Trawling through a variety of reviews on the internet, a common complaint seems that people find the film inconsistent. Once and for all, here is a list of points that appear nonsensical but actually do hold up to further analysis (supposed), all the areas that really don't make any sense no matter how many times you watch the film (actual), the odd element that is clearly just Ken Russell being camp, flamboyant and having a bit of a laugh (Ken!), as well as some general Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). (These explanations are absolutely littered with spoilers).

(Any points you would like clarified, please e-mail and I'll endeavour to include them, or feel free to make your own addition suggestions)




What happened to Joe Trent?

One of the most regular complaints is, since Dorothy Trent turns up, why doesn't Joe? Simple - James actually explains it while pot-holing (though Angus, Eve and Mary don't believe him). The worm, which lives in the labyrinth of caves and tunnels that connect Stonerich Cavern with Temple House, swallowed him whole and digested all but his pocket watch, which it then passed into the caves. A spring then washed it down through a series of narrow cracks in the rock to the area where it is eventually found. He, presumably, was fed to the worm by Sylvia when first captured. (supposed)



Why (& where) has Dorothy Trent been kept?

Joe and Dorothy had been missing for nearly a year, and, going by the discovery of the watch it is reasonable to assume that he was disposed of immediately. Dorothy, on the other hand, has been living in a vampiric state in Temple House throughout, but why has she been kept at all? She has never been seen on the outside as she'd be recognized (it's only a small village) and is on a 'missing persons' list. If she was kept to lure the Trent girls to the house why does Sylvia lure Eve herself? If Sylvia needed an external to work for her (as Ernie ends up), why not choose someone who would not arouse suspicion, such as Kevin, instead of someone local? (actual)

Also, where exactly in Temple House has she been kept? During the winter she would have hibernated with Sylvia, but the search for them took place when they first disappeared (in the summer) and, according to Mary, Temple House was the first place they looked as it was around there they disappeared. Joe could already have been disposed of and the worm could have been dormant. The well should have been found but would not necessarily have aroused suspicion, but Dorothy must have been on the premises somewhere. Sylvia could have bewitched the officers, but that wouldn't have stopped finger-printing etc. finding her out. (actual)

As an aside point, why does Dorothy recoil from fire (she runs when Angus waves a brand near her), yet Sylvia, also a vampiric snake, can happily throw board games onto roaring fires without so much as a flinch? (actual/Ken!)



Why does Sylvia go to Mercy Farm?

While attending to Ernie's snake bite, he informs her that Joe Trent's watch has been found in Stonerich Cavern. The first thing she does, after checking there is no-one in, is go into the kitchen and examine the watch. Presumably she is checking for evidence that could link her to his disappearance, but it is both clean and unmarked so there is no need for her to remove it, and she returns it to its box on the kitchen table. (supposed)



How does Sylvia know that the Skull has been discovered?

She doesn't - Ernie didn't know so couldn't have told her. At this point the only people to know of its existence are Mary, Eve, Angus (all of whom were there at its discovery) and James, whom Angus tells at the party. None of these people see Sylvia, and even if another guest at the party overheard, Sylvia only sees Ernie, whom we know has been on duty all night (as he is waiting at Mercy Farm when Angus and Mary return, the news of the watch's discovery stopping them from making idle chatter relating to excavations) and that the only person he's spoken to in-between is his deputy, who's been too busy arresting the only taxi driver to either attend parties or make conversation with party-goers. She does look at the mosaic before entering the farmhouse, but she could not have known that the skull had been at that exact position, or she probably would have uncovered it herself years before. If, however, she is supposed to be being led by some mystical force, why does she have to look in several rooms before finding it? (actual)



How did the Skull end up buried, and in that geographical location?

The Skull is clearly important to the worship of Dionin and Sylvia has always been based in the same place. Therefore, if the attempt to thwart the creation of the convent was successful (as both Eve's hallucination and Sylvia's speech would suggest - the remains Angus finds are from 1086, not Roman times) the local religion would have become assimilated with the pagan, so the location of the mosaic was either the site of a supplementary temple (we are told the nuns tried to build on top of Dionin's temple, and that Sylvia's house is on that site) or the house of Marcus Carousius - rebel emperor and 3rd century lover of Sylvia. Either way, with that on the floor, a holy pagan relic would logically belong there. (supposed)

What does not fit, however, is how it was lost in the first place - if Sylvia has never moved, and sees the skull as important, she surely would not have allowed it to 'disappear' in the 3rd century, particularly if it has not been moved from that significant site, so even if this destruction occurred during her hibernation time it still would not have been difficult to unearth. (actual)



Joe Trent's watch - why doesn't Ernie pick up on Sylvia's comment?

When Ernie tells Sylvia that Joe's watch has been found in Stonerich Cavern, she replies 'And was he on the end of the chain?' knowing full well that he wouldn't be as she's long since fed him to the worm. Why, however, does Ernie not pick up on the fact that she knew it was a pocket watch rather than the more likely wrist variety, and that the only way she could have known that is by being in close contact with him. If she ever had been, why do the Trent girls not appear to know Sylvia? (actual)



When is Ernie bitten?

It couldn't have been during their first meeting, nor before the snake-charming incident as James rings him before anything happens. So, there was no other time that Sylvia met Ernie, right? Wrong! When in the car with Mary he knows all the details of her mother's death at D'Ampton Hall, but also embellishes various parts about James being in custody and that they need to bring in Sylvia because of his allegations. Therefore, he must have turned up at D'Ampton Hall as James requested, but, as James says he had left the house before the police arrived, there would be no time for him to make any allegations so nothing would then cause Ernie to go to Temple House that night as Sylvia would not seem to be involved - yet he must have spoken with her that evening. Since he was at D'Ampton Hall we know that Sylvia was there also because 1) she was following the snake-charm music towards his house (as observed by Mary and Angus) and 2) the disk goes missing from the record player (which is in the same room as James) during the powercut - as Peters is murdered in the hallway. With the 'charming' threat removed Sylvia would only have to wait for Ernie to arrive. He then could be under her control but also have all the facts available to sound convincing enough to trick Mary. (supposed)



Who kills Peters and other D'Ampton Hall mysteries.....

We know he had only just left the room after speaking to Angus on the phone, and in fact has had nowhere near enough time to get down the stairs to where he is found, but this actually makes perfect sense as we not only hear his scream but also a thud - so he has been thrown from the balcony after receiving the snakebite that stains his face with venom. (supposed) The only problem with him being killed before he reaches the front door is that he had locked it as usual - he had only left the room James was in so he could unlock the door and lock up the chambermaids. As he never made it downstairs the door would have been locked, so neither Sylvia nor Dorothy would have been able to get in - we at no point hear the sound of a door being rammed through. (actual)

Dorothy must have killed Peters on the stairwell, as we hear the thud of him being thrown from there and this is the direction she emerges from when leaping at James. This would then mean that Sylvia took the record when James runs out to the stairwell after the power cut and, no longer 'charmed', remained on the premises to wait for Ernie. Dorothy would not have had the time to go stealing records in-between her two attacks. (supposed)

What does not make sense is, if as James observes 'We probably have another reptile on the premises', how does he manage to escape from the house unharmed? Dorothy is still alive (in a sense) and grabs his ankle while on the phone, so she could still have bitten him. (actual) Perhaps more of a threat (as Dorothy could have been wrestled from) is why Sylvia (whom we know is in the Hall) lets him leave unharmed, which somehow would not fit into her character profile. (actual)

Are we also supposed to believe that Sylvia manufactured the powercut - so Sylvia cuts the power just as Dorothy kills Peters, then after Dorothy's been killed and James has left that room she steals the record then restarts the power? If she is incapable of resisting the music why would she be able to manufacture the powercut in the first instance? After the power has gone she is free to do whatever, but not before. (actual)



Why is James still free to roam the countryside after a double murder in his house?

As we know that James left the house before the police could arrive (and that Ernie's talk of him helping them with their inquiries is false) how is it that he is still able to go pot-holing and worm-smoking with the locals the very next day? We know that Ernie would not have pursued it but a double murder would surely go beyond the jurisdiction of just one local policeman - we know he has at least one deputy from his earlier conversation. There is no way that someone involved in such an incident, particularly when one of the victims has clearly been killed by human intervention using a weapon that would only show James' fingerprints, would not at least need to answer a few questions. If James had been in hiding and the police had just not caught up with him then it might be excusable, but being out in the open with half the men of the village is hardly laying low. (actual)



Is Mary or Eve the elder sister?

Difficult to tell. The actress playing Eve is older than Mary, but this does not necessarily mean that is how the characters are supposed to be aged. Eve is the virgin, which may make her being the elder less likely. Going by the characters from the original book (where Eve is Lilla and Mary would be Mimi), Lilla is the elder by a small margin so it would seem logical to keep that chronology. Still, in the novel they are cousins, but in the film they are clearly stated as being sisters. Twins is possible, but would be an unnecessary complication as they are not supposed to share a linked soul or telepathic interaction or any other such hokum that would make them being twins worthwhile.



When and how did Sylvia become a vampire?

We know she is immortal, and that she is the high priestess of the Dionin cult. How long she has been the most powerful is not mentioned, though it is implied throughout (by both speech and the dream sequences) that she has been with it all along. Why, then, does she tell James that her fixation with snakes came from a snakebite when a child which placed her in a coma for ten days? This is clearly an attempt to integrate the cause of her existence with the explanation in the novel, where she was bitten as a child and, on the verge of death, was suddenly revitalized (but with a strange taste for torturing animals). Where this falls down, however, is that in the novel she is not supposed to be an immortal being, so she has aged naturally. In the film, she is supposed to have been of the same appearance for at least two thousand years - she has seen the same souls 'throughout history' - so if she was bitten as a child why does she not have the physical form of a child, rather than a woman in her late twenties, and if the aging is a gradual process, why show her looking exactly the same age in Roman times? (actual).
If the snakebite/coma explanation was only given to James to gain a vote of sympathy, then the actual answer to how she became a high-priestess Dioninic vampire remains unexplained. (actual)



Why does Angus leave Temple House without Eve?

After Mary has been bitten, Angus is sure enough that she is no longer in danger to start making phone calls to James. Why, then, if they're that sure that Sylvia is a pagan (and out of the house) and Eve is being held, does he not attempt to go looking for her? (actual) Also, how did he manage to get Mary back to Mercy Farm, without transport (we know the Trent's only transportation has packed up) at all, yet alone at such incredible speed? (actual) There is a serious time continuity problem - Angus rings James from Temple House just before Peters is killed. The time until his next phonecall has been two minutes maximum (the length of the powercut, where Peters is killed and James halves Dorothy); yet he rings from Mercy Farm, not Temple House, where Mary is already safely tucked up in bed, which is simply not possible in the timespan. We know that there cannot have been any further time than this as Dorothy is still writhing on the floor (which would be unlikely after the hour or so that would be needed to make it back to, and be settled in, Mercy Farm). (actual)



How did Angus and Mary get into the Temple House grounds?

Mary and Angus clearly had no problem entering the grounds on the night Mary was bitten (and Angus has no problem with his bagpipes either), though when she is driven there by Ernie she ends up stuck behind automated gates then trapped by walls. If the grounds are not sealed then why the gates? (actual) If the grounds supposedly can be broken into in some way, why does Mary get trapped instead of taking the breaking-in route she has previously? (actual) Finally, why oh why oh why does she run towards automated gates that are obviously going to close before she can get there and then rattle them like some brainless slasher-movie victim? (actual/Ken!)

Why does Sylvia's perpetual youthfulness not attract attention?

We know she is a bit of a recluse, and 'practically hibernates' in the winter, yet Ernie recognized her immediately. It is clearly a very small village, and Ernie is obviously a born and bred local. James has never met her, Eve and Mary don't appear to be acquainted, but Ernie clearly has known her a long time - would he not find it slightly strange that this person has been in the same house throughout his lifetime, yet has never aged? If he has indeed noticed this, and finds it all a bit odd, why is he trusting enough to allow her to suck venom from his ankle? (actual)



When is the film supposed to be set?

Although all cars driven, Kevin's scout uniform and the general village mentality are all firmly rooted in the 60's, we know the action is set in the present day (well, 1988) due to the inclusion of CD's, cordless phones and 'head-banging' music. All these intentional inconsistencies add to the charm of the film, giving a classic British TV feel to the proceedings - you would not be the slightest bit surprised to find Emma Peel at Temple House, or to see Adam Adamant leaping out to save Eve (supposed/Ken!). Similar ploys were used in, for example, the recent Avengers movie, where robotic killer bees swooped down on a bowler-hatted Steed in a classic car. Like Lair it tried to blend retro style with comedy and adventure but, unlike Lair, ended up failing miserably and frankly embarrassed all involved. Allegedly.

More to follow....