In 1973, Thomas Rockwell wrote a children’s novel called How to Eat Fried Worms which involved a young boy eating one worm per day for 15 days in order to win a bet. Spoiler alert: the boy won the bet and consequently developed a taste for worms and continued to eat them. Starting somewhere in the over-protective-parent-themed decade that was the 1990s, the book started appearing on challenged and even banned book lists due to the gross behavior of the main character. Well, if uptight book Nazis found that story unsettling, then ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS should be the absolute end of the world for them.

Not only does the main character eat worms, but he convinces everyone around him to eat worms. And the worms have everyone trip their faces off. Director Alex Phillips goes out of his way to make the audience uncomfortable with vomiting, casual and public sex, and the consuming of worms (and not just orally). And if you think you can stomach all of this, then prepare yourself for the unofficial mascot of the film: a sex doll in the shape of a baby (just to guarantee everyone is squirming in their seats with discomfort).

The film starts with an assortment of brief scenes of weird people doing weird things. Benny (Trevor Dawkins), a lonely man buys a pleasure doll with the plans to raise it as his own child, only to become discouraged when he realizes the toy means to stimulate sexual pleasure and not parental instincts. Roscoe (Phillip Andre Botello), the maintenance man, for the seedy Rainbow Motel catches two people (one with clown make-up) having sex over a garbage can. And a naked woman named Samantha (Betsey Brown) sits in her blue-bathed room with nothing but her cigarettes and her worms to keep her company. The introduction of the major players in the film lets the audience know they should prepare for a high level of filth, but unfortunately whatever line you expect to reach, will actually be exceeded.

Through a series of interactions, Roscoe comes to possess the psychedelic worms mentioned in the opening sequence. And in an attempt to one-up the competition for his wild-hippie love interest, Roscoe brings the worms home and encourages others to eat or snort the wiggly drugs. This is the second bug-related drug storyline I have seen this festival season (Swallowed being the other one), so I am hoping this subgenre continues to produce more fest favs. And wriggly psychedelics are not all ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS  has to offer. Besides the heavy presence of drugs in the narrative, sex also makes a pretty consistent appearance throughout the film. The sex is a wild good time, and everyone seems pretty comfortable having sex whenever and wherever, and spectators are welcomed.

Benny and Roscoe both think they need a woman in their life, so naturally, they pair up and create a mini-support group for themselves that involves some mind-bending and violent adventures. Benny needs someone to play mommy to his newly adopted doll, and Roscoe wants to show his girlfriend he isn’t a square. But it’s not all fun and games when it comes to ingesting slimy trip-inducing Earth eaters. In order to absorb the worms (or to make new ones) the process involves some gruesome Cronenbergian body horror. And everything else which occurs raises the filth level of the movie to a John Waters-caliber of ick.

ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS loves to push the limits of sleaze and every single person in the film easily finds themselves willing to eat worms as long as they will get you ‘fucked up.’ We witness such a bizarre combination of depravity, hedonism, and body horror, but the film still somehow works in a few laughs. WORMS will definitely divide audiences because while most people can handle one or two of the gross-out-causing elements, Phillips however does go beyond just a couple of skeevy ideas. So, people will develop either a strong love or a strong disgust for the film.

ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS had its world premiere at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival.