The Lair of the White Worm dvd movie.|
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List Price: $29.98 Features • Anamorphic • Closed-captioned • Color • DVD-Video • Widescreen • NTSC In Theaters : 21 October, 1988 DVD Release : 19 October, 1999 |
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The Lair of the White Worm description Wittily updated from one of Dracula author Bram Stoker's lesser-known horror novels, The Lair of the White Worm is a camp classic that only Ken Russell could have delivered. It's got all the perversity one expects from the bombastic director of Tommy and Altered States: sensible plotting, intelligent dialogue laced with double entendre, graphic imagery with Boschian intensity, and a mischievous disregard for good taste and decorum. In other words, it's heretically hilarious, especially when skeptical Lord D'Ampton (fresh-faced Hugh Grant, in one of his earliest films) begins to suspect that seductive neighbor Sylvia (Amanda Donohoe, game for anything) is connected to the local legend of a monstrous serpent that feeds on sacrificial virgins. Evidence mounts with the help of a local archaeologist (Peter Capaldi) and two endangered sisters (Catherine Oxenberg, Sammi Davis), and Russell infuses Stoker's grisly plot with his inimitable brand of blasphemy, including a gouged eyeball, a venom-splattered crucifix, Roman soldiers raping nuns (in a delirious hallucination sequence), and some of the funniest one-liners since Young Frankenstein. Prudes beware; everyone else…enjoy! --Jeff Shannon |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | Very Weird Story from Ken Russell |
| Words cannot describe my feelings when I first saw it about ten years ago. I have seen it again and I still don't know how I should write about it, but one thing is clear; the film is never boring. Ken Russell's "The Lair of the White Worm" is certainly "weird" and "campy," but those words are not strong enough to express my impression after watching this film, which is fascinating in more than one way.
The story opens with a curious skull found by archaeologist Angus (Peter Capaldi) in the ruins of a convent. It is only the beginning of a series of weird occurrences including the return of seductive, evil, venom-spitting Lady Sylvia Marsh (intentionally and delightfully over-the-top Amanda Donohoe), who plans to do something very bad and bizarre for a strange creature that lives deep in the cave. Oh, and don't forget the legend of D'Ampton Worm (told in a catchy song) and Lord James D'Ampton (young Hugh Grant) who just inherited the estate, funny dialogue delivered in a deliberately theatrical fashion and weird hallucinations about Jesus Christ, a big white snake, nuns and Roman soldiers assaulting them. Roger Ebert in his review (two stars out of four) compared this film with Roger Corman's AIP films, but whatever people say about his B-movies, Corman was never called blasphemous. After all "White Worm" is directed by the person who did "Tommy," "Altered States," "Crimes of Passion," "Salome's Last Dance" and "Lady Chatterley." Besides these extraordinary visions that you must see for yourself, Ken Russell should be praised for one thing, and that is, 95 per cent of the film's updated Bram Stoker story does NOT happen the original novel, usually regarded as the least successful one from the creator of Dracula. And try to find Gina McKee who is to co-star with Hugh Grant in "Notting Hill" 10 years later. |
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