinner: The Secret Diary of a Nymphomaniac, and the 1985 Clive Barker adaptation Underworld (a.k.a. Transmutations). Now our friends at Bloody Disgusting have learned that five more Kino Cult Blu-ray releases are set for August 20th, and there’s a theme to this batch: they’re all “nature run amok” horror movies! Most of them are movies I love to watch, too. Here’s the line-up: The Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, Frogs, Squirm, and Kingdom of the Spiders. Each one is available for pre-order on Amazon, and each of these...

Nature will run amok when Kino Lorber unleashes five classic eco-horrors on Blu-ray as part of its Kino Cult line:The Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, Frogs, Squirm, and Kingdom of the Spiders. Due out on August 20, each title comes with a slipcover and features reversible artwork. Pre-orders are up for $24.95.

1976’s The Food of the Gods is written and directed by Bert I. Gordon, based on H. G. Wells’ 1904 novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth. Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Jon Cypher, and Ida Lupino star.

In the film, “On a remote island, a mysterious substance is oozing from the ground. A farmer sees that it acts as a growth hormone and thinks his fortune is made. But when rats, chickens, worms and wasps begin sampling the potent substance, they morph into bloodthirsty giants! Now, it’s up to...

Squirm is a cult classic, because its premise is utterly ridiculous. A town is under siege by an army of killer works, surfaced by a downed power line that apparently nobody thought to contact Aep about. Seriously, that line flopped around and spat sparks for what? Days? It didn’t set any fires, and nobody thought that it was something that probably needed to be taken care of? In all seriousness, worms are creepy little crawling assholes, and a movie about killer worms is going to make most viewers feel a little uneasy. I know it certainly had that effect on me, and based on the fact that almost 40 years later, we’re still talking about it, I have a hard time believing that I’m alone. Scream Factory’s Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of the film will serve multiple purposes. It will allow those of us old enough to remember it,...

It’s impossible for me to hide the fact that Scream Factory is one of my favorite boutique media labels. As far as content goes, they give me the type of films that I really want to see on the Blu-ray format. They’ve had a strong first couple of years, and I see no signs of them slowing down anytime soon. Two of the biggest… neigh, The two biggest releases of the 2014 Halloween Seasons is coming from these guys. I’m speaking, of course, about the Director’s Cut of Nightbreed, as well as the Complete Halloween Collection. But you’ve already heard about those, and pre-ordered them, right? Well, here is their entire fall(Sept/Oct… And some November, cause shut up.) lineup, in case a few have slipped by you.

September 9, 2014 Pumpkinhead (Collector’s Edition) Srp $29.93 Bd

Scream Factory has announced a September 9 Blu-ray release of a...

Just in time for Halloween, horror fans will be able to watch killer worms attack in high definition when Scream Factory releases Squirm to Blu-ray. We’ve been provided with official release details, a look at the cover art, and the list of bonus features:

“It was a violent summer storm. Millions of volts slashed the earth, sending hundreds of thousands of writhing, seething creatures, oozing out of the mire hungry for human flesh. It was the night of the crawling terror for the residents of Fly Creek in the 1976 horror cult classic Squirm from celebrated horror filmmaker Jeff Lieberman (Just Before Dawn, Blue Sunshine). This sought-after creature thriller stars Don Scardino (director, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, 30 Rock), Patricia Pearcy (Delusion), R.A. Dow and Jean Sullivan (Escape in the Desert) and features gory make-up effects from Oscar®-winning artist Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London, Planet of the Apes,...

Squirm is a highly anticipated Blu-ray release from Scream Factory, a classic monster movie that I have only had the pleasure of seeing one time in my life. Add me to the list of people that can’t wait for this release to drop. Scream Factory released an update today, outlining the full details of the release. Check out the press release below, and click here to pre-order your copy today.

Scream Factory™ Presents

A film by Jeff Lieberman

Squirm Collector’S Edition

Starring Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R.A. Dow and Jean Sullivan

Highly Anticipated Creatures-strike-back Horror Cult Classic

Arrives On Home Entertainment Shelves Everywhere

October 28, 2014 From Scream Factory™

Pre-Order This Highly Anticipated Home Entertainment Release Today!

“Squirm is guaranteed to make you do just that.” – Los Angeles Times

It was a violent summer storm. Millions of volts slashed the earth, sending hundreds of thousands of writhing, seething creatures, oozing...

Stars: Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R.A. Dow, Jean Sullivan, Peter MacLean, Fran Higgins | Written and Directed by Jeff Lieberman

The 70s was, shall we say, an “interesting” time in cinema. Whilst mainstream Hollywood was churning out some of its most revered movies – The Godafather, The Exorcist, Mean Streets, and pretty much the entire oeuvre of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola – low-budget cinema and in particular genre movies were exploring very different cultural avenues.

Whilst we had the likes of Night of the Living Dead, which explored soci-cultural issues, using the genre as a metaphor for much bigger “stories”, we also had the birth of the slasher movie boom in John Carpenter’s Halloween. Yet slipped somewhere in between was a strange sub-genre: the nature-run-amok film. Jaws, Piranha, Killer Bees, The Swarm, Grizzly, Day of the Animals, Kingdom of the Spiders, Phase Four, Bug; the animals ran rampant and so did zoological horror…...