A vicious storm downs a power line near a very small Georgia town. It (somehow) drives all the worms crazy and turns them into vicious man-eaters! The town is cut off from civilization and the worms attack...

The plot is just silly (flesh-eating WORMS? Come on!) but the film never takes itself TOO seriously. A lot of the dialogue is very tongue in cheek, and there are LOTS of close-ups of screaming worms (news to me--I didn't know worms could scream). So it's really hard to take any of this seriously.

The acting is all pretty bad (even Jean Sullivan the one "name" in the cast) and the plot moves in fits and starts. And it does take a while to really get going. But when the attacks happen things really get going. There are some pretty good, if disgusting, special effects (one VERY disturbing scene shows worms burrowing into a guys FACE) and seeing literally MOUNTAINS of worms squirming around is kind of queasy.

It you take this film literally you're gonna hate it. But if you accept it for the low-budget, slightly campy film it is you'll probably have a fairly good time. Worth seeing at least once for the gruesome special effects.

I saw the PG rated one on cable which (I heard) is one minute shorter than the R rated one. Purportedly all that's missing is some minor nudity (some of which was in the PG one) and some swearing. All the gore is still there.

This exceptional killer worm flick marked the auspicious and impressive debut of great, shamefully unsung B-horror picture writer/director Jeff Lieberman, who followed up this slimy winner with the outstanding homicidal hippie acidhead landmark "Blue Sunshine" and the wickedly subversive, gender role reversal wackos-in-the-woods "Deliverance" variant "Just Before Dawn," plus also blessed us with the nifty 80's direct-to-video item "Remote Control" and the recent funky hoot "Satan's Little Helper." This skin-crawling delight rates highly as the best, creepiest and most deftly executed of the many revolt-of-nature fright films that were hugely popular and fashionable throughout the 70's.

A whole lot of wriggling worms, juiced into a lethal, carnivorous, mankind-devouring frenzied mass by an electric cable downed in a fierce rain storm, nosh on the sleazy, boorish, hideously unfriendly local yokels which populate a drab little Georgia backwoods armpit hamlet. The premise sounds pretty awful, but Lieberman's hardy, adroit direction, wittily well-observed script, occasional dollops of wry black humor that sardonically poke fun at the plot's inherent absurdity (skeptical good-for-nothing sheriff Peter MacLean first hears about the vicious invertebrates while ravenously eating a teeming plate of spaghetti, a truly inspired spoof of the famous "Psycho" shower sequence has worms instead of water seeping out of the shower head),and a welcome dearth of pompous, heavy-handed moralizing which tends to mar several similar nature-runs-amuck eco-scare tales (e.g., the horrendously portentous "Frogs") make a world of difference, thereby converting the unpromising plot into a most pleasant surprise indeed. Moreover, the worm attack set pieces are disgustingly convincing and thus quite jolting (the horrific highlight occurs when vile redneck degenerate R.A. Dow has his face feasted on by the grody flesh-eating buggers),the refreshingly unmacho, but still resourceful Don ("He Knows You're Alone") Scardino as the bright, bookish, hopelessly out-of-his-element college educated New York city boy hero and ravishing redhead Patricia ("Cockfighter") Pearcy as Scardino's sweet, smart, fetching Southern belle girlfriend give nicely appealing performances, Joseph Mangine's crisp, evocative cinematography vividly captures a tangibly grungy and uninviting shabby small stickville town gone to seed atmosphere, Rick Baker's stand-out, often startling special make-up effects are typically first-rate (a post chewed-up Dow, dubbed "Wormface," makes for a notably ghastly sight to behold),there's a beautifully eerie opening credits sequence (the odd, austere children's song played during the credits is positively haunting),and the all-around sound acting is up to snuff. All in all, this honey really makes the grade as a genuinely frightening and very satisfying terror treat.

Okay, this sure ain't a work of art!! Yup, it's hard to be "artsy" with a film about a horrible outbreak of billions of killer worms--and even tougher when your total budget is $39.95 and your actors have never even had the experience of doing TV commercials or community theater! No, it's fairly obvious early on that NONE of the actors had ever before acted (and probably never since!). It's a cheesy and low-budget film that despite its crappiness is actually kind of watchable--provided you're not very demanding! A stranger comes to town and quickly hooks up with a local girl. At first a few small odd things occur--such as the guy getting a milkshake that has worms in it! But later, the horrid beasties began devouring everyone in their path. The script and plot are pretty thin and you see quite a bit of nudity by women who frankly don't look very good naked--but still, the film is oddly watchable and the worm sequences are pretty cool! A TRUE guilty pleasure!