Earthworm
2022 · 14m · USA
Directed by Grace Gregory
Genres: dark comedy, horror, thriller
When 21-year-old Claire schedules an abortion — she has support, access, and clarity of choice — the night before her appointment she begins hallucinating earthworms invading her body, transforming a routine procedure into a surreal waking nightmare. The film follows her experience not as a political statement but as an unflinching portrait of the physical and psychological weight of getting un-pregnant.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Abortion experienced as literal body-horror worms crawling out — explicitly not a political statement, just the physical and psychic reality. That's the only way this material avoids being a pamphlet.
Gregory's choice to sidestep abortion debate entirely in favor of psychological-physical interiority through body horror is the correct curatorial move — Raw and Titane are honestly invoked. Short of the Week and Brooklyn Horror confirm the reception.
Short of the Week premiere, Mill Valley + Brooklyn Horror selections, 13:36, 43K views with mature flag. A surreal body-horror frame for abortion that explicitly avoids polemic to focus on bodily-psychic reality — the festival evidence suggests the calibration held.
Reviews
Everything Claire experiences is uncomfortable and painful, but she's expected to endure.
Earthworm doesn't just exist as a political allegory — it excels as a horror film as well. Beyond that political aspect of Earthworm exists a horror film that, regardless of your stance on the topics presented throughout the course of the film, you'll be able to appreciate.
Festivals
- Charlotte Film Festival 2022
- Mill Valley Film Festival 2022
- Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2022
- Oceanside International Film Festival 2023
- Film Maudit 2.0 2023
- Santa Monica Film Festival 2023
- Los Angeles Indie Film Festival 2023