A Mad Scientist, Zombies And A Big Bug On The Loose In EARWIGS

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources; Avery Guerra / Robert Hood

Somewhere between the "Night of the Living Dead", "The Fly" and all the giant bugs on the loose flicks from the 1950s lies the plot for a new retro horror from filmmaker Bruce LeGrow entitled "Earwigs".

As you probably already know, we love retro monster films here at Monster Island News and luckily for us there seem to be alot of good ones being produced these days. "Earwigs" looks like it will certainly join the ranks of those films very soon.

So far "Earwigs" only exists as a trailer, made initially for a faux-trailer contest, but Legrow has big dreams of developing it into a full-length feature.

Legrow explains, "Earwigs was one of those ideas that seemingly came out of nowhere. There was a call to create a fake horror/ sci-fi trailer to screen at the local Silver Wave film festival. I had just moved out of an earwig-infested house, so I already had earwigs on the brain! It felt natural to make a monster movie about earwigs in a 50s sci-fi context. Earwigs seem to be the only bugs that didn’t have their own creature feature in those days. I am a big fan of the ’50s sci-fi film — “Creature from the Black Lagoon”, “Them”, and “Tarantula” in particular.

I would love to make Earwigs into a feature-length film. I am currently brainstorming ideas and writing a treatment. The trailer leaves things fairly wide open for a feature. This is good, but it creates a challenge on how to tell the story. I want Earwigs to be fun within its genre, rather than being campy and poking fun at it. I could write a script that could be made with a shoe-string budget, but I am currently going for the grand approach!"

Here is that aforementioned trailer:



Here is the plot idea for "Earwigs":

Dr Rutherford’s home life is in shambles. His wife is an abusive gossip who spends most of her time complaining about her husband on the phone. Amidst his current studies for the military, the doctor has been working overtime to develop a serum that would alter the human brain. The serum is intended to unleash the brain’s full potential for empathy and compassion. After a few failed attempts of using the serum on his wife, and selling it as a “love potion” to local hoodlums, the doctor stumbles upon the missing ingredient in his own basement laboratory. Earwigs!

Earwigs are the great mothers of the solitary insect world. Earwigs care for their young well after the second molt! Through a series of radical experiments, the doctor manages to extract the “caring gene” from the brain of an earwig. He carefully adds it to his powerful serum.

Inevitably a domestic dispute ends with Dr Rutherford kicked out of his own house. Now residing in the military laboratory, the doctor turns his sights to his sexy lab assistant Diana. He propositions that they each drink his serum and start a new loving life together. Diana declines and flees the scene. In a moment of desperation the doctor takes the serum and is strangely mutated into an earwig.


Dr Rutherford, now more earwig than man, lurks throughout the city. He has a sinister motive to capture women and create his own “perfect” family. After abducting Diana from a car at lover’s lane, the giant earwig creates an evil sanctuary in an abandoned barn on the edge of town. From here he uses his psychic powers to summon and command a vast horde of earwigs.

The earwigs crawl inside their victims, effectively turning them into mindless slaves of the earwig’s evil will. Fear and suspicion reign supreme amidst the plethora of strange occurrences around town. More young women are disappearing, and a manhunt begins for Dr Rutherford. Rumors abound that the recent phenomenon is part of an elaborate Communist attack on freedom. The military suspects Dr Rutherford is involved in this red plot, and begins an investigation. Meanwhile, Private Buck begins his frantic search to find and save his young love, Diana.

The town is in an uproar. It’s becoming impossible to determine who is under the earwig’s command. Greasers and nerds unite after a horrific incident at the sock-hop, and Private Buck finally uncovers the location of the giant earwig’s lair. The earwig threat is growing exponentially. A series of incidents finally prompts the army into action. Heavy artillery moves throughout the countryside. A massive stand-off occurs once the army descends upon the earwig’s lair. Will mankind triumph over the earwig’s lust for power? (source: Bruce LeGrow)

The things we men will do to try and get the attention of some woman. We buy them flowers, we take them out for expensive diners, we turn ourselves into gross half-human-half-insects..... and do they ever appreciate it ..... nnnnoooooooo.

Let's hope that Legrow can turn his little retro horror trailer into a full-blown monster movie. I sure would rather watch something like this than American Idol or most of the slop at the movies these days.