Squirm (1976) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune]

August 24, 1976

The most vivid memory I have of the theatrical release of Squirm was of seeing and thumbing through the film's novelization while browsing the Books & Magazines section of our local Gemco. All the way back in 1976.

I did not see the film until it made its network television debut and, well, I cannot say if it was worth the wait. Although I did not know it at the time, I had already heard Don Scardino's voice on a few episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. What I did know at the time it aired was that the film featured early special effects make-up by Rick Baker. Effects that were trimmed into invisibility for television, of course. It would not be until I rented the film on home video that I would be able to observe the worms burrowing into some poor hick's face in all its ghastly glory.

Writer-director Jeff Lieberman was rather dismayed at the film being shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000, just not for the reasons one might think. He was more irked at the lowball price paid to secure the film's rights, more than it being made fun off. Seeing that the former did more financial harm to the film's earning potential than the latter.

"It's a movie about killer earthworms, after all," Lieberman said in an interview. "People have been making fun of it ever since it first opened."