Full of Worms

When I stumbled upon the 2022 movie "All Jacked Up and Full of Worms" by random chance here in 2024, I was immediately drawn in by its odd cover. And with it being a movie that I had neither heard about before and much less even watched, of course I opted to sit down and watch what writer and director Alex Phillips had to offer.

The storyline in the movie was bizarre. So very, very weird. I wonder if the script for this movie was written while the writer was spacing out on something. I have watched my fair share of odd movies, no doubt about that, but "All Jacked Up and Full of Worms" definitely is a contender for the top three of bizarre movies that I have sat through, well partially sat through.

Suffice it to say that I wasn't familiar wit the actors and actresses on the cast list in the movie. But it should be said that the acting performances were good, despite the fact that the script was so far out there.

"All Jacked Up and Full of Worms" is definitely not a movie that will find an appeal with a wider audience, as it is very much something of an acquired taste to sit through.

Some of the scenes throughout the course of the movie were every bit as bizarre and strange as the contents of the storyline, so that seemed to go hand-in-hand. And some of the music in the movie was definitely also strange enough to compliment the bizarre storyline.

This movie was simply beyond the scope of what I find to be adequate entertainment, and I have to admit that I gave up on watching it 38 minutes into the ordeal. The movie just didn't make sense and I found little entertainment value in the strange contents that writer and director Alex Phillips had put together. And believe you me, when I say that I am not returning to attempt finish watching "All Jacked Up and Full of Worms". But I am sure that there is an audience out there, space out enough to find entertainment value in this movie.

My rating of "All Jacked Up and Full of Worms" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.

Budget was clearly a big factor in why this just didn't work, but it's not the only one. I like that it tried something different but that doesn't automatically make the movie good - just unique.

But characters seem to come from some alternate reality where nobody says things humans would say and do things humans wouldn't do. Entire stretches of time consist of nothing happening too, like pretty frequently.

So it's shot well and shows promise and the title is a great one - but the writing just needs to be better. If the director ever refined his writing and got a real budget, he could do something pretty watchable. But this isn't it.

Sometimes we learn about films because someone makes an offhand reference that, however unlikely, points us directly toward something we've never heard of otherwise. Sometimes such films are unexpectedly great; sometimes they're pointless and terrible. 'All jacked up and full of worms' is one such movie, specifically because the name and premise fits in neatly with a topic of recent discussion - and I have to say, from the outside looking in, it sounded fun. Unfortunately, as soon as we begin watching, all our hopes are swiftly and summarily dashed against the rocks rolling around in the head of filmmaker Alex Phillips.

Whatever this flick sounds like from an outside perspective, in actuality it's a rotten, incohesive, inane, vacuous mess. Whatever potential there may have been in the concept is wasted because ultimately it is employed as nothing more than a variation on the dull, juvenile stoner comedy, with more dramatic or horror-laden elements on the edges. That, it should be said, is the best "comedy" that the title has to offer, and the most "sensible" that the viewing experience gets. Elsewhere the writing is even more boorishly puerile as it takes cues from sex comedies that are big hits among 12 year old boys, replete with female nudity for its own sake. For good measure add in quizzical expression of homophobia and pedophilia. This is to say nothing of outrageously bad dialogue specifically amidst writing that, broadly, is perfectly scattered and sloppy - and direction so awful, forcing the cast into such small and insipid corners, that I'm fairly certain I just watched Phillips destroy their careers with a single feature.

Yes, there was potential in the concept. There are workable notions herein, including a broken sense of reality, but because Phillips flounders so much as both a storyteller and a filmmaker, that notion as it presents comes off not as imaginative and forward-thinking, but slipshod, feeble, and worthless. By one means or another there are some inclusions - whether a contribution of those operating behind the scenes, or a thought that could have been latched onto as a unifying force, however offbeat - that share in that potential. Yet because Phillips was just haphazardly throwing ideas at a wall for seventy-one minutes to see what would stick (nothing does), nothing herein amounts to anything. At length the only objective aspect of 'All jacked up and full of worms' that does not abjectly deserve criticism, and subsequent entombment within a concrete sarcophagus at the bottom of the deepest salt mine in the world, is the playfully oddball, unexpectedly dynamic original music of Cue Shop.

Weirdly enough, though, music is not enough to salvage a picture of any nature, not any more than the wildly, uselessly disparate assortment of ideas that the so-called "filmmaker" dubiously cobbled together. 'All jacked up and full of worms' could have been something wonderfully bizarre, creative, subversive, and memorable. What it is, instead, is total rubbish that I spent seventy-one minutes regretting; the only hope this had would have been if Phillips shared his root thoughts with another filmmaker who then took on all the responsibilities of writing and direction. By all reason I should have stopped watching right away, but I will watch almost anything, and I commit to it. Suffice to say that Phillips is making me reevaluate the decisions I have made in my life. However it is you stumble onto this 2022 putrescence, please take my advice and just avoid it.

While working at a remote hotel, a cleaner and his girlfriend stumble upon a strange batch of psychedelic worms left behind and indulge in the offerings which turn the entire relationship between them and several other residents in the hotel into a bizarre trip no one may come out alive.

This was a weird and generally bizarre effort. That this one offers a near-endless stream of over-the-top images with the outcome of the drugged worms offering the kind of ooze-filled visuals that denote a drug trip is really all it has going for it. The endless amount of times that someone is getting high off the strange worms through the highly unusual methods featured here and then undergoing a series of highly unconventional drug trips that provide the kind of bizarre format that gets a lot of its power through these unconventional concepts by putting those on the forefront of the scene. It gives the scenes a different nature and has the most to like here. Beyond that, though, there's not much going on with the film. The imagery isn't overtly scary but rather weird and that makes for the potential to be bored senseless with the endless repetition of different effects being utilized one after another. That's also due to the lackluster story that never once goes for anything resembling a coherent storyline since what goes on here is played off like a series of illogically connected sketches loosely assembled into a feature-length running time. Very little of this comes off with any kind of foresight or logic and it tends to be incredibly frustrating as a result which all combine together to lower this one significantly.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, and excessive drug use.

In recent years, the shock and sleaze genre has waned, with fewer films daring to provoke visceral audience reactions. B-movies and grindhouse-style films have a unique magnetism, showcasing rarely seen images that evoke both fascination and revulsion. Many renowned directors, like Coppola with Dementia 13, started in this realm. Damien Leone's Terrifier series made headlines for causing physical reactions in theaters, yet Alex Phillips' All Jacked Up and Full of Worms strives for a similar impact but ultimately falls short. Centering on characters who find euphoria in consuming hallucinogenic worms, the film introduces Roscoe and Benny, who bond over worm-fueled highs and relationship troubles. However, the plot, cluttered with cannibals, sex dolls, and televangelists, struggles to hold coherence.

While the film has its moments-particularly in the gross-out sequences that evoke the era of exploitative shock cinema-it lacks a cohesive narrative. The outlandish concept of worm-induced euphoria is intriguing, but the storyline loses focus amid scattered, provocative scenes. Betsey Brown stands out in her role, yet her character is underutilized. Though the film revels in its own bizarre premise, it misses the opportunity to delve deeper into its twisted exploration of addiction and depravity, leaving viewers intrigued yet dissatisfied. All Jacked Up and Full of Worms teeters on the edge of exploitative horror, but its chaotic delivery ultimately dampens its impact.