Customer Reviews

Lair of the White Worm

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Up front, NOT everyone will like this film. It's a Ken Russell film, after all. That said, if you are scared of snakes, have a religious bent or hate picked earthworms in aspec, then this film is NOT for you!! Amanda Donahoe turns out a stunning performs as the Lady who is not a lady. Hugh Grant (before he was HUGH Grant) is perfect as Lord D'Ampton. A mystery, a horror with vampire tones, Russell crafts a winning hommage to old Hammer Films, and boldly goes where they rarely did, and adds the dash of droll humour to top off the mix.

Russell's best film!! But as I said, NOT everyone will appreciate it.

This one was despised by the serious critics, but all that means is that they weren't weird enough to enjoy it. All right, it's trash. But it's great trash. It's my idea of a feel-good movie. It's kinky, erotic, scary, and funny. And bright. Literally. After zillions of creepy, dark, scary scenes in movies, the sunshine and well-lit rooms in this one emphasize the horror scenes. But who cares about the lighting? It's main attraction is an over-the-top performance by Amanda Donohoe as a very bad girl. Upper-crust Hugh Grant and his cohorts have a lot of fun trying to evade her slithery grasp. That's about all you need to know. But for heaven's sakes, don't take it seriously. If you hate it, you'll really hate it.

Lair of the White Worm is originally a story by Bram Stoker (author of Dracula) and the book is really worth reading. It is based on an old folk tale, adapted by many different authors, of how a giant worm (dragon) was slain by a knight. In one story the knight clad himself in a plate mail of spikes and when the worm tried to crush him, it killed itself.

The movie (and book) takes place several hundred years later when the Lord James D'Ampton (Hugh Grant), grandchild of the knight who slew the worm, returns to his castle at the same time as an old skull, of unknown species is found by an archeology student (Peter Capaldi). At the same time a mysterious lady (Amanda Donohoe) arrives from her travels abroad. And people start to disappear.

The story is good, the actors are excellent, the filming is beautiful, but the special effects sometimes leaves something to wish for. One has to remember that this is Ken Russel directing which means spooky dream sequences, some weird camery angles and characters that are a bit too much - in a good way. This is also true for the dialogue. Hugh Grant is simply perfect as the snobbish lord that has set his mind to destroy the new D'Ampton-worm and with Amanda Donohoe as the evil worm-cultist, sexy and manipulating at once, things couldn't be better.

A Ken Russel-fan will definitely love this one, so will any one that has liked Sam Raimi's (Evil Dead) movies, even if this hasn't got as much gore). So will also anyone who likes their horror with an ironic touch. Anyone that wants the standard version of Hollywood Horror should choose another one.

Ken Russell does it again, flourishing as a genius of mondo-bizarro cinema! Here he engages us in a game of sorts, pulling us into the action as it writhes around on the screen before us. It draws us in, taking every ounce of Donohoe's performance into our jealously campy hearts. You can't help but completely fall in love with every perforamce presented here, but Amanda Donohoe is fabulous!!! Complete with monstrous white worms lurking in caves, vampire cults, blood and gore, sword play, Hugh Grant at his campy best (outshining even the likes of Rupert Everett) and a satirical director at the top of his form. Lair of the White Worm is a masterpiece, a hidden gem that must be given serious reconsideration!

Before you put Ken Russell's "Lair Of The White Worm" in the player, you might want to shoo out any children, nervous adults or members of the clergy who may be hanging about your media room. Russell nearly outdoes himself (and that's saying a lot!) with this 1988 horror-thriller-black comedy. With tongue planted firmly in cheek (and snake planted firmly in lair), Russell mixes a modern-day "Saint George vs the dragon" story with elements of classic vampire films. Amanda Donohue, in an a fearless, camped-up performance, makes for a very sexy, slinky and naughty serpentine siren (It's a long way from "lizard's lair" to "L.A. Law", baby!). Peter Capaldi (the mermaid's bumbling suitor in "Local Hero") plays it straight as a bagpipe-wielding archeologist, and a pre-Hollywoodized Hugh Grant portrays a manor-born uppercrust type (there's a stretch) who may or may not be a direct descendent of a real "wormslayer". As with most Ken Russell offerings, there is much here to offend the uptight and/or pious, but much to amuse those who revel in the off-beat.

This is not a combination one finds that often, but in the masterful hands of Ken Russell that is how this film emerges. More than anything else, the film is buoyed by its hilarious dialogue, with Amanda Donahue delivering the most outrageous puns and one-liners. Example: "Do you have any children?" "Only when there aren't any men around."

The special effects are cheesy to the n-th degree, in the same category as Tim Burton's in Beetlejuice and with much the same effect.Russell camps it up to just below the point where it might have become tedious.

Donahue steals the show with her performance, but Hugh Grant provides a great counter, in the days when one still said: "Hugh who?" The only disappointment is Sammi Davis, who really cannot act her way out of a paper bag. I shall never understand why Russell used her so often (she also ruined the otherwise superb "The Rainbow").

In the final analysis the film is difficult to recommend to anybody who is not totally whacky and enjoys totally whacky films. Some of the horror sequences are genuinely horrific, but the comic counterfoil is as arresting, making the film a hybrid the likes of which I have never experienced.

Final note: after seeing the film on a festival, I was hitching home and given a lift by a lady who had also just seen it and reminded me a little too much of Amanda Donahue's character. Now that was scary!

Based on a novel by Bram Stoker. Stars Hugh Grant, and the lovely Amanda Donohoe.
It's pretty "campy" which I usually don't like, but I DO like this movie.

Hugh Grant plays James D'Ampton, who returns to his ancestral castle in the English countryside. James' distant ancestor was said to have slayed a dragon, the white worm, who supposedly dined on the flesh of young virgins.

A legend that James immediately dismisses, but when a local amateur archaeologist discovers the huge skull of a reptile and what looks like a site of worship on James' property. It has James rethinking his original dismissal. Especially when his virginal & virtuous girlfriend, Eve, disappears.

James and the young archaeologist, Angus, decide to investigate the the dark cave, rumored to be the lair of the great white worm.

Living in the same small locality is the beautiful vamp Lady Sylvia Marsh, a so-called "snake watcher" Really a devotee of the snake deity. She wants to get her hands on the reptilian skull and make some "offerings" to the white worm.

She really has everyone in the village entranced, but James is able to resist her. He's very suspicious about her activities. And acting like a snake charmer, attempts to stymie her plans.

Donohoe is excellent as the sultry and dangerous Lady Sylvia . Her costumes, make-up and unique cars! are fabulous, lots of fun. :-)

The film contains some dream sequences involving extreme images of followers of the white worm (who worship the snake deity) in some kind of shocking ecstatic frenzy together with some nuns, and an image of Jesus. Filled with blood, nudity, suggestive activity & some pretty big phallic shaped objects! :-).. I wasn't offended by this, but some overly-prudish people might be.

This is not a good, legal transfer of Lair of the White Worm. It is a cheap, low-quality Chinese knock-off with a bad transfer and terribad subtitles. I would like to have been informed before buying it that it isn't an original transfer by the people who own the movie rights so I'm writing this review to warn other potential buyers. Caveat Emptor!

It's hard to imagine in these days of stomach-turning gore and mega-violence, just how contentious and controversial Ken Russell films were, back in the unstable yet uncomplicated day.

He's stated in interviews that all his films are comedies, and you can take him at his word, but critics just don't get it. He scuffed one with a rolled up newspaper on a tv show, which prompted the self-same critic (and renowned Russell-basher) to famously proclaim in print: "Get me an elephant gun, this man must be stopped!"

It's easy to see why these people detest Russell - he's been goading them for decades. Taking money from the ever-so-worthy British film industry and making mad tragi-comic films about VERY serious and highbrow composers and artists, taking drugs, getting drunk, taking their clothes off and running around beautifully lit country houses, sweating like rapists, with their eyes bulging.
Russell doesn't like factual bi-opics and faithful adaptations, he likes making it up as he goes along, believing the spirit of the person, or work in question is far more important than insignificant details, ie; facts. Your standard intellectual and particularly the classical world cognoscenti don't see the funny side of this AT ALL.

If you're in on the joke though, you're in for a treat; 'LOTWW' is seen as a 'lesser' Russell work, but I think it's one of his best. Based on a story by Bram Stoker, a hoary old tale of vampires/reptiles/pagan gods et al, gets a rethinking like never before.

The cast are obviously in on the joke, particularly dishy Amanda Donohoe as the chief villainess. Slinky and seductive (with a wardrobe to match!) she slithers her way magnificently through scene and scenery in her characters admirable quest to resurrect an age-old pagan snake god by means of human sacrifice.
Hugh Grant (in a fantastic coat) gives his best performance as the playboy lord of the manor, who's ancestor originally slew the titular beast, and who sees himself as similarly responsible to 'scotch the bugger' again.

Jokes/homage/pastiches come thick and fast. There's a 'Citizen Kane' reference, a 'Tommy' joke involving Grant and a drum kit, Hammer Films, David Lean, 'Cleopatra' etc,etc. In fact, like most Russell films, it's a movie-buffs dream, and - like the man himself - a complete one-off.

And yes, there's gore and shocks as well. Mass impaling (involving nuns) Roman pillaging (involving nuns) some sadistic dialogue paraphrasing 'the Devils' (about nuns!)a brilliantly low-budget eye-gouging (no nuns in that bit), and a dream sequence on a plane, with Donohoe and Catherine Oxenberg dressed as air-hostesses who..well, you'll have to see that for yourselves. Suffice to say, Russell's on home turf here and doesn't disappoint.

Also starring the excellent Sammi Davis, brave heart Peter Capaldi, a startlingly good cameo from the late Stratford Johns as a snarky butler, in addition to a smattering of Russell stock regulars from his 70's heyday snaked in for good measure. All superb.

It's a shame Russell didn't do more stuff like this, and it does show what can be achieved on a low budget if you have someone with vision and imagination at the helm. 'LOTWW' makes a great double-bill with the same directors 'Gothic' - another gem, damned by faint-praise, but a rattling good ride all the same.

Stoker could never have envisaged his creation being presented like this, but secretly - in his starched-collar, stoic Victorian way - I think he would've approved.

That about sums it up. I however find a strange attraction to it. Amanda Donohoe chews up the screen in this weird little tale based on the Brahm Stoker novel. While Lair of The White Worm is a bizzare cult film that Has much to offer (like a young Hugh Grant), It is Not for all tastes.