The Lair of the White Worm
The 1999 smash about three film students lost in the woods is an enduring and deeply scary (mock-)found-footage folktale.
Ken Russell’s gonzo 1988 Bram Stoker adaptation stars Amanda Donohoe as a vampiric baddie opposite a young Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi.
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Okay, so Amanda Donohoe’s slithery Lady Sylvia Marsh isn’t exactly the hero of Ken Russell’s gonzo adaptation of Bram Stoker’s final novel. To be honest, she’s the baddie ― the high priest of the snake god Dionin, determined to seduce two innocent sisters (Catherine Oxenberg and Sammi Davis) who run a bed and breakfast in sleepy Derbyshire. But Russell is entirely on Lady Sylvia’s side as she stalks her unsuspecting prey while fending off the attentions of a clueless nobleman (Hugh Grant!) and an only slightly less clueless archaeology student (Peter Capaldi!). Packed with the casual blasphemy and rampant nudity that were Russell’s signature moves, and built around Donohoe’s enthusiastic star turn as the slithery, self-aware antagonist, this blast from the past gives us a monster we can root for in the grand Stoker tradition ― even if she does take things a little too far.
NORM WILNER
Content advisory: violence, sexual content, nudity, frightening scenes, mature themes