La Malédiction de la vallée des rois

I stumbled upon the 1980 movie "The Awakening" here in 2021. Oddly enough, then I don't think I've actually ever seen the movie before. So of course I found the time to sit down to watch it.

And I must say that writers Allan Scott, Chris Bryant and Clive Exton definitely were on to something there, and "The Awakening" is actually one of the more suspenseful and interesting of mummy curses movie that I have seen. Sure, there weren't actually walking mummies in the movie, but the atmosphere that permeated the movie was just brilliant, and it really worked well in favor of the movie.

"The Awakening" does have a good ensemble of actors and actresses on the cast list, with the likes of Charlton Heston and Susannah York. And it was a treat to see a young Ian McDiarmid in the movie as well.

While "The Awakening" is labeled as a horror movie, you shouldn't sit down to watch it with the hopes of watching an ordinary horror movie, because then you'll be sorely disappointed. No, "The Awakening" was more of a supernatural thriller than it was a horror movie, I think.

I thoroughly enjoyed this 1980 movie from director Mike Newell, and it turned out to be far more entertaining than I had initially anticipated for a mummy movie from 1980.

If you haven't already seen "The Awakening", and if you enjoy movies that have a mummy and Egyptian theme, then "The Awakening" is definitely well worth the time.

My rating of "The Awakening" lands on a six out of ten stars.

A veteran archaeologist (Charlton Heston) in Valley of Kings , Egypt , discovers the coffin of a nasty queen (Hatsetsupt ?) but open the tomb , the mummy's spirit is transferred to his baby daughter (one time grown-up is played by Stephanie Zimbalist) , born from his wife (Jill Townsend) at that moment . His spouse flees and Heston falls in love with his archaeology's partner (Susanna York).

This supernatural picture based on Bram Stoker's novel is packed with thrills , chills , suspense and wonderful outdoors from Egypt . The chief excitement lies in watching that new and innocent victim can be executed (Omen-alike) by the Egyptian mummy . The movie is full of grisly killings , terror , shocks and several eerie scenes . It displays a mysterious and sinister atmosphere , while the look is suitable spooky and frightening , the plot spreads to breaking point and the final turns out to be a bit frustrating . It appears as secondary Ian McDiarmid , today famous for his role as Chanciller Palpatine in Star Wars and Myrian Margolies who shows up in Harry Potter films . Colorful cinematography by the classic Jack Cardiff , the shooting unit filmed to capture the grandeur in Valley of Kings , Karnak , Luxor , which is considered as being one of the great wonders of the world and other splendorous locations in Egypt . Good and evocative musical score composed by Claude Bolling . The motion picture was professionally directed by Mike Newell . He's a nice director film-making for BBC television , dramas as ¨Enchanted April¨, ¨Mona Lisa smile¨, who achieved successes as ¨Donnie Brasco¨ and ¨Four wedding and a funeral¨; furthermore , ¨Adventures of young Indiana Jones¨ series and ¨Harry Potter and goblet fire¨, among others . The film will appeal to Charlton Heston fans and Egyptian theme aficionados.

This movie isn't as terrible as some reviewers have made it out to be. Let's say, overall, about average for its type. The photography is more than adequate, the locations unmistakably including Egypt. The score does its job well. And the acting is on par with Charlton Heston's usual. He can do better when he wants to, as in "Khartoum." Stephanie Zimbalist is fresh, attractive, and seductive -- both before and after she is possessed by the spirit of Kara. She's pretty sexy too, decked out in tight bell-bottomed slacks and wearing her long auburn hair held back by a barette -- is that the word? One of her more exciting moments comes when she steps down in the tomb and kisses her father warmly on the lips. She seems to have not much more than a few expressions to work with, which is okay; Gary Cooper only had one and a half. She relies mainly on an intense stare and half smile, which can signal either happiness or evil intent. The editing is confusing and the ending leaves the story open for a sequel which will probably never come. The story itself is dated, although spiced up with some Omen-like executions.

Heston would never get away with removing those artifacts from Egypt today. Not unless there was a huge under-the-table payoff made. No more Elgin-marble controversies. The archaeological techniques are dated as well. The archaeologists we seem to think of as heroes would be considered criminally sloppy by today's standards. If you excavate a site now, you don't just dig into it to see what you can find. You dig a trench into the site, from the outside inward, so you leave most of the site intact for future research. We don't know what analytic techniques will be available a hundred years from now, anymore than Carnaveron and the rest could foresee Carbon dating. Brouilloin, the information theorist, called this "the principle of fundamental surprise." If we knew now what we will have discovered a hundred years from now, we would already have discovered it. What Schliemann did at Troy was simply dig it up until all the information was gone, the archaeological equivalent of strip mining. King Tut's tomb was handled just as badly. When they first cracked the wall of the as-yet unsullied part of the tomb, a breath of air whooshed out from the opening. That air was three thousand years old. It was the same air breathed by the Egyptians who built the tomb. We will never know its chemical composition or what kind of particulate matter might still have been floating around. And the soil of the tomb, which surely contained biological materials like pollen and the residue of three-thousand-year-old microorganisms, was treated like -- well, like ordinary dirt.

The movie has few zingers. It moves slowly and deliberately, a pace that many modern moviegoers are no longer used to, after so much exposure to MTV techniques. And the director -- all directors -- need to have it pounded into their skulls that when a character looks into a mirror on screen, the audience is not supposed to see her staring obliquely into the camera lens. Not only does the use of this stupid trick contribute absolutely nothing, but it is distracting and jarring, and an insult to at least some of the viewers.

As grand productions go (which was a box-office flop), "The Awakening" is professionally catered for but remains a very tepid, old hat supernatural drama enterprise that consisted of excellently dedicated performances ( a serviceable Charlton Heston and an impressive Susannah York) and some stunningly projected Egyptian locations and decors. Outside of that, the story (adapted off Bram Stoker's "The Jewel of Seven Stars") while moodily haunting just felt like it was going through the motions and laboured along. The usual Egyptian tombs, curses unleashed, possessions of loved ones and an archaeologist's obsession to his work. No surprises and little interest, but I did like it's rather gloomily, downbeat conclusion that waited. It's suggestively slow-burn and crisp, dealing with a complex psychological edge filled with melancholy, detachment and righteous ideas. It's the beautiful imagery and majestic score that lingers, as everything is suggestively subtle with a slightly surreal, but more so grounded atmosphere. Stephanie Zimbalist is decent as Heston's possessed daughter and Jill Townsend as her mother.

The Awakening is directed by Mike Newell and collectively adapted to screenplay by Clive Exton, Chris Bryant and Allan Scott from the Bram Stoker novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. It stars Charlton Heston, Susannah York, Jill Townsend and Stephanie Zimbalist. Music is by Claude Bolling and cinematography by Jack Cardiff.

Heston plays archaeologist Matthew Corbeck, who after discovering the tomb of disgraced Egyptian Queen Kara discovers his daughter is possessed by Kara's spirit and to save mankind he may have to destroy her.

It's honourably serious, a willing attempt to make an intelligent end of the world type picture with flecks of troubling family dynamics. The production value is top draw, every effort has been made to make it look great, with lavish photography (nice to see a film of this type actually be filmed in Egypt), skillfully crafted set designs and an evocative score that drifts across the sands with distinction. Hell, even the casting of Heston at a time when his star had considerably faded, still gave the production some weight. If only it wasn't so immeasurably dull and distant!

The makers, obviously tugging on the coat tails of The Omen and Mummy movies previously, never develop the edgy themes bubbling away just below the narrative's surface. It's often feels like a big compromise was put forward by an executive, a request that they must ensure deaths are the draw card and to hell with the possibility of making a substantial brain tickler. Or it could just be that there were too many writers in the mix?! So what we essentially get is a laboriously paced movie going through the motions until the next death scene arrives, and then it's back to some slow brooding again.

The cast are solid, the ending suitably downbeat, and if you like Omen type deaths then there are a couple here worth your time, but you may need plenty of energizer drinks to keep you awake first. 4/10