Blu-ray review: Squirm (1976) Jeff Lieberman's worm classic

A personal favourite from the VHS days (it's only in the last few years I sold on my old Orion tape), Squirm has had the high definition make-over and special edition treatment in the UK from the good folk at Arrow Video.

 

After a heavy storm leaves the tiny Georgia town of Fly Creek without power, phone lines and - thanks to the downed trees and overflowing rivers - no road in or out, a young man, Mick (Don Scardino) visits his girlfriend, Geri (Patricia Pearcey), for the first time and has more than the hostile sheriff (Peter MacLean) to deal with. The electricity being pumped into the ground from the downed lines has made the worms turn. These squishy wigglers are not the harmful sort found in your garden after a downpour, these blighters bite (and scream if you believe the skin-crawling close ups the film provides)

Between them, the pair try to find out what is happening after they discover a neighbour literally stripped down to the bone. Geri also has to deal with the unwanted attention of Roger (R.A. Dow), son of the owner of the next-door worm farm who helps out doing odd jobs. As the night falls, the whole town is soon under siege from millions of slivering worms.

Squirm is surprisingly well made, especially when you consider it was Jeff Lieberman's first film. He would then go on to make two other great cult films, Blue Sunshine and Just Before Dawn. The premise is so simple, yet very effective and considering the budget, the effects (by the soon-to-be legendary Rick Baker), while used sparingly, are incredibly effective. The infamous "worm face" particularly sending shivers down the spine of most viewers, as well as the mountains of worms (some real, some fake) that come spilling out of doorways.

While the film takes its time, it's never boring as the effective sound design and inventive camerawork is always foreshadowing the nastiness to come. It's not a masterpiece, and more creepy than scary, but it sets out to make worms even more repulsive and succeeds in being fun.

The disc comes with the usual array of extras Arrow have become famous for. A brilliant solo commentary from the director provides plenty of insight and Lieberman is very entertaining. Several of the stories he tells are repeated in the filmed Q&A, taken from a 2012 New York screening where he is joined by lead Scardino. A talking head spot with author/critic Kim Newman provides his view of the film and the 'nature-run-amok' sub-genre in general. The package is topped off with another thing Arrow do so damn well, an excellent, informative and lovely looking booklet with new writing on the film, and an interview with Lieberman with the great Calum Waddell. The film transfer is stunning, just as you'd expect, so you can buy with confidence.
8 out of 10

Blu-ray review: Deranged (1974) classic Ed Gein inspired shocker

 

An overlooked and forgotten gem from 1974, available for the first time in the UK uncut and in high definition to boot! Based on the infamous case of Ed Gein, the Wisconsin ghoul, infamous for grave robbing and wearing the flesh of the dead, but is thought to have only killed two people (it is rightly pointed out during the fantastic extra features that Gein was not a serial killer). Anyone who has read the Gein case will instantly realise how close Deranged follows his story.

Presented as a pseudo-documentary, complete with an on-screen narrator (played by the brilliant Leslie Carlson, instantly recognisable from films such as Videodrome and The Fly), who appears every now and again to move the narrative along. Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom, who is simply fantastic as the Gein inspired loner) is so upset when his mother dies that he eventually decides to dig her up and move her back into the family home. Alarmed by the state of decay, he starts digging up freshly buried bodies to use the skin.

Remembering his dying mother's words, he seeks out her only friend, Maureen Selby (Marian Waldman, the wonderful drunken fraternity mother Mrs Mac in the original Black Christmas), whom he can trust because "she's a big fat woman". Maureen is taken with Ezra's interest, and in order to get permission from her late husband, conducts a hokey seance. This sequence provides a welcome bit of comic relief, with the woman, channeling her husbands voice, teling Ezra to look after her carnal needs; "Carnival?" he asks naively. It doesn't end well, as when she takes him to bed he recalls his mama's words: "The wages of sin are gonorrhea, syphilis, and death", and promptly shoots her.

The film varies from the real life story in a number of ways: the real Gein didn't dig his own mother up, and his two victims were a lot older than depicted in the film (the family friend just mentioned is a film elaboration). Arrow's HD release restores the often cut sequence in which Cobb gouges an eye and scoops brains from a unearthed head; a scene played so straight - no need for shock sound design or over dramatic music - that it just adds to the documentary feel. The score, by Bob Clark regular Carl Zittrer, is an understated funeral parlour style organ which suits it perfectly. The make-up effects, early work by Tom Savini, are basic, but perfectly suitable and believable.

Gein has influenced horror cinema more than most, his story being the basis for stories and films such as Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs, but they don't have the kick in the teeth realism of Deranged. Tobe Hooper's 1974 film, filmed at almost the same time as this, takes the elements of the story but takes them into different, albeit equally disturbing places. With Deranged, writer/co-director Alan Ormsby, who also made Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things with Deranged's (uncredited) producer Bob Clark, and Jeff Gillen have created a disturbing film, which quietly manages to get under your skin, making it crawl when needed. Blossom's effortless performance is so believable, you can guarantee the next time you see him wink at that kid in Close Encounters of the Third Kind you'll read something so much more sinister into it.

I first saw the film in the late 80s, via a late night screening on the just launched Sky channel. After years of seeing stills and reading of this film, it didn't let me down. Re-watching it again after all these years it is not disappointing. If anything, the film has become even more powerful over time, the gritty realism of some scenes only offset by the on-screen narrator.

Full marks to Arrow, as always, for their fabulous bonus features on the disc. As well as an informative, enlightening, amusing, if meandering, commentary from Tom Savini (talking to respected genre writer Calum Waddell, whose company High Rising Productions also provide some of the other featurettes, and who made the brilliant Slice & Dice: The Slasher Film Forever documentary), there are interviews with Intruder producer Scott Spiegel, discussing working with Roberts Blossom (this extra is worth watching for the hilarious animated title sequence alone), Laurence R. Harvey (The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence) on the legacy of Gein, and a great archive interview with co-director Jeff Gillen which also includes rare on-set footage. The set is completed by a chunky booklet, packed with even more fascinating material. You really have to admire Arrow Video, don't you? Who else would spend so much love and care on, what is to many,  just an obscure grindhouse film from the 70s?
Highly recommended.
9 out of 10

Blu-ray review: Black Sabbath (1963) Mario Bava Arrow Video release

Long unavailable in the UK without importing,  Mario Bava's superb Black Sabbath is finally released, in a stunning high definition transfer to boot! 

The film takes the form of three macabre tales, with an introduction by Boris Karloff, who also appears in one story. The order of the stories depends on which version of the film you watch; both the original Italian language and AIP US dubbed version are included on this release. The original, entitled I tre volti della paura (The Three Faces of Fear) arguably the better, despite having Karloff's dialogue dubbed into Italian, robbing us of his luscious, lisping voice. There are several other differences between the two cuts, a comparison is given its own featurette, and features in the impressive accompanying booklet.  

"The Telephone" is a story of revenge, with Rosy (Michèle Mercier) being threatened by her ex partner, Frank, whom she assumed was in jail. This story is the one that suffers the most in the transition to the international version, becoming a supernatural tale, and the interesting sapphic sub-plot being removed completely.

"The Wurdalak" has Karloff as Gorka, returning home to his family home a changed man, as he is now a vampire. This is one of Karloff's greatest performances, certainly of his later period. and full of horrific images which still disturb and terrify today. 

"A Drop of Water" winds the film up, and in a truly startling and nightmare inducing way. Jacqueline Pierreux plays a nurse, called out in the middle of a thunderstorm to tend to the corpse of a medium, as her maid is too afraid to do it. Taking a shine to her expensive looking ring, she pockets it for her trouble, causing a series of terrifying events that will leave your nerves shattered. The image of the dead woman alone is enough to keep even the most hardened horror fan awake.

In the AIP version, the order is A Drop of Water, The Telephone then TheWurdalak, no doubt to finish on a high with the star of the film. Karloff aslo has more introductions in the English language version.

With the current crop of Bava films being released by Arrow Video in the UK (and the ones put out in the US by Kino), it's fantastic to see the great director finally receive the kind of praise and treatment he deserves. Black Sabbath, in which ever version you choose to watch, is a superb piece of film making. Glorious to look at, well acted and, importantly for a horror film, genuinely terrifying. It's interesting to compare the two versions, as the US overplays the shocks with a sensationalist score (by the fabulous Les Baxter) while the original is more about sound effects, and a more subtle (yet no less effective) musical accompaniment by Roberto Nicolosi. 

 

Arrow Video  have once again come up trumps with a stunning release. Along with the Blu-ray, there are two DVDs with a version on each, the aforementioned booklet, which itself is fabulous, the comparison featurette and a commentary by Bava expert and the brains behind Video Watchdog, Tim Lucas. 

I can't recommend it strongly enough. Buy it now, and savour forever. Personal message to Arrow Video: Could we please have Blood and Black Lace on Blu-ray soon?

10 out of 10