The Worm Eaters (1977)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This movie, no scratch that, this crap is an exercise in base film making. You actually think this is gonna be a horror, but you'll be wholly sold up the river. No gore here. Is it a comedy? Oh right? No, I'm void on laughs. As an 80's teen, I remember being repulsed, adverse to hiring this film, when looking at the uninviting cover of our ugly old German hermit, Umgar, (Robbins) about to devour worms from a glass jar. This movie, there I go again with that word, I mean crap, wasn't what I expected. I expected it to be a bad movie, but this throws that context all out the window. The catchy song at the start is better than anything that follows. You'll recognize a couple of faces, and wonder what the f..k, they're doing in this? The extreme, purposeful overacting is annoying and ostensibly staged, and people may say, adds to the stupidity and awfulness of the movie, or adds awful style to it. No, it doesn't. It just looks stupid. The plot has Robbins who lives out of town, who been repeatedly evicted by this pushy land developer, (a face you'll recognize) to move to make way for these condos, to be built over this stinking polluting swamp, that fringes Robbins place. He won't budge, and uses his own smarts, to prolong and fight against this rival. Umgar breeds these worms, not your ordinary worms, planting in people's foods. When they devour them, they take over their body and from the head down, they form the same shape and features, smarts on the writers part, unfortunately the director, and lead star of this tripe. You can even see on one on the actors behind, where the latex/worm skin and come apart off the back. This only blends in to the awful style of this tripe. The hated and unpopular Umgar keeps his victims in a floor board stash, beneath his shack. I can't believe this (film) is what is is. There were moments, pauses, where I was in completely stupefaction, jaw slacked by this s..t, eyes rolling, thinking "What the f..k is this? The violence especially that I expected, was like ordering a cheeseburger, and not getting cheese. We have some close ups we could do without, of oblivious worm eating. Near the start, see how the daughter of the mayor, reacts, when finding worms in her cake. Everything about this movie sucks, script, acting, non violence, non laughs. Umgar is interesting though, someone you won't forget, with straggly hair and stinky shirt overalls. The thing you won't forget, is the (film's) best asset, that song that will ring in your head, long after watching this dribble. Oh, did I forget to mention he communicates and talks with his worms too, giving them names. Strictly for the undemanding. Robins made another late 80's films, The Brainsuckers, and looks worse than this. At least he's keeping up the same style of base film making. It is colorful though. An offbeat originality and style in being base.

The mayor and town council in California want to steal dirty hermit Umgar's land.They want to build condos for yuppie tourists.Unfortunately for them Umgar discovers that when a human eats one of his worms they become a giant worm themselves.It's time for worm eating."The Worm Eaters" by Herb Robins is totally bad taste horror comedy in the vein of John Waters works.Ted V.Mikels produced and distributed this piece of utter schlock.The characters are absurd and annoying,the humor is goofy and there are some mildly disgusting close-ups of worm eating.The film is obviously not as extreme as "Cannibal Holocaust" or similar exploitation classics.If you like amateurish Z-grade cinema check this worm out.5 worms out of 10.

One of my beloved movie bibles, "The Time Out Film Guide," calls Herb Robins' 1977 gross-out horror comedy "The Worm Eaters" "a truly disgusting film." Reason enuff for any aficionado of bad cinema to rent it out in a flash, right? Unfortunately, this movie is not so much disgusting as it is truly awful, and every element of the cinematic arts--acting, directing, scripting, photography, editing, scoring--is rock-bottom deplorable here. "Director/writer" Robins himself plays Umgar, a clubfooted worm breeder who talks to his little squirmy darlings, calls them by name, and takes decided action when some slimy land developers try to push him off his turf; namely, he puts his pets in the local town's food. Thus, we are treated to various loudmouthed (every character in this flick seems to scream his or her lines obnoxiously), truly ugly personages eating spaghetti & worms, hot dogs & worms, ice cream & worms, cake & worms, and even worms & worms with his/her mouth wide open and in delectable close-up. For some reason never explained, these folks then turn into worm people themselves, and squeak and slither for the rest of the picture, supposedly hilariously. But not a single gag is the slightest bit funny here, many details go unexplained, Umgar's phony German accent is almost incomprehensible, the film's theme song is offensively and annoyingly catchy, and the net result is a film far worse than just about anything in the Ed Wood oeuvre. I've seen a lot grosser films, truth to tell, but none much worse; still, I wouldn't want to watch "The Worm Eaters" while scarfing down a bowl of linguini marinara!

I collect movies like this and if done properly this could have actually been a very funny movie. What it turned out to be was a very bland gross-out movie that really has no redeeming comic or interest value whatsoever. There are tons of great comedy horror films out there. I would suggest looking elsewhere if you want some good old fashioned gross-out entertainment, as this movie will leave you wondering why you actually paid good money to buy it. It's a one time watcher at best.