The Lair of the White Worm - DVD

LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM which is based on the Novel by Bram stoker who's infamous for his novel DRACULA Lair of the white worm was Bram stoker's last Book before he died well British director Ken russell has made the novel into a film which is now on blu-ray by Lionsgate Actress Amanda Donohoe plays the white worm Lionsgate's new 1:78:1 HD TRANSFER is pretty good but not excellent but still more sharper & clearer than the old dvd version the sound quality is only 2.0 master mix but still sounds very Good the EXTRAS, the extras are limited there's no retrospective making of featurette but there's a special visual effects featurette WORM FOOD with some of the special effects artists that worked on the film - 27mins CUTTING FOR KEN which is new interview with editor Peter Davies- 9mins MARY MARY interview with the only actor from the film interviewed Sammi Davis- 15mins tragically for some reason Amanda Donohoe who played the white worm in the film was not interviewed either was Hugh Grant, Director Ken russell was not interviewed either but Ken does do a new Audio commentary for the film anyway which some of it is worth listening to there's also a 2nd commentary with Lisi russell who must've worked on the film aswell there's also the usual theatrical trailer, stills Photo Gallery in 1080p quality but apart from that, that's it

Amazing how quickly Ken Russell degenerated to this level of schlock! I loved it! First saw this many years ago when Russell's reputation as a daring and innovative and iconoclastic film maker was just beginning to wear thin. With this movie he demonstrates the aptness of his fall from grace. Some of the acting is deliciously bad. The directing is phoned in. The story is salacious and clunky and pure schlock. Very enjoyable as long as you know what you are going to get.... An art movie this is not.

If you're not a diehard Ken Russell fan, my hunch is you probably won't be overly impressed with The Lair of the White Worm. It's hard to take the film's "scare tactics" very seriously when so much of the film is so resolutely ridiculous, but at the same time it's hard to accept the film's anarchic humor without a contextual understanding of Russell's tendency to poke and prod the powers that be (religious and/or otherwise). If you are a Russell fan, my hunch is you'll be willing to overlook the film's deficits and simply delight in the hallucinatory ambience Russell weaves, as well as the wonderfully over the top story the film has to tell. One way or the other, this is another release where the supplementary material may be of as much and maybe even more interest than the actual film.

This is one fun, funny, and bizarre little horror flick from Vestron that has long been obscure and out of print. It's been brought back with a wonderful transfer and a nice selection of extras for the avid horror fan or anyone looking for something a little silly, a little sexy, and a smell of a good time.

I've been buying all the Lionsgate Vestron Collector Series blurays (most from Best Buy, too) and so far all the releases have had two things that were constant to me, great transfers and awesome special features. This release had those two things but seemed light on the special features compared to the other releases. It does have great extras just got spoiled with the other releases.