The Lair of the White Worm (film)

Plot

Angus Flint, an archaeology student excavating the site of a convent at Mercy Farm in Derbyshire, unearths an unusual skull that appears to be that of a large snake. He believes it is connected to the local legend of the d'Ampton worm, a mythical snake-like creature said to have been slain in Stonerigg Cavern by John d'Ampton, ancestor of the current Lord of the Manor, James d'Ampton. When a pocket watch belonging to the Trent sisters' father Joe is discovered in Stonerigg Cavern, James comes to believe the worm may be more than a legend.

Lady Sylvia steals the snake skull, spits venom on a crucifix, and later abducts a young hitchhiker named Kevin, seducing and fatally paralysing him. James visits Temple House, where Lady Sylvia claims to fear snakes. That night James has a surreal nightmare involving a plane flight with the Trent sisters and Lady Sylvia. Eve is abducted by Lady Sylvia, who intends to sacrifice her to the snake god.

James theorises a giant snake roams the caves and projects Turkish music to charm it. Angus and Mary break into Temple House, finding Eve and her mother Dorothy in a trance. Dorothy bites Mary's neck before fleeing; Angus extracts the venom. Dorothy then bites James's butler, and James cuts her in half with a sword.

Production

The film was part of a three-picture deal Ken Russell had with Vestron Pictures following the success of his film Gothic (1986). Vestron told executive Dan Ireland that if Russell could devise a horror film, they would finance his planned prequel to Women in Love, The Rainbow, with a promised budget of $1 million. Russell, an admirer of Bram Stoker, had written an unfilmed adaptation of Dracula. After reading Stoker's The Lair of the White Worm at a friend's suggestion, he decided to write a film adaptation despite being disappointed by the novel.

Russell took the core concept of a snake-worshipping cult but centered the story on the villainous priestess who acquires humans to feed the worm. He heavily incorporated the English legend of the Lambton Worm.

Instead of the early-20th-century period of the novel, Russell set the film in contemporary times and based some characters on people he encountered while living in the Lake District. Executive producer Ireland stated that Russell originally wanted Tilda Swinton for the role of Lady Sylvia Marsh, but she turned it down; Amanda Donohoe was cast instead. Ireland also claimed Russell made the film partly as a tribute to Oscar Wilde.

Release and reception

The film premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival on 29 August 1988, and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on 14 September 1988. It screened at the Boston Film Festival on 16 September 1988. Vestron Pictures gave it a theatrical release, premiering in New York City on 21 October 1988, where it grossed $22,155 during its opening weekend. It continued to open regionally through the remainder of the year, releasing in Seattle on 11 November 1988, and in Detroit and Hartford, Connecticut on 23 December 1988.

The film earned a total of $1,189,315 and was regarded as a box-office flop. Roger Ebert gave it two stars out of four, calling it a respectable B-grade monster movie. Variety deemed it a rollicking, terrifying, post-psychedelic headtrip. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that its far-from-serious aura allowed Russell to get away with hilariously cut-rate visions of hell, but felt the contemporary setting would have benefited from period quaintness.

LA Weeklys Helen Knode found the themes lackluster but conceded it was scary, funny, gorgeously hued light entertainment. Robin Fields and Jacquelin Sufak of the Chicago Tribune praised its deadpan humour and Donohoe's performance, noting that an impaled eyeball and a hallucinatory sequence involving the rape of nuns keep viewers from resting too easily. Malcolm L. Johnson of the Hartford Courant awarded two out of four stars, feeling the film paled compared to Russell's previous works.

Linnea Lannon of the Detroit Free Press praised Donohoe's performance as deliciously funny but deemed Oxenberg awful, adding the film only appeals to ardent Russell fans.