Does this film justify its place in the horror genre? - The Lair of the White Worm (1988) Discussion

[–] BoyScoutKevin 18 years ago

Well, the violence in it is one of the reasons it is rated "R." But, is it stomach-churning? Probably not. What is probably true, is that there are some horror films out there, that are more violent than this one. But, I don't know of any at the moment. Maybe someone else out there does.

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[–] kaiju0 18 years ago

Gore is not a word I'd use in describing this film. Is it a horror film? Barely. I always thought of it as a light horror, light comedy, damn entertaining movie. Having said that, it should also be noted, I'm a huge fan of Ken Russell's, and happily devour anything I can get my hands on that he's filmed. So I admit to being biased.

Also, Amanda Donahoe is spectacular in this movie. She completely "gets" what Russell wanted from her.

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[–] keyser_soze_wales 18 years ago

It's not that gory, and it's not at all scary either. But who cares, it's pretty damn watchable all the same! I only saw this film for the first time a few weeks ago, after reading the Imdb reviews. I have to say that, yeah, some of the acting's a bit lame but really not as laughable as I thought it would be after reading the reviews (pretty much everyone does a decent job here and the script is quite funny, intentionally or not), and yes, it's low-budget and completely bizarre in places but I think all of this leads to it being funnier and endearing. Who needs flash special effects anyway?!

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[–] ye_river_xiv 18 years ago

Well, it's about as horrifying as the Evil Dead Trilogy...

Quite humorous really, and totally unbelievable when you think about it, but they take themselves seriously enough that you can suspend your disbelief... usually.

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[–] RenlyStannis 14 years ago

I think it should rather be placed in the "crap" genre. By the way, does anybody know if this film won any Razzie Awards ?

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[–] BoyScoutKevin 14 years ago

Actually, I looked this topic up, as I was interested in knowing whether it had won any Razzie Awards as well. And not only did it not only not win any Razzie Awards, it wasn't even nominated for any.

It did win Best Special Effects at the 1989 FantaFestival, and it was nominated (no wins) for Best Film at the 1989 FantaSporto and Best Actress and Best Costumes at the 1990 Saturn Awards.

But no Razzies. Not even a nomination,

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] btodd2001 14 years ago

Ken isn't really known for making stomach-churning horrors....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066993/

The Devils, from 1971, sure makes a run for its money....It's definitely one I would recommend only if you have a strong stomach!!!

If possible, find the DVD with the extras on it, that includes the long-banned and thought to be lost "Rape of Christ" scene.

I'm not even religious and it was pretty extreme.

"You know what Stewie, If you don't like it, go on the internet and complain."

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[–] Dream_Demon 14 years ago

I personally felt that this movie was a horror movie. Sure it wasn't exceedingly scary, but it is decent, not to mention sexy!

Welcome to my Nightmare- Freddy Krueger

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[–] rogerscorpion 10 years ago

Extreme? Yes. Stomach-churning? Maybe. Horror? No.

No monsters. Nothing supernatural.

Horrible treatment of other ppl---yes.

Carpe Noctem!

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[–] GeneticSugarKane 10 years ago

I think you may be thinking of a different film.

My IMDb lists: www.imdb.com/user/ur5570856/lists

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[–] Mark_a_Wood 9 years ago

No monsters. Nothing supernatural.



Apart from the huge white wyrm - that is an ancient god, the immortal serpent-woman high priestess, people being bitten by said serpent-woman turning into serpent people.

Just your average Derbyshire stuff really. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sparks Moran: "It was dusk. I could tell 'cause the sun had gone down"

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[–] shevchen 14 years ago

For me it's absolute classic of strange horror. I've seen it about 20 times and want more.

Yours,
Alex Shevchenko

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[–] CMRKeyboadist 14 years ago

Interesting blog.

Lair of the White Worm is a horror/fantasy. It does have some strong horror elements but mixes in some very old school mythology in a bizarre and sometimes hypnotic way. It's not Russell's best film (Altered States anyone?) but is certainly an entertaining film that should please most horror fans that are looking for something outside the slasher and gore genres.

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[–] bradjanet 14 years ago

The definition of a burlesque is as follows:"Burlesque is a humorous theatrical entertainment involving parody and sometimes grotesque exaggeration". Given this definition, I would call "Lair of the White Worm" a horror-burlesque.... and along with Russell's other trashterpiece, "Salome's Last Dance", it makes half of a very entertaining double-feature.

But you ARE Blanche ... and I AM.

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