Movies
Interview with ‘All Jacked Up And Full of Worms’ director Alex Phillips
All Jacked up and Full of Worms showed this year at Brooklyn Horror Film Fest under its “Head Trip” category. I genuinely can’t think of a better way to describe this movie. It was raunchy and disgusting, so definitely not for the faint of heart. BUT I’m always here for some good body horror, and All Jacked up and Full of Worms did not disappoint on that front.
One thing that I liked about All Jacked up and Full of Worms is that it often follows dream logic. Things don’t always seem to make logical sense, and the film moves from one sequence to another without fully explaining how we got there. I think this works well for a film in which worms are taken to the same effect as an ecstatic hallucinogen, or some other wild drug.
I was able to chat with writer/director, Alex Phillips, and special worm effects artist, Ben Gojer after the screening to get a peak behind the curtain.
Bash: Can you tell me about the meaning behind All Jacked Up and Full of Worms?
Alex: “It’s about being crazy and looking for love and meaning in a world where there’s a lot of different ways to replace that sense of love and meaning – drugs, religion, sex, or violence. And then also the terror that comes with confronting yourself and confronting the world around you.”
Bash: I feel like the dream logic fits well with the film’s subject matter. Can you tell me how you decided on utilizing it in the movie?
Alex: There’s an intellectual reason behind it, but also a very literal one. This is the way that I write, and the way that I want to tell stories. I don’t try to filter it through any top top-down structure until after I’ve conceived of the idea or written the script. The dream logic comes from wanting to convey raw emotions and feelings, and turn it into a narrative that still has a throughline and an upward trajectory and still has a resolution. I think it also mirrors the experience of living through certain traumas where experiences are condensed in time and space and there’s a rhyme to the way you experience the world.”
Bash: “There’s a lot of really great surrealist artists out there. Where do you draw inspiration from?”
Alex: “I really borrowed a lot conceptually from the Cronenberg adaptation of Naked Lunch. I found the text that I had written had a lot of rhyme in terms of content. And turning something that’s crazy into a plot structure is something he can do. In writing you can be more abstract, but in film you do need more of a beginning, middle, and end. So I was my own Burroughs and Cronenberg for better or for worse, to translate my own automatic writing and turn it into something that makes sense.”
Bash: The characters have their own monologues that get repeated throughout the film. I’m really interested in Benny and his approach to queerness. What was the purpose of his monologue?
Alex: “I wanted to approach that monologue and also that character from how a dumb mammal of a man would feel around, blindly confronting his desires and landing at an openness that is actually almost progressive, but also comically stunted. I see him as having broken down the walls of right and wrong by ramming his stupid head against them, and by reluctantly accepting himself he can therefore understand how other people might also have a similar interiority. It’s not in a way to validate any of his desires, but there’s a real rawness and openness to experience.
Bash: All Jacked Up and Full of Worms has some pretty sexually explicit moments. What’s your purpose for showing this on film?
Alex: “I want to be sex-positive and represent desires, good and bad, on film. For the challenging moments, we have literal distance from the bad stuff. It’s a performance, it’s fiction, and it’s on a screen. There should always be freedom to play with transgression in art. That’s why art exists, to explore the depths of human experience. If you don’t want to engage with the film you don’t have to. I’m confident in my relationships with the actors and also what they’ve consented to do. They were down to be naked on film, and were down for the sexually explicit moments. I wanted to show that in a way that is uncanny, and blatantly horny, and run it up against horror to discuss or at least dramatize our repressed approach to sex. Instead of coming up with a thesis statement about sexuality, I wanted to represent the anxieties and horrors associated with sex.
Bash: “I think that’s part of the merit of surrealism – learning through experience rather than being told.”
Bash: “Can you tell me a little bit about the character that repeatedly appears on the TV in the motel?”
Alex: “I wanted to create a world of this motel where someone is piping in fundamentalist Christianity, crossed with Mediterranean paganism, but it’s like worm Christianity: propaganda basically. The TV also operated as a formal device to move in and out of rooms and through people’s heads and dreams. That stuff is borrowed from my childhood. I’d watch a religious talk show after Saturday morning cartoons. But in the film, it was all meant to lend to a wider sense of the worm conspiracy, that these worm drugs could offer salvation and Godly truth.
Bash: I’m interested to hear about the special effects in the film. What were some of the challenges you had to overcome?
Ben: “Figuring out a way to have people vomit worms was tricky because a lot of times a vomit rig just has fluids and not also solids in it, so getting something that wouldn’t be clogged up once it had something flowing through it took experimenting. Also, doing that in the wintertime in Chicago is hard because a lot of liquids don’t flow the same way in near-freezing temperatures. Then once Covid happened, we got shut down in the middle of production, and we had to finish shooting the movie using Covid protocols which makes everything harder, especially when you have liquids involved that are kind of gross looking. It doesn’t make anyone feel comfortable.”
Bash: “Can you talk a little bit about the prosthetics at the end of the film?”
Ben: “That was a couple of different prosthetics. That also was tricky, and getting worms to flow through that was tricky. That didn’t even end up working totally right on set. It was a lot of trial and error.
Alex: “Both Ben and I wore masks for some shots. That helped solve some problems.”
Ben: “There’s some stuff we ended up shooting with us because we wanted to get as much good coverage as we could. It’s always tricky doing an interview about effects stuff because it’s like: do you want to be a magician who tells how you do your tricks, or do you want to let people enjoy it?”
Alex: “I always tell Ben to err on the side of: Biff’s face did transform, and it did explode with worms. It was a documentary.”
Bash: “Finally, what’s next for your team?”
Alex: “The next thing is called Anything that Moves. It’s an erotic thriller, or as I call it a “himbo giallo”. It’s about this guy who works as a bike delivery driver and is a sex worker on the side. All of his clients come from different walks of life, and it’s chill, almost magical at first. He can provide to them their deepest desires. But then the clients start to get brutally murdered. He’s got to run for his life, clear his name, and figure out who’s doing the murdering.
If you love surrealism and watching people’s lives get out of hand. This movie is a wild, funny, and chaotic ride. Buckle up!
All Jacked Up and Full of Worms will be available on Screambox starting November 8th and will have a limited run in theaters which can be found here.
If you have been following my journey with Horror Press, then you would know I’m a huge advocate for short films. (And if you listened to last week’s episode of the Horror Press Podcast, then you’d know how I really feel about filmmakers who look down on short films!) Oftentimes, short films force creatives into a corner, both creatively and fiscally. Some of the best art comes from limitation. Just look at Riccardo Suriano’s The Waking Call, a beautifully shot short film that looks 100 times its actual budget.
While I was excited to watch Catch a Killer and Killer Klowns from Outer Space, I was most excited to catch the three blocks of short films at Night Frights LA. When I met The Winchesters, I felt their true passion for bringing stellar horror to the forefront. When the credits rolled on the final short film from block three, I understood that they put their money where their mouths are. If my editor and I had unlimited time, I would review every single short film I had the opportunity to watch at Night Frights LA. Unfortunately, we don’t.
So, I took on the difficult task of whittling down every short film I watched to this list of my five favorites.
Our 5 Favorite Short Films From Night Frights LA 2025
5. Keep Coming Back // Short Film Block 2: Mental Carnage
Written by Dylan Garrett Smith, Travis Bacon (yes, that Bacon), and Kyle Kouri // Directed by Kyle Kouri
Paul (Kyle Kouri) attends an AA meeting to try to turn over a new leaf. But things quickly turn dark when Paul’s past comes back to haunt him. As it turns out, alcohol may be the least of the troubles for this AA group.
Keep Coming Back is a bloody blast that goes from 0 to 60 in a split second. This film was the shot of caffeine I desperately needed. It’s loud, brash, and mean. It takes you to the true depths that can come from a violent drunk and amps it up to an 11.
4. Knife // Short Film Block 1: Best In Blood
Written & Directed by Michael Kuciak
Have you ever wondered what a horror film looked like…from the perspective of the killer’s weapon? If you have, Knife aims to answer that question for you. This three and a half minute film is as quick and deadly as its title. In a Violent Nature may put the audience in the point of view of the killer, but Knife puts them in the point of view of the weapon. It’s a short, sweet, and effective piece that requires little elaboration.
3. The Last Thing She Saw // Short Film Block 2: Mental Carnage
Written by Brady Richards // Directed by Anthony Cousins and Rebecca Daugherty
(Yes, Frogman’s Anthony Cousins!)
Emma (Bailey Bolton) is housesitting for the owners of a gigantic mansion. Her day gets flipped upside down when two intruders (Agatha Rae Pokrzywinski and Nathan Tymoshuk) break in to try and get into a safe. Even though she doesn’t have any information on how to get into the safe, Emma finds herself at a crossroads. I don’t see a way out of this for Emma.
I remember catching this short film at either Final Girls Berlin Film Festival or Popcorn Frights some time ago, and I was stunned. My first thought was, “I bet this film would kill in an audience.” Boy, was I right. Hearing my fellow festivalgoers groan and squirm made me feel right at home. The Last Thing She Saw is grotesque and unique. It’s extremely hardcore and doesn’t pull a single punch with its content. And the practicals? My god. Extraordinary.
2. The Carvening // Short Film Block 1: Best In Blood
Written & Directed by Matthew R. Incontri
Two kids sit down and put on a VHS tape of a slasher film called The Carvening that follows a Jack O’ Lantern killer. But for these kids, the film hits a little too close to home.
Like Knife, The Carvening is basically a microshort. And still incredibly effective. At just two minutes and 53 seconds, it knocked my socks off. The film itself is animated, while the slasher film they’re watching is live action. It’s a unique blend that is as fun as it is wholesome. Incontri’s film is a brilliant aperitif that should be played before any horror film in the theaters.
1. Where the Shadows Feast // Short Film Block 1: Best In Blood
Written by Aaron M. Cabrera and Jerod Nawrocki // Directed by Aaron M. Cabrera
Children are vanishing at astounding numbers. Now, it’s up to a detective (Corey Allen) and a grieving mother (Alicia Blasingame) to get to the bottom of it. But they might not like what they find.
Where the Shadows Feast is a visual treat. It’s a black and white noir that has danger lurking behind every shadow. Cabrera and Naworcki’s script is beyond scary, but it’s horror icon Troy James that truly brings the fright to this fest. While I love the story, visual style, and worldbuilding here, I can’t help but say Troy James absolutely steals the show. The way he brings this horror to life is as astounding as always.
Actors like James and Javier Botet show that physical movement can do more than words ever could. Say what you will, but I think there is very little difference between the actors who play Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. Seeing an icon like Troy James truly melt into the role of whatever this creature is like watching the Mona Lisa being painted. That’s not to say the only reason I picked Shadows as my number one is because of Troy James. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was a damn good reason to.
I don’t know about you, but it feels like I stepped out of the theater after seeing Wolf Man, blinked, and suddenly it was September. It’s been a very busy year in general, but as always, especially so for the horror genre. We’ve had some misses and some hits, but overall, I’d say it’s been a strong year (though maybe not quite as strong as 2024 and its deluge of incredible movies).
Though your mind might still be primarily occupied with a more recent release, there have been a lot of incredible movies to hit both theaters and especially streaming services like Shudder in 2025. So, we here at Horror Press have decided to put together a shortlist of the best horror the year has had to offer so far.
The Best Horror of 2025 So Far
Feel free to wave this list in the face of your friends who say that all the horror they’ve watched this year is bad. Or just to celebrate because your favorite made the cut! Without further ado, let’s start with…
Dangerous Animals
Fun and insane animal horror movies are so hard to come across these days, but Dangerous Animals chums the waters with some fresh meat for the subgenre. Sean Byrne, best known for his work on the Australian sleeper hit The Loved Ones, tells a story reminiscent of Wolf Creek on the high seas.
A surfer and her boyfriend fall prey to a boat captain who promises a thrilling cage diving experience, but with a catch: he secretly enjoys torturing people before feeding them to sharks. Jai Courtney shines as the antagonist Tucker, whose mealy-mouthed grins and demented demeanor sell the danger our leads are in.
Clown in a Cornfield
The pick for the best slasher offering this year (until Black Phone 2 releases, #JoeHillHypeTrain) is a no-brainer. Shudder has finally delivered the long-awaited adaptation of Adam Cesare’s Clown In A Cornfield. And helmed by Eli Craig of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil fame no less! In the now dead hamlet of Kettle Springs, Missouri, a group of teens run afoul of its former mascot Frendo. While it initially presents itself as a basic corn-fed killer clown movie, if you stick with it, you’ll find it’s actually much more clever and thrilling than it lets on.
Predator: Killer of Killers
When I say Dan Trachtenberg does not miss, he does not miss in the slightest. The current creative director of the Predator franchise, fans of the series have been eating good ever since his work on 2022’s Prey, and have Predator: Badlands to look forward to early next month.
While Predator: Killer of Killers could have easily been a cheap animated film to tide over fans while they wait for Badlands, it proved to be one of the best films in the franchise yet. An anthology film featuring Yautja hunting throughout human history and across cultures, the animation here is slicker than slick. Killer of Killers delivers the action horror that everyone has been asking for from the franchise for years.
The Ugly Stepsister
When I heard The Ugly Stepsister was a collaboration between a bevy of film institutes and production companies across four different Nordic countries, I wondered what made it so special. What I saw explained it. While it is technically Cinderella, it’s specifically a retelling of Aschenputtel, one of the original and much darker iterations of Cinderella collected by the Brothers Grimm. And dark this is.
Told from the perspective of Cinderella’s stepsister Elvira, we watch her spiral as she tries to beautify herself in the ugliest of ways, all in an effort to secure a wealthy male suitor. Truly inspired costuming, grotesque body horror played for both shock and laughs, and a dead-on sense of comedic timing make this one a very memorable watch.
Weapons
Director Zach Cregger’s sophomore outing in the horror genre following his smash hit Barbarian is well-loved, and for good reason. This time, Weapons shines a spotlight on lives in a small town, and how they intersect, trying to make sense of a horrifying incident: the disappearance of 17 children who run out the front doors of their homes in the dead of night.
Cregger dances deftly on the line between horror and comedy in a way I can only describe as masterful, creating a film that is both viciously funny and aggressively disturbing. Where the film goes is a curveball, even for those who have seen the trailers, and a delightful one at that, since Weapons brings a new horror icon to the stage.
Companion
And speaking of Zach Cregger, this sci-fi horror is another one of his productions. If you’ve somehow avoided seeing anything about Companion until now and don’t know what it’s about, keep it that way and go watch it immediately. The ad campaign spoiled it, but the story is undeniably enthralling even if you know where it’s going. This movie features what is, by far, Sophie Thatcher’s most dynamic performance yet, supported by a stellar cast and the film’s pitch-black humor.
Fréwaka
The first Irish-language horror film is also one of the nation’s best cinematic offerings yet. A gripping and immersive folk horror film, it follows a home nurse named Shoo assigned to a superstitious older woman named Peig who lives on the edge of a remote village. Shoo soon begins to see dark ongoings in her dreams and waking life, plagued by the same mysterious group that Peig has been dealing with her entire life.
Fréwaka is a precision-made film, chock full of high impact editing and cinematography. It evokes a kind of existential monster, both man-made horrors of human cruelty and the mythological ones that lie deep in belief and the dark corners of Irish folklore. In short, unsettlingly effective.
Ash
Flying Lotus’ directorial career has been a point of interest for me ever since the genre shapeshifter that was Kuso and the demented parody that was his segment “Ozzy’s Dungeon” in V/H/S/99. And even with the high hopes those ventures gave me, Ash is so much more than I could have expected.
After astronaut Riya wakes up to nightmares of bodies being melted and screams of agony, she finds herself as one of only two survivors in a mission to colonize a planet gone horribly wrong. Ash is a lovely middle point between Event Horizon and The Void, a mixture that is sure to please those of us who like our science fiction dripping with an evil atmosphere and dark visuals. It also boasts some of the best color grading and lighting in any film this year.
Sinners
If you haven’t seen Sinners already, what have you been up to? Brain science? Rocket surgery? Here, visionary director Ryan Coogler tells the tale of a repressed young black man in 1930s Mississippi, trying to break away from his preacher father’s restrictive ways. His journey to do so lands him a performance at a juke joint out in the woods, one he plays so well that it lures in an ageless and relentless vampire.
Michael B. Jordan, Jack O’Connell, and Wunmi Mosaku lead an all-star cast through a mystical horror story with purpose. It explores the meaning of culture, religion, music, and the Black American experience—all while delivering one of the best vampire films of all time. The showstopping original soundtrack by Ludwig and Serena Göransson that it boasts isn’t half bad either.
Bring Her Back
I won’t mark this with the caveat of “so far”—this will be the most disturbing film you see this year. Bring Her Back blew any expectations you might have had from the Phillipou Brothers’ Talk To Me out of the water. While the premise of an orphaned brother and sister who are sent to live with an off-kilter foster mother and another mute child she’s fostering might seem predictable, this film is anything but.
It’s truly an emotionally draining watch, blow after blow with both the physical and emotional trauma it puts its characters through, and forces you to watch. It refuses to let you breathe for even a minute in its final act. It’s definitively Sally Hawkin’s finest hour as an actress, and beyond this short list, it’s firmly some of the best horror of all time.
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