La Malédiction de la vallée des rois

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.

Matthew Corbeck (Charlton Heston) is a veteran Egyptologist who discovers the tomb of Queen Kara. As fate would have it, her spirit leaves the tomb at the moment he enters it, and possesses his newborn daughter. 18 years later, the headstrong daughter (Stephanie Zimbalist) determines to reunite with her father in Egypt. She becomes concerned over her blackouts, and fears the worst. And the somber Matthew believes that in order to stop the evil queen, he will have to kill his girl in a ritual sacrifice.

It does sound like a good plot, doesn't it? It's based on the novel "The Jewel of the Seven Stars" by Bram Stoker of "Dracula" fame, which was previously filmed by Hammer as "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb". The Hammer version is more entertaining than this plodding effort, however. Director Mike Newell treats the material as straight drama for the most part, with thrilling and creepy moments few and far between. In his hands, the story just isn't as interesting or compelling as one might like it to be. Still, some genre fans may appreciate it for taking a more adult, restrained approach than a traditional one. Major assets include an excellent score by Claude Bolling and cinematography by the great Jack Cardiff.

Heston does a good job, as could be expected. He's actually rather low key in the leading role. Susannah York, as his associate Jane, and Jill Townsend, as his wife Anne, are fine. Zimbalist, unfortunately, just doesn't come off that well. There are some strong actors in the cast, though: Nadim Sawalha, Ian McDiarmid, Miriam Margolyes.

On location shooting in Egypt, and the resulting atmosphere of the settings, help to make this passable if never really exciting. It only picks up a little during its last third.

Five out of 10.

Charlton Heston plays archeologist Matthew Corbeck, who is obsessed with finding the tomb of Princess Kara. When Heston does find the tomb, he attacks the tomb with a sledgehammer; the blows coincide with the labor pains of his wife Anne (Jill Townsend). Her baby is stillborn, but starts breathing when Matthew takes the lid off the sarcophagus in Kara's tomb. The film follows a well-worn path from here.

Heston is as good a choice as anyone to play a man obsessed. Zimbalist plays dual roles as well as possible.

The unsolvable problem is the script the film's stuck with. It makes the fatal mistake of assuming audience members have never seen a horror movie before, and treats each cliche like a brand new idea. The characters' lines announce their impending deaths, one of which is stolen from 1976's "The Omen". You don't need to have seen more than one or two horror movies to guess what's going to happen. There is a subplot involving father and daughter being inordinately fond of each other (Otto disapproves of the word) that, according to the storyline, mirrors the relationship Kara and her father had back in ancient Egypt.

The unusually good score is by Claude Bolling. The cinematography is by Jack Cardiff. The script is blamed on four screenwriters. There are some horselaughs to be found, but they are outnumbered by the cliches the film enshrines. The music, photography, and tension built up over the last 20 minutes make this a tolerable time passer. Not as bad as I'd thought/hoped.

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.

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.