6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.1 |
Scottish archaeologist Angus Flint discovers an odd skull amid the ruins of a convent and learns of the legend of the D'Ampton Worm, a huge dragon-snake. As people begin disappearing and acting strangely, it appears that an ancient cult is attempting to resurrect the Worm.
Starring: Amanda Donohoe, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, Peter Capaldi, Sammi DavisHorror | 100% |
Surreal | 5% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
BDInfo
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Ken Russell’s films are an acquired taste, at least according to many who find the director’s work offensive and/or excessive, but I have personally always admired the sheer lunacy of a lot of Russell’s work. There’s probably no greater shorthand to understanding the breadth of Russell’s output than to realize that over the course of the next month, two radically disparate films from Russell’s oeuvre are coming out on Blu-ray, this 1988 horror outing loosely culled from a Bram Stoker novel, and The Boy Friend, Russell’s 1971 film version of the beloved Sandy Wilson musical (one that helped to catapult Julie Andrews to stardom in its original stage version). It’s sometimes hard to find any through line other than visual overkill in the vast array of Russell’s films, which include everything from supposed composer biographies like The Music Lovers, Mahler and Lisztomania to literary adaptations like Women in Love, The Rainbow and The Devils to science fiction outings like Altered States to uncatergorizable fare like Crimes of Passion. Even this abbreviated list should be more than adequate proof that Russell was an intellect of vast proportions, but he also seemed to have a cheeky if unabashedly provocative sense of humor, and a lot of his work seemed design to poke and prod stodgy types who considered themselves to be intellectually prodigious, and therefore superior to the everyday rabble. The Lair of the White Worm doesn’t really have any outsized ambitions, though, and in that regard it might be thought of as second string Russell, but the film has a kind of fun and unapologetically trashy ambience that kind of makes it Russell’s version of a Hammer horror entry.
The Lair of the White Worm is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Film's new(ish) Vestron Video imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a somewhat variable looking presentation that understandably pops best and has the most convincing fine detail levels when lighting regimens are adequate. In brightly lit or outdoor daytime moments, sharpness and clarity are very good and fine detail levels are similarly commendable (see screenshot 2). Elements have faded a bit, though, and even in the brightest moments things can look just a bit on the brown side. Darker moments struggle at times, and there are very minor but noticeable compression issues that pop up on occasion. Some of the special effects work, especially some of the matte work, shows its age and the increased resolution of the Blu-ray tends to only make the "seams" show even more, with many of these sequences looking fairly soft (see screenshot 1). Grain is fairly chunky but generally resolves well, especially in the more brightly lit sequences. There's a bit of wobble throughout the presentation at times, as well as fairly regular occurrences of age related specks and flecks, none of which I personally found really seriously distracting.
The Lair of the White Worm features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track which offers pretty robust low end, especially in some of the musical elements (there's a fun band sequence that evidently utilizes a real life folksong about a "worm"). Dialogue and effects are both rendered effectively and with good prioritization, and there are no problems with regard to damage, dropouts or other issues.
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. Technical merits are generally very good, and The Lair of the White Worm comes Recommended.
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