Last Looks: The Lair of the White Worm

How Did This Get Made?

Paul Scheer kicks off this Last Looks episode by diving into listener corrections and omissions regarding The Lair of the White Worm, covering everything from Ken Russell's

Key takeaways

• Ken Russell's 1984 film Crimes of Passion confirms his documented fascination with flight attendants, which influenced the dream sequence in The Lair of the White Worm.
• Listeners clarified that snake charming relies on visual tracking and ground vibrations rather than musical hypnosis, as snakes lack external ears.

Main topics

• Listener corrections on The Lair of the White Worm
• Halloween traditions and neighborhood dynamics

Notable quotes

"Snakes follow the swaying movement of the charmer's instrument and sense the ground vibrations caused by the charmer's physical movements."

Conclusion

The episode successfully blends niche film trivia with pop culture com

Transcript preview

Speaker 7 (0:00) Charming snakes, listening to stand-up, and finding out what's in that kilt. All this and more on today's How Did This Get Made? Last Looks. Hit the theme! Speaker 7 (0:13) I'm still alive Speaker 6 (0:52) And Speaker 7 (0:52) salutations to all my sexy, slithering snakes. I'm your ancient snake god, Paul Sheeran. Welcome to How Did This Get Made? Last Looks. No, I will not be doing that the entire show, but I kind of want to. Anyway, this is the podcast where you, the listener, get to voice your issues on The Lair of the White Worm, a movie that Discord user AndroidLaurenHotel thinks should have been called The Great British Snake Off. I like it. Thank you, Android Lauren Hotel, for killing it with that alt movie title. And a huge shout out to Homonym for today's opening theme song. Wow. So much to get in today. This movie made you all feel a lot of things. But you know what? I got to go back to Homonym for one second because they made me feel something with that. awesome theme. Why? Because it was great and it was short. And if you want to be like homonym, all you need to do to submit a song is go to hdtgm.com and just click the submit a song button and you're done. It's just that easy. And remember, use our discord at discord.gg slash hdtgm to submit an alt movie tagline to comment on the films. You know how this works. Now coming up on today's episode. We will be responding to all of your corrections and omissions on the layer of the white worm. Then Jason will pop by to talk a little bit about Halloween, right? We're going to talk about how we are celebrating our spooky season. We're also going to look back on the league because right now it is football season and that show still has a major effect on our lives, especially during this time of year. Plus, we're going to recommend some A-plus comedy specials and a whole lot more. Plus, as always, at the end of the show, I will reveal the movie that we will be covering on next week's episode. All right. Now, I've mentioned this a few times. June and I are doing a brand new improvised multicam. We are doing it in front of a live studio audience here in Los Angeles. And we have already shot our first. few shows, but if you want to be in the audience to see one of these shows, there is still time. October 7th, 10th, 16th, 21st, and 24th. All you have to do is RSVP to Dinks, that's D-I-N-K-S, DinksRSVP at gmail.com. That's DinksRSVP at gmail.com. Just say, hey, I want to go see the show on the 7th, the 10th, the 16th, the 21st. or the 24th, whatever you want to do. And we would love to have you. Oh, we've got great guest stars in the show. It is going to be a blast. Now, if you like scary stuff, the movie that I did many years ago called Slice with Chance the Rapper is now on Netflix. Yeah, it's a really fun, weird vampire ghost film with Zazie Beetz, me, Chance the Rapper. It's a lot of fun. Check it out. It's on Netflix. Another movie on Netflix that stars June. And I also have a brief cameo is Stop That Train, the RuPaul film that I can only describe as airplane on a train. I mean, it is so funny, so unique, so well acted. I really am a huge fan of Stop That Train, both of them on Netflix. So get at it. And by the way, I know I can't talk about it here, but Unspooled has started a brand new YouTube channel and you should. definitely check it out. Our first video has a ton of views already. We talked about weapons. Why don't you check it out and see what you think. Now, enough about all that stuff, because we have a big, big issue in front of us, and that issue is the lair of the white worm. Things that we might have gotten wrong, things that we didn't put together. We had questions, and you seemingly have a lot of answers, and also more questions. and also things that we definitely missed. Anyway, this is a chance for all of us to set the record straight. It is now time for Corrections and Omissions. Speaker 6 (5:03) Now you got a favorite thing about a movie we watched. Speaker 6 (5:09) Pissed off. Speaker 7 (5:24) Homonym once again for that theme song. Wow. Coming in hot. All right, let's go to the discord. Johnny unusual rights. I know the focus of the catering at the party was on the earthworms in aspect, but the entire meal looks absolutely bonkers. It feels like it belongs in a Tim Burton movie with everything being slime green, raw dead octopi. I mean, There's even a fish head prominently displayed in the middle. And it's funny to me that Capaldi is only grossed out by the earthworms and enjoys the rest of the food. The entire meal is stomach churning from the get-go. You know, Johnny, great call out there. You can take a look at the picture of the disgusting display of food on our Discord. It's gross. It reminds me of Indiana Jones' Temple of Doom, right? But then, every now and then, like we said in the show. They might just be that they are. They're from the UK. I don't know. Tell me, people, is this what we're eating or is this pushing the limits? I know that you're going to say, Paul, you idiot. And then I have to say to you, I'm joking. I'm joking, people. And that's the best thing to say after a joke. I'm joking. Anyway, Money Not Made says, Paul said that Bram Stoker's Dracula was an influence on Ken Russell, but didn't mention that The Lair of the White Worm is actually a Bram Stoker novel. This explains why everything seems old-fashioned in the movie, because it's a contemporary mash-up and take on the novel's elements. Okay, well, look, I am only as good as my research, and I think something got, uh, I don't know, messed up along the way, because you are 100 % right. The Lair of the White Worm is a 1911 gothic horror novel. It is the final work published by Bram Stoker, and it is... I mean, shockingly similar, right? It's about Adam Salton, a young man from Australia who moves to England to connect with his wealthy great-uncle Richard. Adam discovers the area is terrorized by a predatory, shapeshifting, ancient creature known as the White Worm. And the monster takes a human form of a local aristocrat named Lady Arabella March, and Adam and his allies must battle Lady Arabella alongside an eccentric memorist named... edgar caswell before the creature consumes to the local community now that actually sounds way better i mean look i'm not gonna diss ken russell but that actually That plot makes sense. Anyway, thank you, Money Not Made, for making me smarter. And me, I'm going to just ratchet down my research, people. Oh, you're going to see. I'm going to just rip them to shreds. And I'm going to say, Money Not Made made me do this. Stop crying. Money Not Made made me do this. Nestorix wrote, the hosts were wondering. The hosts? Why are you so formal, Nestorix? The hosts? It seems like you're asking a question at some sort of town hall. The hosts were wondering about the payoff involving the tactical mongoose. It happens quickly, but the dead, bloodied mongoose is thrown into Angus's face. just as he tries to peek behind the curtain in the finale. He also loses his glasses at that moment, only for them to be perfectly positioned in the next shot. I believe the mongoose comes from Bram Stoker's original novel, in which the main character keeps a pet mongoose to deal with the local snakes. The white worm, disguised as a woman, eventually rips it in half when it attacks her. Now, I knew I saw that mongoose in action, and just to... point out, we did talk about that mongoose being carried around in his kilt. That was a live mongoose in his kilt while he was playing the bagpipes. It definitely had a lot of questions there. How do you keep it? But Smoggy Bubble wrote in to say, dudes, you didn't even mention the hand grenade that he pulls out of the kilt. And I guess my thought is, yeah, didn't think about it. Didn't think about, I thought that there was some kind of tactical underwear there, you know, like some sort of garter belt where you could hang grenades off of there. But you're right. That makes no sense. But once you see a man pull a live mongoose out of a kilt, you stop asking questions. At least that's what I do. Let's go to the phones. Scott from Maine. Speaker 2 (9:42) Hey, Paul, you briefly talked about the weird, sexy flight attendant dream. But what you might not know is that this isn't the first time Ken Russell has sexualized members of that profession on film. His 1984 movie Crimes of Passion stars Kathleen Turner as a sex worker who dresses up as a flight attendant as a fantasy for one of her clients. In the commentary track for that movie, Ken Russell talks about having a thing for flight attendants. You also briefly alluded to my favorite scene in The Lair of the White Worm, which is when Hugh Grant stumbles over a drum kit. I was hoping Jason could weigh in on this a bit. Does one typically set up one's drum kit in the bedroom right next to the bed? That's weird, right? House like that probably has a music room, but he keeps his drums in the bedroom in case what? He wants to thrash out some paradiddles in the middle of the night. I've probably thought about this way too much, but is Hugh Grant's drumming what woke up the worm in the first place? Anyway, love the show. Hope you guys come back to Maine someday. Thanks. Speaker 7 (10:37) Well, Scott, we're going to be back in Maine. I don't know if we're going to be doing shows, but June and I go back to Maine every November. We have some family there. We love Maine. We pass by that theater. Maybe we should do a show there because I think Jason has some family in Maine. Maybe. Scott, this phone call has put in motion a tour. Oh, wait, it's already October. Probably not. All right. Hey, can Russell having a thing for flight attendants? Yeah. Checks out. Glad that we got some confirmation on that. Look, about Hugh Grant having his drum kit next to his bed. If, you know, I don't think he's doing two things at once. I think that you're either drumming. or you're sleeping. It's not like he lives with his girlfriend. He's waking her up. I feel like that is a single man thing. You put your drum kit next to your bed, just like stepbrothers, you know, it's like, it's just there for you to just go to town on. Um, but I like your point. I believe he did wake her up. That horrible drumming that, that, that bass drum did the deed. Scott, you've cracked the case. Next up, John Speaker 3 (11:45) Steele. Hi, Paul. I just wanted to say thank you for bringing this incredible movie into my life. My wife and I enjoyed it thoroughly and we'll be watching it every spooky season from now on. I know you guys had some comments about the white granny panties. That was another scene where... The actor was supposed to be naked. And last minute, she felt uncomfortable. So they clothed her, assuming in whatever they had handy. I'm sure if they had more time, maybe they would have given her something better. But just wanted to share that little tidbit. Thank you. Okay. Creepy. Well, not Speaker 7 (12:29) creepy. Look, here's the thing. Here's the victory. An actress was uncomfortable, and she wasn't made to be more uncomfortable. So he... gave her white granny panties and oddly made us more uncomfortable. Anyway, way to go, Ken Russell. Somebody who seemingly is very, you know, sexual in his imagery, but willing to say, I respect an actor's choice. Put on those frutival looms. I appreciate that. And it also does make sense because that final image is kind of jarring. It just feels so weird. Speaker 7 (13:06) But you know what? Scott also wants to chime in and say that on the topic of underwear, Ken Russell later said, being of royal lineage, Catherine opted for harrod silk. But as we were a low budget movie, she had to be content with Mark's and Spencer's cotton. And very fetching she was, too. OK, well, you didn't have to go creepy there, Ken Russell. But I like that idea that you should add silk on. That would have been great. If you can't afford, all right, hold on. How much is Harrods underwear? Now, again,