Squirm (1976)

Squirm ​is a 1976 American natural horror film directed by Jeff Lieberman, and starring Don Scardino and Patricia Pearcy. The plot follows a small Georgia town that becomes inundated with flesh-burrowing worms. It features early makeup work from Oscar-winning makup artist Rick Baker. The film was shot over the course of 24 days in Port Wentworth, Georgia.

Plot
In the rural town of Fly Creek, Georgia, a powerful storm blows down an overhead power line, leaving the town without electricity. The power line lands in wet mud and starts to electrify the worms underneath. The next morning, Geri Sanders borrows a truck from her neighbor, worm farmer Roger Grimes, to pick up her boyfriend Mick, who is arriving from New York City for a vacation. While Geri and Mick go to town, Roger's shipment of 100,000 bloodworms and sandworms escape from the back of the truck. Mick enters a diner, where a customer says over 300,000 volts are being released into the ground from severed power lines. Mick orders an egg cream and finds a worm in it, though the owner and Sheriff Jim Reston believe he is joking.

Geri introduces Mick to her mother Naomi and sister Alma, before they both leave to browse at antique dealer Aaron Beardsley's house. Outside, Roger's father Willie finds the shipment of worms is missing. Roger sees Mick with Geri and becomes envious of their relationship. Geri and Mick arrive at Beardsley's house; they do not find him but Geri sees a human skeleton outside the property. They bring over Sheriff Reston but the skeleton disappears. Thinking it is another prank, Reston threatens to arrest Mick if he returns to the town. When they ask locals about Beardsley's whereabouts, they find out he was last seen before the storm. Mick believes he himself unintentionally released the worms; he apologizes to Roger and invites him to go fishing with him and Geri. They find the skeleton in Roger's truck.

While on the boat, Mick is bitten by a worm. Roger tells him worms attack when electrified. Mick leaves Geri with Roger so he can tend to his wound; he and Alma take the skeleton's skull to an abandoned dental office, where they compare its teeth with X-rays and confirm the skeleton is Beardsley's. Roger makes advances towards Geri but the worms they brought as bait attack him and crawl into his face. He runs off into the woods and Geri tells Mick. Mick and Geri visit the worm farm to find Roger but Mick finds Willie's body being eaten by worms. They try telling Sheriff Reston but he ignores them. Mick deduces the worms killed Beardsley but cannot figure out why they attacked him.

While Mick and Geri are eating dinner with Naomi and Alma, the worms eat through the roots of a tree, causing it to crash into the house. Mick realizes electricity is still being released from the power lines and that the wet soil is acting as a conductor; he remembers the worms only come out at night. Mick tells Geri to keep everyone inside equipped with candles and leaves to get plywood to board up the house. Roger, whose face has been deformed by worms, attacks Mick and knocks him unconscious. Roger enters the house and kidnaps Geri. The worms infest the house and attack other places in town. Sheriff Reston and a woman are eaten alive in a jail cell, and people at a bar are attacked and eaten.

Mick regains consciousness and finds Naomi's remains, covered in worms, at the house. When he goes upstairs, Roger attacks and chases him downstairs. Mick pushes Roger into a pile of worms, which engulf him. Mick frees Geri and tells her Naomi, and presumably Alma, are dead. The two try to escape but Roger bites Mick in the leg while they climb out of a window. Mick beats Roger to death before climbing into a tree, where he and Geri stay until morning. The worms disappear and they both wake up to find a repairman telling them the power has been restored. Alma, who survived by hiding in a chest comes out of the chest and looks out the window. Geri and Mick rush into the house to meet her.