Free Great Movies Review
Ken Russell directs this silly yet entertaining adaptation of Bram Stoker's horror novel The Lair of the White Worm, updated to 1980s rural England. Peter Capaldi plays archaeologist Angus Flint, who digs up the skull of a giant snake. He's staying at a bed and breakfast run by sisters Eve (Catherine Oxenberg) & Mary (Sammi Davis). They bring him to a party at a manor presided over by Lord James D'Ampton (played by a young Hugh Grant). The four of them try to uncover what happened to the missing parents of Eve & Mary. Soon, the giant snake skull is stolen from their bed and breakfast, and the mysteries pile up from there. Behind the mysteries is a seductive snake woman named Lady Sylvia Marsh, who is wonderfully portrayed by actress Amanda Donohoe. This film is played mainly for laughs as Hugh Grant blasts Turkish snake charmer music to woo Lady Sylvia, and Peter Capaldi plays the bagpipes to attempt to woo her once again. Like all Ken Russell films, it's well shot with some trippy venom-induced dream sequences injected in that look similar to the hallucinations in his movie Altered States (1980). It's mostly too silly to be scary, but there are moments that might make you wince or jump. Fans of Russell's blasphemous humor will definitely get a kick out of this one.
Movie Description
The Lair of the White Worm is a 1988 British horror comedy film directed by Ken Russell, loosley based on the 1911 novel by Bram Stoker. The story begins with an archaeology student who discovers a mysterious skull at the site of an old convent in Derbyshire. This discovery leads to chilling revelations about an ancient serpent-like creature and a local legend concerning the d'Ampton Worm. As events unfold, the local residents encounter seduction, hallucinations, and a battle against the monstrous entity. The cast features Amanda Donohoe, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, Peter Capaldi, and Sammi Davis.
(Summary by FreeGreatMovies.com)
