The Awakening (1980)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Mike Newell

Writers:

Chris Bryant (writer)
Clive Exton (writer)

Release Date:

October 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

They thought they had buried her forever!

Plot:

An archeologist discovers his daughter is possessed by the spirit of an Egyptian queen. To save mankind he must destroy her.

Plot Keywords:

Tomb | Egypt | Fall From Window | Fragments Of Glass | Curse

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Matthew Corbeck
Susannah York	...	Jane Turner
Jill Townsend	...	Anne Corbeck
Stephanie Zimbalist	...	Margaret Corbeck
Patrick Drury	...	Paul Whittier
Bruce Myers	...	Dr. Khalid
Nadim Sawalha	...	Dr. El Sadek
Ian McDiarmid	...	Dr. Richter
Ahmed Osman	...	Yussef
Miriam Margolyes	...	Dr. Kadira
Michael Mellinger	...	Hamid
Leonard Maguire	...	John Matthews
Ishia Bennison	...	Nurse
Madhav Sharma	...	Doctor
Michael Halphie	...	Doctor

Also Known As:

The Wakening (UK) (alternative title)

Runtime:

105 min | Australia:101 min | USA:101 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #25893) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Cairo, Egypt

Company:

EMI Films

Goofs:

Continuity: The shard of glass that stabs Jane in the neck. Before the shard falls from the panel, the pointy end is facing downwards. However, when it stabs Jane, the pointy end is facing upwards.

Movie Connections:

Version of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)

Not THAT Bad...Not THAT Good Either

The Awakening is a film about an archaeologist that finds the tomb of a nameless Egyptian queen named Kara. Charlton Heston plays Dr. Corbeck, a man consumed with finding evidence to support this legendary status of Kara. A man who puts work ahead of family, even during the birth of his own daughter. Heston finds the tomb in the very long introductory flashback of 18 years ago beginning the film. He finds it under somewhat strange circumstances. A man is killed attempting to stop his dig mysteriously. Whilst all this is going on, Heston's estranged wife is bearing his daughter after waking from a coma. Now, I am not really sure what the significance of all these events are, but I found the first part of this film in particular very engrossing. The next three fourths is what really lost me and some logical credibility as Heston meets his sultry 18 year-old daughter, they discuss how Queen Kara had killed her father and everyone that touched his hand because he killed her lover and made her partake of his own bed, and then takes her(Heston's daughter) to Egypt. While in Egypt, Stephanie Zimbalist goes under some strange transformation as if she is becoming Kara and we go from there. This film has some beautiful location shots in Egypt, and I found the information, whether real or imaginary, about the queen, mummification, canopic jars(jars used for organs), etc... quite fascinating. The acting is pretty good. I thought Heston did a fine job. Zimbalist is good as well. The biggest problem is the writing. After you watch the film, you really are not sure what happened. I still don't know. The film is also a bit slow in the first half, but there are(for those who really enjoy it) some very gruesome deaths too. I cannot wholeheartedly recommend the film, but if you enjoy the mysteries of Egypt or mummy movies in particular...I would give it a look see. What could it hurt?