ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS (2022) Movie Review

All Jacked Up and Full of Worms (2022) d. Alex Phillips (USA) (72 min)

Motel mop-boy Roscoe (Phillip Andre Botello) is introduced coming down from a trippy tantric experience involving Samantha (Betsey Brown) and third wheel Jared (Noah Lepawsky). “I think I just killed my own childhood,” he breathlessly proclaims to his giggly, gurgling girlfriend, followed shortly by “I think that’s enough hippie stuff for today.” Meanwhile, across town, the schlubby, unkempt Benny (Trevor Dawkins) thrills at the arrival of his mail-order infant sex doll, intending to lovingly nurture it, excited at the prospect of finding a partner with whom to share his bundle of plastic joy. His initial choice, Henrietta (Eva Fellows), is a gentle, groovy prostitute who, unflapped by her would-be client’s inability to perform sexually, offers up a box of hallucinogenic worms as an alternative means of pleasure. Initially repulsed by the notion, Benny later returns to discover Roscoe tidying up and, upon consuming the creepy crawlers, the two strike up a surprisingly warm if twisted friendship that leads to encounters with strange, dark places and stranger, darker people.

SCARE-A-THON 2022 FINAL RESULTS!!!

And that, legions of licorice-loving loonies, brings us to the end of Scare-A-Thon 2022 and yet another OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE!

As always, the Challenge itself is to watch (at least) one fright flick for each of those glorious 31 days that make up the month of October, 16 of which must be first time viewings. I am happy to report that goal has been handily accomplished, with all of the 31 official Scare-A-Thon movies being FTVs as well as being released (wide) between 2020 and 2022. (Call it the year of "catching up." Thanks, Chicago Public Library!!) 

Along the way, thanks to the generous hearts and minds of fans like you, over $6,000 has been raised for the WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ASSISTANCE PROJECT, with additional funds still coming in, making this the most successful Scare-A-Thon EVERRRRRRRR!

Thanks to the 17 (!) guests who showed up at all hours from across the globe to chat on the HORROR 101 with Dr. AC YouTube channel, as well as everyone who participated in some way, whether it be making a contribution, liking a Facebook post, watching or listening to a partner podcast, leaving a comment, suggesting a movie, or just chatting about what we were respectively watching this month. 

The October Challenge can actually be pretty lonely work at times, but such was not the case this year and I'm deeply grateful for all the connections made and shared. Extra Special Thanks to Gert Verbeeck for his tireless efforts in creating video thumbnails, testing out AV equipment, and countless other favors. I owe you one, amigo!

Below are the 31 "official" features viewed (with links to full-length reviews), as well as 15 additional horror and horror-adjacent titles "just for fun". Before we get to that, however, there is the usual assemblage of useless factoids to ponder while you're thinking ahead to next year's costume.

Have fun!

CHALLENGE STATS: 

Total Movies Watched: 46
First Time Views: 37
Total Scare-A-Thon Donations: $6,120