La tana del serpente bianco

I'm not going to strain my brain trying to work out just what Ken Russell was trying to achieve with 'The Lair Of The White Worm', but he ended up with a semi-classic slice of campy, sleazy trash that is full of nudge, nudge, wink, wink smutty humor. There's absolutely no way anyone could take this one seriously! I haven't read Bram Stoker's novel so I don't know how much the movie has to do with it, but Russell takes EVERY opportunity for to show a phallic symbol or a puerile gag, and that, added to the tongue in cheek performances from the cast (especially Peter Capaldi, Hugh Grant and the delicious Amanda Donohoe), makes this one of the silliest and most entertaining movies you'll ever see. Donohoe is just brilliant, the monster is cheesy, the blatant gags will make you roll your eyes and groan, and there are a few extraordinary Russell touches in the very brief, quasi-psychedelic "visions" experienced by a few of the characters. 'The Lair Of The White Worm' is certainly not for everybody, but there's nothing else quite like it, not even in Russell's very strange ouevre, and if you "get it" it's a complete hoot!

I've heard the complaints before, from men of all walks of life: "SHE wants to watch some syrupy romantic slush starring Hugh Grant, I want to watch something with hot, naked, snake-worshipping chicks!"

Well, complain no more! Here's a flick that's got both in one! That's right, England-cum-America's favorite foppish, eye-lid-fluttering sex symbol does battle with naked half-snake-half-human devil worshippers, giant white worms, and the forces of evil!

Well, actually Hugh only kills one snake-human hybrid, and it's an old lady. And he keeps pretty far away from the action-packed finale face-off, letting his odd shut-in pal Angus do all the fighting. But you DO get to see the star of "Notting Hill" slice an old lady in half with a broad sword, and that alone is worth the price of admission!

I enjoyed this movie, what with it's quaint, folksy atmosphere, it's kilt-wearin' heroes, and it's sexy villainess who seduces a hapless boy scout (!) into entering her hot tub of evil. There's even public-access-esque dream sequences where a Sid & Marty Krofft-type snake puppet molests Jesus Christ while nuns are tortured- and who doesn't want to see that?

A very strange movie, to say the least.

This is silly and not particularly well made, presumably due to budgetary restraints, but it is good fun. Bit slower to get going than I remember on video but some more explicit imagery also than I remember. Everyone seems to have had fun in the making and if the dialogue is a bit hit and miss there is some really nice stuff. I don't think this really fits, as some have suggested, into the , so bad it's good category, but I guess it's headed in that direction. Amanda Donohoe is splendid and Hugh Grant acceptable as ever. Special effects, like the dialogue are not always 'special' but there are great moments and it's always good looking, particularly Amanda Donohoe!

Directed & written by Ken Russell and loosely based on Bram Stoker's novel, "The Lair of the White Worm" (1988) chronicles events in England when a young archeologist (Peter Capaldi) uncovers a skull of some unknown beast near a bed & breakfast run by two sisters (Sammi Davis & Catherine Oxenberg). These three and Eve's beau (Hugh Grant) soon stumble upon an ancient snake cult led by the eccentric Lady Sylvia Marsh (Amanda Donohoe), who dwells at a lavish estate nearby.

The movie is a creative and entertaining creature feature reminiscent in tone & theme of "Squirm" (1976), but with Russell's well-known offbeat excesses. The "creatures" are vampire-like snake people plus a gigantic serpent at the close, both of which recall the snake worshipers & giant serpents from "Conan the Barbarian" (1982).

There are some iconic cinematic images, like Donohoe as the vampiric snake lady, not to mention a few well done horror scenes, like a snake woman who's cut in half, but still wiggles with furious intent.

The snake cult is diabolical in an anti-Christ way and I can see why some viewers might find the movie shocking and offensive, like the weird nun-raping flashback. Yet everything's so exaggerated and sometimes cheesy with a bit o' humor thrown in that the film can't be taken very seriously, which negates it from being shocking or disturbing. Fun in a horrific way? Yes. Disturbing? No. Also, keep in mind that horror villains/monsters are SUPPOSED to drip with ee-vil and be shocking. The question is, do they win or do the noble protagonists win?

On the female front, the chief snake lady thinks she's hotter than she really is as Donohoe amusingly hams it up. Meanwhile Catherine Oxenberg as Eve is a semi-highlight, particularly in the last act.

The film runs 1 hour, 33 minutes and was shot entirely in England (Hertfordshire; Manifold Valley, Staffordshire; Peak District National Park; and Derbyshire). Thor's Cave in Manifold Valley is magnificent.

GRADE: B-

Leave it to director Ken Russell to find an obscure Bram Stoker novel and take its most exploitive elements and turn it into a bloodfest of snakes, vampires, virgin sacrifices, phallic symbols, Christian symbolism and more. He throws in some comic book slashings along with some sly humor to create a tacky Gothic horror called THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM. It kept me awake until the last shot where the dimwit hero HUGH GRANT is about to find out he's made another mistake before the screen fades to black. This must have been the film that first made Grant known to American audiences.

He plays an aristocrat who is attracted to a new neighbor whom he later learns is a woman (AMANDA DONOHOE) who is keeper of a giant worm waiting to devour people whole if she decides to feed victims to it. She's played with delicious relish by Donohoe, who picks up a scout trudging along a deserted country road and must quickly dispose of him in a bath when Grant knocks on her door.

It's weird stuff from start to finish, but try to look away! It's typical Ken Russell overkill--or should I say overbite--since much of the action involves vampirism and some friendly suburbanites who suddenly grow fangs. Handsomely photographed in color with attractive settings indoor and out, it provides a steady mix of laughter and fright while managing to be entertaining despite the overly weird material.

CATHERINE OXENBERG plays the virginal heroine who falls under the spell of the demonic woman, at her best when forced to assume a vacant expression. PETER CAPALDI is excellent as Hugh's friend who comes to her aid before the white worm can do its work and claim another victim.

Silly stuff, but if you like the work of Ken Russell, you should find it extremely interesting to watch.