Movie Worms, Ranked
It’s a huge month for huge worms. Dune Part Two is here, and with it comes the epic worm-riding and Shai-Hulud action that the first movie merely hinted at. Worms are so important to the second half of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation that they released a special promotional popcorn bucket that looks, ah, unfortunately worm-friendly. Perhaps more than Zendaya or Timothée Chalamet, the sandworms are the true stars of Dune.
While Dune might bring us the highest-profile worm to grace cinema screens, worms have squirmed their way throughout movie history — including in a movie called Squirm. To celebrate Dune, here’s a listing of the best and worst worms that Hollywood (or Hollyworm, if you will) has to offer. Much as the Fremen walk without rhythm in order to avoid detection by the sandworms, this list is also without much rhythm. What makes a worm good? What is a worm, even? Biologically speaking, “worms” are a very broad group of distantly related animals. They usually don’t have legs (except for when they do). Despite the similarities, slugs are not worms — they are slugs. Caterpillars? Caterpillars are clearly not worms. Be serious. Given that many pop culture worms are alien in nature, it makes classifying them even more subjective. Ultimately, though, you know a worm when you see it and bless its comings and goings.
Annelids (Men in Black)
I hate these guys so much. The Annelids, a.k.a. “Worms,” from the Men in Black movies are awful and do a disservice to worms everywhere. Not only are they bipedal — which is basically the one thing a worm cannot be — but they’re also perverted creeps who play Twister with Rosario Dawson. I do not like how they behave, I do not like their horrible little bodies. I am not amused by their antics. The Shai-Hulud create Spice. The Annelids just drink coffee and upset me.
Giant leeches (Attack of the Giant Leeches)
The giant leeches in this 1959 creature feature also commit the cardinal sin of walking on two legs. That’s not really their fault, as they were once normal leeches but they were mutated due to atomic radiation, as animals in ‘50s movies are wont to do. They can be blamed for kidnapping people and slowly sucking them dry of blood in their swampy lair.
Grima Wormtongue (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)
Gríma, son of Gálmód, is technically a man, but only technically. He earned the nickname “Wormtongue” when he worked with Saruman to put Théoden, King of Rohan, under the wizard’s thrall. Upon being freed from Saruman’s spell, Théoden called Grima a “witless worm” and he was right to do so. Aragorn shouldn’t have stopped Théoden from killing Grima in retribution. Truly one of the worst worms.
Worms (How to Eat Fried Worms)
The earthworms in this adaptation of the ‘70s children’s book How to Eat Fried Worms are just regular-ass earthworms who get eaten when Billy Forrester, a new kid, accepts a bet that he can eat 10 worms without throwing up. The worms themselves are utterly unimpressive, leading to their low ranking. RIP to those worms, but the others on this list are different.
Ceti eels (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Is the Ceti eel that The Wrath of Khan’s Khan puts in the captive Chekov’s ear a worm? Its name would have you believe it’s an eel, but eels are aquatic fish and this is clearly some sort of invertebrate. The larvae are perhaps more slug-like than worm-like, but the adult Ceti eel has a carapace that doesn’t seem especially sluggy. In any case, once a Ceti eel crawls into its victim’s ear, it wraps around their cerebral cortex and makes them very susceptible to suggestion. Maybe that’s why it’s on this list of movie worms despite, maybe, not being a worm.
Jeff (Men in Black II)
The second worm-like alien to appear in the Men in Black franchise is a much better worm. Jeff, a big worm with a bunch of sharp teeth and a dainty little flower growing from his forehead, lives in the New York City subway system. Jeff loses points for destroying and partially eating a subway car. This is the last thing that the MTA needs right now.
Maggot (The Corpse Bride)
This Peter Lorre-lookin’ worm lives inside the titular Corpse Bride’s head in Tim Burton’s most Hot Topic-core movie (which is saying something). Maggot acts as a morbid Jiminy Cricket, and he’s ultimately looking out for Emily’s best interests. But there’s something offputting and slimy about him — and not even in a worm way. He just makes me kind of uncomfortable.
Dionin a.k.a The d’Ampton worm (The Lair of the White Worm)
Hugh Grant gives a whole speech about how we shouldn’t take the word “worm” too literally. (“It’s an adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon wyrm, meaning dragon or snake.”) And, sure, the titular white worm in this comedy-horror adaptation of Dracula author Bram Stoker’s novel is more draconic than squirmy, but you’ve got to give it up to this pagan snake-god. Worshiping Dune’s worms makes your eyes turn blue. Worshiping Dionin turns you into a venom-spitting serpent lady with a killer sense of fashion.
Carnictis sordicus (King Kong)
There are all sorts of creepy crawlies living in the chasms of Skull Island, but the giant bloodworms — whose scientific name Carnictis sordicus means “vile meat-weasel” (charming!) — are by far the most disgusting. When Kong tosses Adrian Brody and his compatriots off of a log and into the abyss below, it’s Lumpy, played by Andy Serkis, who meets the worst fate. The worms surround him in the mud, extending their terrible pink protuberances and toothy mouths in order to grab him. Lumpy manages to cut one in half with a machete, but another puts its maw around his entire head and they begin to eat him alive.
Sandworm (Beetlejuice)
There’s a goofy macabre quality to Beetlejuice’s giant black-and-white-striped sandworms with a second head inside of their heads that makes them both whimsical and scary as they swim through the sand of “Saturn” (not the planet — it’s really some kind of limbo). They are basically the answer to the question “What if Tim Burton made Dune?” That pitch could easily go very wrong but it would certainly be interesting, as these sandworms demonstrate.
Graboids (Tremors)
Graboids are the trashy, redneck equivalent of the noble Shai-Hulud. First seen hunting Kevin Bacon in the Nevada desert in the original 1990 cult classic (and then several more times in an astounding number of straight-to-video sequels), Graboids swim through the sand and grab at their prey with their tongues, which are essentially mini-worms with mouths of their own. There’s something delightful about how Graboids lack any sense of pretension. They’re just gnarly, dirtbag worm critters and they should be celebrated as such.
Worms (Squirm)
The ‘70s were full of killer animal movies, with creature features about deadly rodents, whales, ants, bats, sharks, and more. Squirm turns worms into surprisingly convincing killers when a downed power line electrifies thousands of bloodworms and sandworms that were meant to be sold for bait in a rural Georgia town. Thanks in large part to legendary special make-up effects artist Rick Baker’s work, the worms are disgusting. You can’t help but love a movie where a character opens a door and a literal room full of worms spills out into the hallway.
Sandworms (David Lynch’s Dune)
The sandworms in Lynch’s 1984 Dune are more monstrous and less mysterious than Denis Villeneuve’s take on the Shai-Hulud. That’s both a feature and a bug (er, worm), as Lynch’s hulking worms, with their three-lobed maws, are imposing beasts. When Usul calls a big one, you believe it’s big. The problem is they aren’t quite as majestic as the Villeneuve worms. Awesome, but not as clearly worthy of religious awe and reverence.
Earthworm (James and the Giant Peach)
Earthworm is not the best of James’ transformed bug friends he travels with inside that giant peach (that would be Mr. Centipede), but the David Thewlis-voiced worm is the only worm of the group. (Glowworm does not count because glowworms are beetle larvae, not proper worms. Also, Glowworm is, like, barely a character compared to the rest of them.) Blind and pessimistic, Earthworm comes through when he acts as bait for the seagulls needed to get the peach across the ocean. At the end of the movie, once they’re all settled in New York City, he becomes the spokesman for a skin cream, and he’s flanked by two attractive women in a picture in Variety. Good for Earthworm.
Exogorth (Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back)
Once more, the definition of “worm” is a potential issue, as the gigantic exogorths which live in asteroids throughout that far, far away galaxy are more commonly referred to as “space slugs.” But, much like the Millennium Falcon, we’re not going to let that come back to bite us. So much of Star Wars is indebted to Dune, and it’s hard not to draw a connection between sandworms and space slugs, and while there’s not nearly as much meaning or narrative importance in the Star Wars equivalent, seeing Han Solo narrowly escape the closing jaws of a massive beast is one of Empire Strikes Back’s most thrilling moments.
Sandworms (Denis Villeneuve’s Dune)
There was some… apprehension when the design for the 2021 Dune’s sandworms was first revealed. People saw that trailer and said that the worm’s mouth, which was inspired by baleen whales, looked like, well, a butthole. In the full context of the movie, though, it’s clear that the Shai-Hulud are worthy of the Fremen’s worship and audience adoration. By making the worms’ mouths essentially a gaping void, Villeneuve eliminates their ability to bite. Instead, the sandworms simply swallow. There is nothing on Arrakis that they would need to take a bite of, they are Dune, and they consume whatever troubles the surface. Though Part Two shows that the sandworms can be used for violence with great effect, they’re still sufficiently hard to anthropomorphize or identify with. The Maker is something more than an animal. It represents something greater, something beyond — while also being really, really cool to ride. We are so lucky to be blessed by the Maker.
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