Back to trending
The Lair of the White Worm

The Lair of the White Worm

Horror · Comedy · 1988

When an archaeologist uncovers a strange skull in a foreign land, the residents of a nearby town begin to disappear, leading to further inexplicable occurrences.

Movie details

The Lair of the White Worm

“Some legends really bite.”

1988 Horror · Comedy 1h 33m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

When an archaeologist uncovers a strange skull in a foreign land, the residents of a nearby town begin to disappear, leading to further inexplicable occurrences.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Lair of the White Worm?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Bordello of Blood

Bordello of Blood

Horror · 1996

A seedy private eye gets more than he ever bargained for when a missing persons case leads him to a brothel overseen by the mother of vampires and her lusty army of the undead.

Daddy's Head

Daddy's Head

Horror · 2024

A boy and his stepmother fear for their safety after an eerie creature resembling the boy's recently deceased father visits them.

Vampyres

Vampyres

Horror · 1974

A duo of bisexual female vampires prey on passing motorists, whom they seduce and murder in the English countryside.

House of 1000 Corpses

House of 1000 Corpses

Horror · 2003

Two teenage couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of serial killers end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.

Multiple Maniacs

Multiple Maniacs

Comedy · 1970

The Cavalcade of Perversion, a traveling freak show, acts as a front for Divine, who is out for blood after discovering her lover's affair.

Daylight's End

Daylight's End

Action · 2016

Years after a mysterious plague has devastated the planet and turned most of humanity into blood-hungry creatures, a rogue drifter on a vengeful hunt stumbles across a band of survivors in an abandoned police station and reluctantly agrees to try to help them defend themselves and escape to the sanctuary they so desperately need.

Play Dead

Play Dead

Horror · 2025

A woman wakes up injured in a basement surrounded by corpses. To survive, she pretends to be dead while a grotesque ritual unfolds in the house above.

Vampires

Vampires

Action · 1998

The church enlists a team of vampire-hunters to hunt down and destroy a group of vampires searching for an ancient relic that will allow them to exist in sunlight.

Books of Blood

Books of Blood

Horror · 2020

A journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time.

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

Horror · 2021

Margot is a documentary filmmaker looking to meet her long-lost mother and extended family in a secluded Amish community. She and her film crew soon realize the family that welcomes them into their home might be hiding a sinister secret.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Ken Russell

Written by

Ken Russell

Amanda Donohoe

Amanda Donohoe

Lady Sylvia Marsh

Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant

Lord James D'Ampton

Catherine Oxenberg

Catherine Oxenberg

Eve Trent

Peter Capaldi

Peter Capaldi

Angus Flint

Sammi Davis

Sammi Davis

Mary Trent

Stratford Johns

Stratford Johns

Peters

Paul Brooke

Paul Brooke

P.C. Erny

Court is in session

Put The Lair of the White Worm on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.