Short: (1940) In a moment of weakness, a frustrated guy wishes springs never existed … a wish he soon regrets.
Movie: (1976) Electrically supercharged worms attack the residents of a remote Georgia town.
First shown: 8/1/99
Opening: The SOL’s annual safety check reveals a surprising lack of same
Intro: Pearl is throwing a Castle Forrester Fair, and Tom and Crow’s livestock entry surprises Mike
Host segment 1: Crow rashly wishes that Mike didn’t exist and, sure enough, Mikey the sprite appears to grant his wish and enforce Crow and Tom’s somewhat reluctant repentance
Host segment 2: Tom comes down with severe southern belleness
Host segment 3: Mike’s plan to create mutant killer worms instead results in a tasty snack
End: Crow takes a fall from his reeeally high platform shoes; Pearl forces Brain Guy demonstrate the fair’s bungee jump attraction, which has some flaws
Stinger: “You gon’ be da worm face!”
(293 votes, average: 4.44 out of 5)
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• Well, this one is a lot of fun. The short, of course, is golden, just exactly what MST3K is all about. The short itself is great goofy fun and the riffing is top-notch. The movie keeps the momentum going with a watchable and actually kind of creepy little story, with plenty of flaws for the guys to pick at (bad acting, nerdy unlikeable hero; unsympathetic victims, etc., etc.). The host segments also keep things going, and if they’re not hilarious, they at least don’t outstay their welcome.
• Bill’s thoughts are here.
• This episode is included in Shout’s “MST3K: Volume XXXI.”
• References.
• Where did they get that standee of Ben Murphy? Bet a fan sent it.
• In his comments, Bill confirmed what many people suspected: that this short had been kicking around BBI for years and was in fact the inspiration for the “Willie the Waffle” sketch way back in episode 317- VIKING WOMEN VS. THE SEA SERPENT.
• Fave riff in the short: “Guns, huh?”
• Many years ago, I mailed a copy of this short to the Springs Manufacturing Association in hopes they would reply with something funny to say about it, or might even know the history or background of the short. I never heard back.
• Callbacks: “Jeeeeeeed!” (The Leech Woman) “The monster called Gamera is destroying the city.”
• Naughty riff: “Mother! That’s private!” Also: “See? It’s not true that I can’t get wood.”
• That’s Patrick as Mikey and Mike’s Socksey.
• One of the things I noticed this time was the proliferation of Klan jokes. A few are appropriate but I think they may have overdone it.
• Obscure: “…letters from Der Weisse Engel…”
• In segment 3, when Mike says he’s “gotta make a rice a verms” he’s mocking the famous Bela Lugosi line from “Bride of the Monster” in which he talks about a “rice a pipple.”
• Also in that segment, notice that somebody was making the little worm wiggle.
• In a discussion of the worst cops, many folks singled out the icky sheriff as the worst or one of the worst. Boy howdy were they right. Wow, what a jerk.
• “Hank Hill’s friend” has a name. It’s Boomhauer. Did they not know or were they afraid people wouldn’t recognize it?
• Yet another credit bit: This time it’s earnestly answering the questions asked in the song.
• Cast and crew roundup: Special effects makeup guy Rick Baker also worked on “The Incredible Melting Man” and “Track of the Moon Beast.” That’s it.
• CreditsWatch: Directed by Kevin. For some reason Jeff Stonehouse was unavailable and someone named Kevin Galligan was the DP for this episode. Similarly, John Sims was not available and somebody named Clayton Hughes was the boom operator. Ed Dykhuizen and Sarah Lemanczyk were back as interns.
• Fave riff: “Lowly Worm’s worst day ever.” Honorable mention: “Kevin McHale, cross-dresser.”
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Yet another in Season 10’s parade of good-not-great episodes for me. Coily’s whistle noise will forever bug the living crap out of me, and the movie itself really only leaves me with two things: a thirst for egg creams (hold the worms!) and a disturbing attraction to Don Scardino, who reminds me of my first boyfriend. What, can I say, I like ’em on the nerdy side.
“In his comments, Bill confirmed what many people suspected: that this short had been kicking around BBI for years and was in fact the inspiration for the “Willie the Waffle” sketch way back in episode 317- VIKING WOMEN VS. THE SEA SERPENT.”
I had no idea that was actually confirmed. Thank goodness. I recently saw the Viking Women episode for the first time and was convinced that I had somehow fallen through some kind of weird tear in the fabric of time.
The short is gold. I played it for my wife and all she could do was look at me in stunned silence afterward. :lol:
“Noooo springs!!!” *whistle*
LOOKS LIKE I’M GONNA BE THE WORM FACE!
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Saying this will probably put me in a tiny minority, but I despise this episode with a passion that others here reserve for the Hamlet episode. The short featuring that personification of pure evil known as Coily was bad enough. But the main feature filled me with such revulsion that this is probably the only MST3K episode I’ll never rewatch.
I unabashedly love this ep (one of my favorites), and for some reason love the Tom-as-southern-belle segment. I’m about to commit sacrilege, however, and say that I don’t think the short is that great. It’s ridiculous and a MST3K must-see, of course, and its very existence is baffling, but IMHO I don’t think it stands up to multiple viewings.
“A Case of Bass Ale” is the only rewatchable part of this episode. The movie seems almost randomly picked, to me, and is sufficiently disgusting to make me uninterested in watching it again.
I enjoyed the short far more than the feature. I didn’t hate the feature; it just didn’t do anything for me. I was ok with the Mr. Beardsley running gag, but after the third time I was hoping they’d upgrade it to a kind of Chief/McCloud-style bit of business.
Also, I used to work in a video rental store and had access to dozens, nee hundreds of standees. Many were of “celebrities” who had no business being on such a thing. As long as the Brains knew of someone who worked at a rental store, they were good to go.
I haven’t seen Squirm in a long time, but since A Case of Spring Fever is readily available on DVD, I’ve seen that one lots of times.
“Oooh I’ll show Coily! I’m gonna digitize everything!” I always wondered if that was a riff they came up with in 1991, or whenever it was they originally screened this. The reason I wonder that is because I think the concept of “digitizing” things such as clocks, was still pretty new at that time, and I thought the Brains were riffing on advancements in technology.
“Hey look! God has a spring!”
“You’ll be the first to die!”
“From then on, Coily visited him nightly until he was driven mad.”
I don’t remember too much from Squirm. I do recall the scene where the red-haired “hero” comes back to get her bound and gagged girlfriend who is making her way down the attic, and for no reason, puts his hand on her butt. It’s funny to me because M&TB don’t react to it at all.
The film had some laugh-out-loud moments for me …
the girls bringing in dinner to a dirge-version of Happy Birthday
“I have a mind to cut off your health benefits!”
bus driver — Southern man don’t need you around here anyhow
and of course Lowly Worm’s worst day ever
I love the short. In fact, I find myself at odd times mimicking the frog-faced coot of a protagonist’s plaintive “Springs! I hope I never see another spring as ling as I live!” Oddly enough, Coily doesn’t show up when I say this. He must know I’m only kidding.
As for the movie, I can’t get past the antiquing, whiny Elton John similacrum as the movie’s hero. The actress playing the mother does do a good job with the spooky faded Southern belle trope, though.
I go to this one often. Yet another southern horror opus, which I think the Brains did a great job with. I would rather tackle a season of southern horror than a season of Japanese moster movies every other week like we had in season three. A rare short during this period, a good riffable movie. I like Don Scardino as the hero, like robniles in post #1, I too, like them a little nerdy.
Very good host segments. I always like it when Mike is oblivious to the various parts of the ship. Worth it for Crow’s “You’re not very observant, are you, Mike?”
Too bad this was the penultimate episode. “Mr. Beardsley!” would have made a nice callback.
Fave riff: “Brian Setzer at his day job.”
For me this is the last of the good episodes. The short helps a lot. The first time I saw it I was shocked and delighted all at once. The short itself is so strange it just opens the door for good riffing and they don’t disappoint. I do find that I’m not always in the mood for the last half of the short with our newly converted preaching to his golf buddies, but usually it’s a good time all around.
As for “Squirm” this is one of those movies that’s just bad enough to provide the riffing material, but compared to the film making behind oh say “Horrors of Spider Island” is a much better production all around. This can be a double edged sword for the riffers, but Mike and the bots really make it work. I think the focus on Southerness instead of 70’s jokes works wonders on it.
I give it four egg creams out of five – hold the worms please.
Click my name to read a full review.
Me, I’d rather have A Case Of Bass Ale.
Coily the Spring Sprite. For once I concur with those who feel the last bunch of MST episodes were made by people aware of their imminent demise. We know that this short was seen by the Brains many years previous, and that we are lucky now to see their highly refined take on this bit of goofiness. Droppy the Water Droplet (1004) & Willy the Waffle (317) were mere prophets of the coming of Coily.
Anyone who questions Don Scardino’s masculinity (or talent) should check out William Friedkin’s flawed masterpiece Cruising. He plays a gay West Village neighbor of Pacino’s who (SPOILER!) meets a bad end. Scardino is now a director, doing TV shows like “Law & Order” and “30 Rock”.
“Amethyst” was a fantasy Marvel comic book from the 1980’s. Why it is shown among the comics the Bots are reading in Host Segment 1 is a mystery to me.
Random Twilight comparison: there is more genuine romance in the first 15 minutes of this movie than in that entire film series. I really like the two leads here and hope their ginger love connection pans out.
This one works for me due to the colorful characters. The cast are all highly memorable, like the douche-bag sheriff, surely one the worst in MSTory. My favorite: Roger, except for his attempted date rape while on the fishing boat. From a comment on Skenderberg’s Blog re. the killer worms: “in Roger’s case they find him seemingly indigestible, and transform him into the delightful ‘Worm Face.’ [perhaps they recognize him as their former caretaker.]” Good observation.
This is one of those rare MST films that I feel may be too good to be riffed (having never invoked this rule before I feel the right in this case). Sure, I appreciate the added humor, but never felt the film was actually “bad”. Compared to The Giant Spider Invasion (810), which shares common themes of rural redneck monster mayhem, Squirm has well-drawn characters, competent production, and a creepy atmosphere.
The end credits show this as another early Rick Baker effort (Melting Man, Moon Beast) who went on to better projects later. Also, I don’t think anyone mentioned him during the It Lives By Night (1010) discussion but a young Stan Winston did the makeup effects for that one.
And once again, Crow falls from a great height. Good times; bring your binoculars.
The riffing is fine but the movie itself is enough for me to give it 4 stars.
A certain convocation of politic worms! (Hamlet callback)
I’ll just say that I’m glad that the short is available on it’s own in this case. While the movie does have it’s goofy moments, but to me, it’s still sufficiently creepy and disgusting to not rewatch.
As for the short, a friend of mine commented that the Brains seem to just lay back and show how goofy the short is. The first half has some really funny bits as Coily is doing the tormenting, but the second half seems to peter out. As Servo comments, “Shouldn’t this be over?”
I don’t watch this one all that often, because the film itself totally grosses me out. And I’m an entomologist by training.
Coily is one of the most memorable characters from a short, second only to Mr B. Great short and okay movie with good riffing. The sheriff sort of bumps the movie up a bit. And what a ladies man! How many ladies out there were dreaming to be curled up next to this waxey, silver haired Adonis in a filthy jail house cot? What a skank!
I saw this non-MSTied movie on TV when I was a kid, scared the crap outta me. I still have trouble watching it, even MSTied – super gross …
#15- I saw Cruising in the theater when it came out! I really need to see that film again, armed with the knowledge I just gained from your post.
As far as this episode- I again found it consistent with season 10 and creepy southern towns. That’s why I enjoy Michigan even more (no tar balls on the beach) & (no creepy inbred hicks trying to unleash killer worms on my face)- so though I’m poor, and rotting in industrial decay, I have a full set of MST and drinking water. The future is bright!
One of season 10’s best. I wish they would have ended the series with this episode and not Danger Diabolik!, but that disussion can wait till next week.
“Amethyst” was a fantasy Marvel comic book from the 1980?s. Why it is shown among the comics the Bots are reading in Host Segment 1 is a mystery to me.
I don’t know either, but it’s a DC comic.
For me, “Squirm” is like “The Incredible Melting Man” and the Mr. Creosote sketch; I just can’t watch them. They sound very funny, though. And, as I noted previously, the “evil little kid” music from this one and the song from “It Lives by Night” are definitely a good match.
I have to disagree with Mike re: the movies editor, Brian Smedley-Aston. He cannot be a complete failure, having worked on the original “Rollerball”.
So, how many other people do you think Coiley has driven into spring-centered madness?
“I’m gonna Willem Dafoe all over you.”
The short is okay but I like the movie much more. I grew up with this movie and it was terrifying as a kid.
SQUIRM
Well, I don’t know why, but okay…
I’m surprised nobody has brought up the director contacting the folks at the MST3K REVIEW WEBSITE thinking they were BEST BRAINS INC. and lecturing them about how MST3K was wrong to make fun of his movie, because it’s really a ‘comedy’
“Mass-SASS-chu-sis!”
This is a good one. The short definately outweighs the movie but the movie is pretty good as well. Host segments are solid for the most part.
On another note, glad to hear we’re doing the KTMAs after all. Last thing I remember was that we were going to skip those and start with Season 1.
Post 25: The director thinks Squirm is a COMEDY!? If that was his intention, I have to say he is no Rick Sloane.
I watched this ep for the first time a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. “Coily” and the skit he inspired were pretty hilarious.
Squirm itself I found very memorable though I never quite got the “antiquing” riffs, I’ll have to watch it again. It kind of reminded me of Soultaker, with the female lead being not quite girl next door attractive, more like “girl two towns over” attractive.
Antiquing is like on that History Channel show with those guys that go to remote cousin-brother type locales to look at people’s rusted out crap in hopes of finding rare and collectible items that the owner is too stupid and inbred to understand the value of.
I challenge anyone to watch this movie while eating spaghetti.
The short is amazing the first time you see it (at least this was my experience), but then on repeated viewings, once the shock of it has worn off, that ending just drags on and on.
The worm parts of this movie are so utterly disgusting that even typing this sends a cold chill down my spine. I’m honestly surprised that this passed muster to be shown on regular cable during regular hours. I know there’s no nudity or profanity or even overt violence, but ewwwwwwwwwwww.
Still, after reading all these comments I might try and watch the movie again this weekend just for the sake of sentimentalism. I don’t think I’ve watched it since it was originally broadcast, and it puts me in the mind of my life at the time, and how I regularly watched the last couple of seasons of MST3K with a group of friends (that I am long since out of touch with), and how we always looked forward to seeing those new episodes every week. Remember the thrill when you didn’t really know the movie at all, and you were seeing the riffing for the first time? I was driving across the US in late 1998, and I happened to catch (I believe) Riding With Death in a hotel room in Boise. At that point I hadn’t seen a new MST3K for a while (I’d never had cable before 1998, so I relied upon chance encounters with videotapes and other people’s cable), and I can still remember the nerdy excitement I felt when I realized what I was seeing. New MST3K! Now, after having seen all the available episodes, I feel like I know this show so well that I kind of wish I could go back and see them all again for the first time. Well, all of them except for Hamlet.
In that spirit, I’m looking forward to a hopefully very worthwhile comment thread for Diabolik.
I think “Coily” has be most evil sprite in world. I mean he just torment the man. Was this suppose be educational and for what purpose? I do like the skit though.
I just did not like it. I know these views are unpopular, but then I have never courted popularity.
Love this one. Watch it often. Makes me laugh. Not much more to be said.
I get through it by leaving the gross scenes on, but averting my eyes just enough so I know what’s going on, but so the images don’t really imprint in my mind. Remember “patch-ass and scrawny”?
Brandon says:
“I’m surprised nobody has brought up the director contacting the folks at the MST3K REVIEW WEBSITE thinking they were BEST BRAINS INC. and lecturing them about how MST3K was wrong to make fun of his movie, because it’s really a ‘comedy’”
Yeah, director Lieberman made the same comment on the dvd audio commentary when he mentioned MST3k riffing on his film at the start of the movie. But then towards the end of the movie when Mick and Geri are escaping out of the window onto the tree, Lieberman actually points out that when “Da worm face” Roger crawls up to Mick, that the actor can actually be seen “not” pounding on Mick’s leg…but is actually pounding on his own arm! Then he says to the effect, “See, I can riff on this film as well as those mystery science guys!”
Sorry to those I offend, but I find this to be the worst of the season 10 episodes. Thank god for the short, which is in my opinion one of the best in the shows history. Fave riffs: “Man they are way over-southerning” “I’m gonna Willem Dafoe the hell outta you” and “come on, no one is that southern!”
Sampo: “Where did they get that standee of Ben Murphy?”
It seems pretty obvious to me that they made their own. Take a frame blowup of Ben Murphy’s head from “Riding with Death,” put it on a photo of some guy in a suit, and voila. (BTW, it always looked to me like the head is a bit small in proportion to the body.) Just a variation on the same technique that gave us the talking Abby figure in the last host segment of “Riding with Death.”
***
re: “A Case of Spring Fever”
As Wilford B. Wolf (#16) points out, Servo himself nails the real problem with this one. During the golf game, he asks, “Shouldn’t this be over?” The first four minutes are priceless, but then it gets dull, and the Brains find little to do with it. While I’m on the subject, I loved the callback during the feature when the station wagon is violently bobbing down the road, and Servo says, “Look! (Coily voice) No springs!”
***
Is “Squirm” is the only feature they ever did that was long enough to be an episode by itself, but which they added a short to anyway? It’s surprising that it works so well, considering they cut something like 28 minutes out of it. It doesn’t feel like it’s missing any plot. I’ve never seen it at its original length, but it must be insufferable.
Even though I enjoy the creative slams on Patricia (Geri) Pearcy (“It’s a moldy Slim Jim! No, it’s her.”), I think she’s actually pretty cute. But then, I have a thing for redheads.
All in all, a fair-to-middling episode. It doesn’t have many memorable riffs for me.
Favorite riff: re: “Willie’s Bait” sign, “Clinton’s next job.”
I agree with robniles in the opening comment, this is another of season ten’s “good but not great” episodes. I really enjoyed the short (“Coily”, man, does that name beg to be mocked) but the movie was so-so. Kinda like “Boggy Creek” but not quite as good. Just a really creepy vibe to this movie (no pun intended) which just prevented me from enjoying it more.
If I remember right, the making of Squirm was a major part of the debut issue of Starlog magazine, alongside a lot of talk about Star Trek. Lots of talk about Star Trek. More than you can imagine. Plus the worm movie. Backstage pictures and everything.
My father asserts that A Case Of Spring Fever was made to pitch the new suspension system of whichever car it was got featured at such great length. That seems plausible, although the 900-hour Ken Burns-ish detail on the history and philosophy and wacky-fun-ball-theology of spring-ness-ocity seems like overkill. On the other hand Once Upon A Honeymoon was probably trying to sell phones, so clearly there was some sort of major brain malfunction in the advertising industry which compelled them to make epic deranged fantasy tales instead of clear, focused pitches directing attention to the unique selling propositions of their products.
@ 38 While the film uncut would have been long enough for a whole MST3K episode, the thing here, as many have noticed, is that even with the riffing by Mike and the ‘Bots, the film is still somewhat scary. Now consider that some of the scenes that were in the uncut version include an on-camera shot of Roger becoming “Worm Face” (aka we actually see the worms crawl inside Roger’s face) and the scene where the worms kill Geri’s mother.
Given MST3K’s practice of screening films first and cutting out the scenes that are either too “intense” or too “adult” for a show targetted at general audiences (which was instated after the writers were writing riffs for The Sidehackers and were unaware that the film includes a scene where the hero’s love interest is raped and killed), most of the darker moments of Squirm were cut from the episode. By the time the cuts were made, the film itself was now too short to be used for the whole episode. Hence, with the cut time, BBI was finally able to riff on a certain short involving a certain Satanic “spring sprite”. *WHISTLE*
I didn’t how much this movie grossed people out. I must be desensitized as all Hell…
Anyway, Squirm is one of my top rewatched episodes. Always a good time and a good laugh whenever I pop this one in. I will say the first couple minutes of the “Coily” short are super fun, but the whole “preaching the gospel of Springs” bit near the end just drags on… The movie is sufficiently full of redheads, ickyness, inbred hunks, douche-sheriffs, and thick Southern promise that most of the riffing takes full advantage of the material. So… yeah. I likes it. Definitely the last “good” episode of MST3K.
I will say the first couple minutes of the “Coily” short are super fun, but the whole “preaching the gospel of Springs” bit near the end just drags on…
“So…’guns’, huh?” :)
#16 and others say this movie is creepy and disgusting, that’s the reason it’s good. If you are that much of a wimp just watch the Disney Channel with the other 5-year-olds.
I enjoy this episode and it is in my regular viewing rotation. There are many great riffs throughout, and the host segments are well done. A couple things:
Kevin Murphy appears to make a callback to the Coily riff in one of the Rifftrax shorts. I think it’s the one with the monkey kids. Don’t quote me; I could be misinterpreting the joke.
Showtime (or was it Starz) used to show Squirm on a regular basis, and the information listing always gave it 3 stars (???). Some of the parts the Brains cut out had nudity in them, specifically when Geri was in the shower near the beginning of the movie.
I honestly thought that the Beardsley riffs were going to turn into Chief/McCloud riffs. The feeling that this is the direction the joke should go is so strong that every time I watch this ep, and get to that part, before I can stop myself I chime in with “Chief? McCloud!”
Some of my favorite riffs:
Mother: “I just don’t want you to be disappointed when he doesn’t come.”
Crow: “Mother, that’s private!”
(When Mick falls into a swamp)
Crow: “I’m an idiot!”
(When the sheriff and random woman are sharing post-coital bliss in a prison cell)
Crow: “Ugh she sold herself for a plate of spaghetti!”
NormalView82: As far as the antiquing riffs go, besides the fact that it was how Geri and Mick met, I believe the Brains didn’t think antiquing was a very manly pastime.
I’d say that this is actually one of the better movies that the Brains ever did. The lead characters are kind of likable, the setting feels like a real place, it has a sense of humor, and a couple of bits are actually kind of scary. Considering that it’s about electrified killer earthworms, that’s not a bad achievement. This is one of those guilty pleasures that the show was able to elevate that much higher. One of the highpoints of a pretty uneven season.
“Mom, we live in Michigan!”
I’d rather watch Mr. and Mrs. Roper have sex than this episode again. Whew!
@42 This movie doesn’t gross me out at all either. Hell, I could eat sausage while watching how sausage is made, and not be phased by it.
The only incident, in a MST’ed film that’s ever grossed me out, is the moment in The Brain That Wouldn’t Die where the closet monster bites out a chunk of Bill’s neck and then drops it on the floor. THAT moment sickens me.
#28:
Well, IIRC Stephen King claimed sort of the same thing when “Maximum Overdrive” bombed, so…
This movie is not that gross. ‘The Incredible Melting Man’ is much grosser.
My favorite lines:
Crow: “You know, this whole movie deftly illustrates one unshakable principle. Never go to the south for any reason. In fact, please south, cecede will you? We won’t stop you this time.”
Mike: “Crow!”
Crow: “Oh c’mon! They know we hate them!”
Mike: “Now stop it! Sorry south. He’s a violent little robot. Pay no attention.”