1988 Directed by Ken Russell
In a remote corner of England's Peak District, a mysterious skull is unearthed. But even weirder is that Lady Sylvia steals the skull for use in worshiping - very erotically - her pagan god, The White Worm, who hungers for the taste of virginal flesh.
Amanda Donohoe Catherine Oxenberg Sammi Davis Hugh Grant Peter Capaldi Stratford Johns Paul Brooke Chris Pitt Imogen Claire Christopher Gable Gina McKee Linzi Drew Tina Shaw Miranda Coe Caron Anne Kelly Fiona O'Connor Caroline Pope Elisha Scott James Hicks Andy Norman Ken Russell Paul Easom David Kiernan Matthew King Ross Murray Bob Smith Jackie Russell
蛇妖, Der Biß der Schlangenfrau, A Maldição da Serpente, Le repaire du ver blanc, Jardim do Mal, La guarida del gusano blanco, El hechizo de la serpiente, La tana del serpente bianco
This movie is fucking insane in all the right ways. Hugh Grant wields a giant sword. There are phallic symbols in every scene. There are the silliest dream sequences you can imagine, and there are other parts that look like they could've been the rough draft for the Black Lodge sequences on Twin Peaks. There's an absurdly convoluted backstory, and it manages to fit in snakes, vampires, dragons, the Romans, pagans, and more into an hour and a half.
October count: 14/31.
This is only my second Ken Russell film, and the first, Altered States, I saw so long ago that it barely counts anymore. After this, however, I'm interested in checking out more, cuz this shit made my head explode. I'm curious though. Can someone tell me if Russell was just walking around with an IV drip feeding weapons-grade LSD into his bloodstream all the time? Cuz there's like this weird, sexy horror comedy in here, about a snake lady, that almost feels something like American Werewolf in London at times, tonally, but then there are random flashes of surreal, acid-trip imagery with nun rape, and impaled nuns, and giant white snake gods, and crucifixes, and then there are weird Freudian…
Spooktober II: To Hell With the 80s
At this point, it has become almost mandatory to include a film by the prolific and controversial Ken Russell on the list of films to watch this season. It seems like many people are leaning towards The Devils, but I decided to check out another one based on the novel by Bram Stoker (yes, THAT Bram Stoker), which is also based on an English legend.
In keeping with the director's style, there is a lot of allusion to religion, which is presented in a blasphemous manner. This film reminds me of Altered State a great deal both in the way it is edited and the visuals themselves, though in a lower scale and…
The Lair of Ken Russell. Entering his cinematic world of sensory assault is always a treat and this is no exception. Lair of the White Worm lives deliciously as a bulbous salutation of folksy eroticism, I love it.
UNBELIEVABLY horny and deranged 5/5
Great early performances by Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi
Oh such beautiful natural landscapes of EnglaNUN RAPE ORGY UNHOLY VISIONS ROMAN COCK SERPENT JESUS FEVER DREAM.
Hooptober 4.0 - 2017 - Film #4
I have only seen a few of his films, but I am quickly coming to the conclusion that Ken Rusell's films are completely bonkers. In the absolute best way, of course. To me, he seems to be constantly striving to show us how clever he is with his allusions to history, high-brow culture and philisophy while at the same time dragging it all through the mud of the bawdy and the profane, in the process creating a sloppy chop of crashing waves of whackness.
In Lair of the Worm, a young archeaelogist nerd uncovers a bizarre shaped skull. These very first moments establish the expository heavy course that we are about to undertake…
80s horror adventures with Jason
I'm pretty sure I rented this as a kid on VHS and it severely confused me, so I didn't like it. Happy to say things have changed. That mixture of folksy pagan horror, snake people and trippy WTFness is intoxicating. I feel like the trippy scenes were a direct response to the video nasty days in England. "You don't want sexualized violence? You can't get much more sexualized than this gore covered scene of nuns being raped!" rofl, so awesome! Why did Hugh Grant do so many sappy horrible flicks when he should have been in more films like this? I love Ken Russell.
"Are you into any kind of banging?" -Lady Sylvia Marsh
- DHH #40 (Oct. '21): boxd.it/dsjmu
Bring the weird. Bring the sex. And.... bring me Hugh Grant.
The Lair of the White Worm confused me a lot and that's not always a bad thing because if you learn to just accept and run with confusion, a film can take you in interesting directions.... this kind of did. I like the melodramatic style and there is a lot of interesting stuff to look at in the film. I found myself wishing for a better structure but overall the vibe was fun and the third act rules.
Sure.
I can't remember where I first learnt of the Lambton Worm, but it might have been in the same book that contained the story of Percy Fawcett. As junior archaeologist Angus (an enthusiastic Peter Capaldi) explains, the story isn't about your common or garden earthworm, but an old fashioned wyrm, i.e. a dragon, which terrorizes the townsfolk as dragons are wont to do. Ken Russell, however, realizes that snakes are much sexier than dragons, so the humongous animatronic "worm" in his panto-folk-horror update of the tale is a sort of snake-worm-eel-dragon hybrid, and a charming sort at that.
Everything about The Lair of the White Worm is pure charm, from the pairing of Capaldi with a pubescent Hugh Grant (as…
