Reviews
‘Lair of the White Worm’ Review: A Cult Folk Horror Classic
I’m not going to say Ken Russell’s Lair of the White Worm is a film that “couldn’t have been made today”, because I find that largely a reductive and ignorant statement. However, it is a perfect example of a film that could only really exist in one very specific context.
It’s the product of a dead genre meeting an incredible director, who chose very specific means to tell an adaptation of a terrible novel in a completely off the wall way; thank you for bearing with that sentence, it’s as condensed as I could get the thought. It’s a raunchy, grotesque, offensive, funny, and just outright bizarre film that is, in my opinion, a quintessential piece of horror comedy.
How a Dead Genre Spawned Lair of the White Worm
An English archaeologist named Angus (Peter Capaldi) makes an incredible find while excavating the front yard of a Scottish bed-and-breakfast: a completely intact skull of a massive, snake-like creature, unlike anything he’s ever seen. When Angus meets up with local socialite James (Hugh Grant), the sitting Lord of D’Ampton Manor, a picture starts to form: the skull might belong to the D’Ampton Worm, a snake-like monster of legend. But the mysterious Lady Sylvia Marsh (Amanda Donohoe) has plans for the skull, uncoiling a horrific plot of witchery and wily snake-people who attempt to raise the beast, taking lives and stealing minds in the process.
How Folk Horror Influenced Lair of the White Worm
When I say Lair of the White Worm is the product of a dead genre, you have to keep in mind the history of what it’s parodying: folk horror, specifically the European folk horror boom of the ’60s and ’70s. While it’s all the rage now, with some of the best horror today being folk horror out of Europe, by the ‘80s, the subgenre that had once been so popular thanks to the likes of The Blood on Satan’s Claw and Witchfinder General was effectively deader than disco.
The production of these films had dried up, and the filmmakers who made the era what it was had, by and large, moved on to different endeavors. I should also mention that only a few years before Lair of the White Worm came the advent of the Video Nasties list in the United Kingdom, which affected pretty much all horror in the British cinema landscape. It certainly feels like director Ken Russell’s decision to adapt Bram Stoker’s novel in an exceptionally edgy and sexed up fashion was at least partially a spit in the eye of the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association, but I do feel this movie comes more from a place of appreciation for folk horror than anything else.
When an Adaptation Only Barely Adapts the Source
Lair itself is an adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel of the same name in only the loosest of ways. Russell harvested much more from the folk horror, and exploitation horror, of the decades before it to make it the experience it was.
The Hammer horror classic The Reptile and the aforementioned The Blood On Satan’s Claw are most noticeable as influences; The Blood’s plot involving a monster skull being unearthed and awakening a blasphemous cult is taken wholesale from Piers Haggard’s film. Lair’s villain Sylvia, bears more than a passing resemblance to Jacqueline Pearce’s character in The Reptile, with both being raven-haired bombshells going snake mode and biting people.
Night of the Eagle, Witchhammer, and Curse of the Crimson Altar are among the other suspects Lair shares similarities with, and Russell even references his previous diablerie in the incredibly controversial The Devils. They’re all tonal touchstones for him, movies he variably emulates and makes fun of with his absolutely bonkers cinematography (facilitated by frequent collaborator of Russell’s, Dick Bush).
Ken Russell’s Over-the-Top Direction Defines the Film
Lair of the White Worm turns the melodrama of these folk horror frights to an 11, and the camera work reflects that with lots of odd angles, zooms, and just the right amount of lingering shots that in any other context would spell how dire the situation is, but here just punctuate some incredibly good gags.
Russell displays a phenomenal grasp of photography, with lighting and framing that always fit the kind of vibe (or gag) he’s playing at in a scene. Lair also has genuinely some of the funniest editing in any comedy, with an exceptional sense of timing that emphasizes how ridiculous the premise is when it’s played straight. Even the primitive, 80’s music video blue screen artifacting in the film has an appeal to it, especially when it’s to show you some of the weirdest hallucination sequences of all time.
Amanda Donohoe Delivers a Scene-Stealing Performance
When he isn’t directing to inject silliness into every frame, he’s also directing to get a great performance out of the film’s leads. It’s no contest that Amanda Donohoe as Sylvia Marsh soaks up all the limelight and is the most memorable part of the entire film. She has a rare energy to her, matched only by Billy Zane in Demon Knight, managing to have a genuine animal magnetism and allure, and then flipping it on a dime to play a cartoonishly amusing villain. Her slimy snake mannerisms are as simple of an approach as an actor could take, but the irreverent nature of it all makes it especially fun.
A Strange but Loving Tribute to Folk Horror
While it might be a cliché at this point, Lair of the White Worm is the best kind of love letter to folk horror. In parodying the subgenre, Russell still ended up creating one of the must-see folk horror films. Blending juvenile humor and a simple countryside tale of terror into an iconic entry in his repertoire, it’s clear that despite how it approaches the plot, he had a lot of love for folk horror that was bleeding out.
Sometimes you don’t need a film to be a masterpiece to become an essential part of a subgenre. Sometimes you don’t need a filmmaker to “revive” a subgenre and bring it to a new golden age. Sometimes, it’s just enough to reminisce, to poke fun at, and to show appreciation for the past. And Lair of the White Worm certainly does that in spades, which makes it very worth watching.
There are countless subgenres within subgenres for horror, and one that feels underutilized is workplace horror. Unless you’re one of the lucky few, most people wake up at some point during the day, go to work, and then come home. It’s one of the few things in life that’s nearly unavoidable. While there are countless real-life examples of workplace violence, seeing exaggerated forms of it in film can still be fun. When I pitched covering The Belko Experiment for this month, I actually thought I was pitching Joe Lynch’s Mayhem. I soon found out how incorrect I had been, but figured I’d go along with it anyway.
Mike Milch (John Gallagher Jr.) and 79 of his coworkers are locked inside the towering building they come to work in every day in Bogotá, Colombia. They’re given simple instructions: murder two coworkers within the next half hour. When they fail that task, coworkers’ heads start blowing up left and right. When they’re given the next task, kill 30 people in two hours, they take it…a little more seriously.
The Belko Experiment’s Brutal Premise Sets Up High Stakes
Written by James Gunn and directed by Wolf Creek creator Greg McLean, The Belko Experiment is a painfully by-the-numbers film that offers little more than a handful of entertaining kills. Its futile attempts at commentary regarding work/life balance or just how bad “faceless” upper management is fall so flat it’s comical. Nothing like multi-millionaire James Gunn telling me how awful it is to have to work a real job for a living. Great work. And its one-dimensional characters do little more than create a slight sigh of relief when they’re dispatched without regard.
A singular attempt at cleverness is broached from the beginning when we see a colony of ants in an ant farm on someone’s desk. Oh, look at that, these workers are nothing more than mindless ants! But any attempt at following that slightly clever idea is quickly thrown away. At one point, Barry Norris (Tony Goldwyn), the big boss in the office, attempts to group up who should and shouldn’t be killed; who has the most value outside of work. Gunn had the perfect opportunity to make Barry a deep and more sinister antagonist. If Barry had grouped people into sets from most to least profitable for the company, we would have something. It would show that Barry is a forward-thinking villain who is trying to suck up to the people who get paid even MORE than him!
Missed Opportunities for a Smarter Corporate Villain
I’ll do you one better. After all of that, what if the bad guys that Barry recruited to help him cull his subordinates realized they were just pawns in the game of Big Business? So then they attempt to repent by killing Barry in the hopes that they can find a common means of escape from this hell? Why is there zero attempt at making an interesting story other than this shitty, watered-down Battle Royale with people we don’t give a shit about? Instead of anything interesting, we’re just given a group of baddies who try to get into the security office’s gun safe. The only reason we’re slightly scared of the “bad guys” is because they’re bad guys.
The only slightly interesting performances we get are from David Dastmalchian and Adria Arjona, even if it might be a fluke. As someone who is a fan of Greg McLean and the Wolf Creek series, something just felt disconnected about nearly every aspect of The Belko Experiment. I’ve brought it up before that sometimes it’s okay to have a film that doesn’t tell a great story as long as the kills can carry some of the weight. But to say this film has a story is laughable, and that carries over to how flat this film looks.
Skip The Belko Experiment and Watch Mayhem Instead
It’s weird how sour this film left me. When I was watching it, I found myself grimacing at some of the kills. And I didn’t vehemently dislike it as much as this review would suggest. But as I sat there and thought longer, I just couldn’t wrap my head around what anyone sees in this. Mayhem is an all-around better film that tackles this same subject but in a much better way. So if you ever decide to sit down and watch The Belko Experiment, maybe go watch Mayhem on Shudder instead.
Would it be a month of coverage on Horror Press if I didn’t bring up at least one aughts film? I know the curator of all things Horror Press, James-Michael, is shaking his fists at the sky and cursing the fact that he approved me covering The Hitcher. Of all the remakes that were so pervasive throughout the aughts, The Hitcher is one that slipped completely under my radar. And that’s a damn shame. It wouldn’t be until I found a DVD copy at Bookoff that I finally got the opportunity to watch it. Hot damn, the critics really got it wrong here.
The Hitcher: A Road Trip Turned Nightmare
Jim Halsey (Zachary Knighton) and his girlfriend Grace Andrews (Sophia Bush) are on a road trip to Lake Havasu in Jim’s gorgeous Oldsmobile 442. An unfortunate run-in with a mysterious hitchhiker, John Ryder (Sean Bean), Jim and Grace find themselves in a fight for life and death. Only, John isn’t their only concern. With the 5-0 hot on their tails, Jim and Grace must escape from a psychopathic man with a death wish and the hot-tempered, hot-faced Lieutenant Esteridge (Neal McDonough). As the odometer grows, so does the body count.
The Hitcher is one of those remakes that does not have the approval of the original’s lead, Rutger Hauer. Which is astounding to me. Sure, the original is good. But it doesn’t set itself apart from the crowd too much. Rutger Hauer’s John is slightly more reserved, and while he has an edge to him, I don’t necessarily find him overly menacing. (Don’t kill me.) Sean Bean’s John Ryder, on the other hand, is furiously terrifying. There’s no question that there are tons of issues with the Platinum Dunes remake, though, for me, the pros significantly outweigh the cons.
Jim Halsey Falls Flat
The biggest issue is the character of Jim Halsey. I love how the roles of Jim and Grace are swapped from the original film. It brings an updated, modern edge to the film and is a great way to throw audiences who have seen the original. Though I can imagine the hyper-masculine fans of the original were not too happy with that. When it was decided to swap the roles of the characters, it seems like any character depth for Jim was thrown out of the window. I think Zachary Knighton is a wonderful actor who does the best with what he has, but he doesn’t have enough to work with. Writers Eric Red, Jake Wade Wall, and Eric Bernt updated the film with tons of epic scenarios and moments, while seemingly forgetting to make the supposed lead of the film interesting.
On top of cardboard Jim, the inciting police incident just feels very forced. Grace runs into a diner, covered in blood, after she and Jim found a family butchered by John. Someone from the diner calls the police, which leads to Jim and Grace being arrested and charged with murder. Whether or not that’s supposed to be commentary on rural police doesn’t matter because it completely fails to do anything other than forcibly push the story forward.
Besides that? I hate to say, but I don’t have many issues with The Hitcher.
Soundtrack and Atmosphere: A High-Octane Experience
First and foremost, The Hitcher’s soundtrack is incredible. We start the film with Move Along by The All-American Rejects. Talk about a shot of adrenaline. And the greatest needle drop in all of aughts horror history is Nine Inch Nails’s Closer during the film’s most wild car chase. It’s hard not to get lost in this film when the music kicks in.
What really sells this film is how intensely they handle the violence and the film’s gorgeous chase scenes. It’s no Death Proof, but these scenes are miles above the Fast movies that were out at this time. In a day and age where chase scenes are overly produced, badly edited, and just plain boring, The Hitcher manages to infuse horror and action in a way that probably won’t be seen again. Watching films like The Hitcher makes me sad for the state of modern cinema. The Hitcher wasn’t made to win scores of Oscars; it was made by people passionate about telling a badass, harrowing story (minus Jim). And they greatly excel at that.
The Hitcher Is a Misunderstood Cult Favorite
The Hitcher falls in line with my running theory of post-9/11 ultra violence. We were a nation scared of what happened, what was happening, and what seemed to be on the horizon–The Hitcher bottles that fear and anger, packaging it into a nasty piece of genre. Sean Bean and Sophia Bush are an on-screen match made in heaven. They wade through harsh lighting, thick film grain, and buckets of blood to deliver a film that critics and audiences unfairly panned. While audiences may have moved along, I sure didn’t. I want to exist in a world of nothing but aughts genre films, but am forced to live in a world of elevated horror. Le sigh.
