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The Lair of the White Worm

The Lair of the White Worm

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A gem of a satire!
Review: 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!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: You can almost forgive Ken Russell for "Altered States"...
Review: Ken Russell just makes embarrassing movies, there's no denying. His trademark is to take a good story and filter it through an emotionally-stunted imagination (see "Tommy", "Altered States", or "Salome"). Fortunately, there was no plot to ruin in this movie, and by dumb luck he gets it right. While it still has the same awful "over the top" stuff as the aforementioned movies, all the characters (except Sammi Davis) make the best of their lines. And it's actually got some pretty good scares in there as well. Several steps up from Ann-Margret swimming in baked beans, at least ("Tommy").

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good horror that is fun to watch
Review: 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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An unexpectedly fine film
Review: Loosely based on the Bram Stoker short story this film has it all;ancient curses,reincarnation,Scotish castles,human sacrifice, an early appearance by Hugh Grant,and an incredable scene of the gorgeous Catherine Oxenberg bound and gagged in nothing but her bra and panties about to be fed to a giant worm! This film is a must see cult classic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ken Russell's Lair
Review: Much fun and a joy for those of us who appreciate this director's work. Russell's commentary on the DVD version is great. A. O'Donahue works wonders as the Snake Goddess. Well worth the price.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Can we stop on the way for a bite?
Review: Some times legend is based on more than facts. And what you don't know may bite you.
I have to admit I did not read the book. I have seen other Ken Russell movies; but I do not recognize his style. However wyrmen works as well if not better than bats in that part of the world. This movie has everything that makes up a good horror film. There are victims, unaware good guys and even a few "stay in the car" scenes. There is even a song and a tune to go with the story. So far I can not find the sound track.
As with most good DVD's the goodies are almost as good as the film is.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sick,twisted, repulsive, and perverse.
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cheesy and fantastic
Review: This film is soo bad its good, ina kind of Showgirls way. I absolutely love it, have seen it several times on TV and am now in the process of trying to find a PAL copy for my video collection. To watch this film you need a good sense of humour and a pretty advanced sense of hte bizarre, but its definately worth it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hilarious, camp and genuinely scary
Review: 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!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of my favorite Movies
Review: This is one of the best and original Horror Movies I have ever seen ( I see quite a lot). Everything is lovely, the twisted story, the actors ( ever seen Huge Grant ripping reptilized Humans apart?) and the creepy-deeply black-humerous Atmosphere. It's really a shame that Amanda Donohoe is not as famous as other actresses that she would knock out easily. She gives one of the best and stylish / erotic performances I ever saw. So, if you love Horror Movies that go beyond "Watch at cinema and eat popcorn" than buy this Video. I highly recommand it!


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