The Worm Eaters is a 1977 comedy horror film written, starring and directed by Herb Robins (The Brainsucker), an associate of Ray Dennis Steckler (The Mad Love of a Hot Vampire; The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies). The film was produced by director Ted V. Mikels (The Astro-Zombies; The Corpse Grinders; Blood Orgy of the She-Devils).
Main cast:
Lindsay Armstrong Black, Joseph Sacket, Robert Garrison, Muriel Cooper, Mike Garrison, Carla Ziegfeld, Barry Hostetler.
Plot:
The mayor and town council of a small California town want to steal worm-raising hermit Umgar’s land. However, Umgar discovers that when a human eats one of his magic “tenya” worms, they become a giant worm themselves. Eventually, all the baddies, unwanted tourists and golddigers are wormed, and our hero is free to live in peace. Or is he?
Reviews:
“The Worm Eaters is a bizarre film to say the least, but it’s still quite entertaining to watch at least once. It has moments of humor to go along with the gross and it all melds together nicely in the end. If your like me and still kind of have the basic mind set of a dirty minded grade-schooler, this film is just gross/nasty fun…” Jareprime, Horrorwatch
“Close-ups of people eating worms are actually inserts of stand-ins (apparently two different troopers, a girl and a guy — Robins himself perhaps?) who were brave enough to put the slimy critters in their mouths. According to Mikels, no worms were hurt during the shooting, and you can believe it as the worm eating is so stunted, that the actors doing the chomping do so in a prolonged, fabricated manner!” George R Reis, DVD Drive-In
“I actually felt bad for the worms. The attempts at slapstick seem desperate. Actors yell their lines in vain attempts to entertain. Grossness can sometimes be funny (especially gross gore). But grossness can also be nauseating. If you find belching, nose-blowing and close-ups of people eating worms to be hilarious, well, go ahead and watch. Otherwise, spare yourself.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers
“Worn your way out of watching unless you have a taste for wriggling, crawly things.” John Stanley, Creature Features
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Image credits: Temple of Schlock
