The Lair of the White Worm

An archaeology student, Angus Flint, uncovers an unusual skull while digging at a farm in a remote part of England. The farm is home to two sisters, Eve and Mary Trent, and nearby stands the estate of Lady Sylvia Marsh, whose behaviour is strange. When the skull disappears and people in the area begin to vanish, Angus and his friend Lord James D'Ampton look into local legends about a creature said to live underground. Their search points towards Lady Sylvia and an ancient cult devoted to a monstrous being. The film draws on Bram Stoker's novel of the same name.

Ken Russell directed, wrote and produced the film, the thirteenth of the fifteen features he directed in chronological order, arriving between Gothic and Salome's Last Dance. Amanda Donohoe plays Lady Sylvia Marsh, with Hugh Grant as Lord James D'Ampton, Catherine Oxenberg and Sammi Davis as the Trent sisters, Peter Capaldi as Angus Flint and Stratford Johns as Peters. Twenty-nine cast members and ninety-three crew members are credited. Made for about 3 million dollars, it took roughly 1 million dollars worldwide, so it did not recover its cost at the box office.

Audience response has been modest: on IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from around 18,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.9 out of 10 from 328 votes. A film critics' rating of 5.8 out of 10 from 29 reviews places critical opinion close to the audience scores.