Awakening, The [VHS]

Awakening, The [VHS]
by Mike Newell

Awakening, The [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Charlton Heston, Jill Townsend, Patrick Drury, Stephanie Zimbalist, Susannah York
Director: Mike Newell
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
Running Time: 101 minutes
Release Date: 1993-12-13
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Studio: Warner Home Video

VHS Movie Reviews of Awakening, The [VHS]

Movie Review: not just another mummy movie
Summary: 5 Stars

Being a Chareston Heston ..I loved this movie!! When are they going to put it on dvd?

Movie Review: Eerie
Summary: 4 Stars

The Awakening was the second adaptation of Bram Stoker's The Jewel of the Seven Stars. Hammer's Blood from the Mummy's Tomb being the first. Many have compared The Awakening unfavourably with the first film, a comparison that I consider to be unfair becauise they are two very different adaptations and both succeed in their own right.
Of the two films, The Awakening has by far the higher production values and benefits from its stunning Egyptian locations.
It also has a superb and eerie music score and has one of my all time favourite credit sequences, showing the Nile and the surrounding scenery. The music to this opening piece is simply sublime and sets the viewer up nicely for the rest of the film.

Charlton Heston plays an archeologist looking for a fabled lost tomb, of a nameless and apparently evil Egyptian queen. Needless to say he uncovers an ancient and vile power which starts to kill off his friends, and to threaten his daughter (played by Stephanie Zimbalist).
The film has a good narrative which is also suspenseful, as the events unfold.
Unfortunately the ending is weak and appears to be rushed. This is a great shame because otherwise the film would have been worthy of five stars. The makers would have done better to stick with a similar ending to Blood from The Mummy's Tomb.

That said, The Awakening remains a very good film and is well worth a look. I own the film on dvd and it is available in Australia on Region 4. Sound is Dolby Digital Mono. Unfortunately the picture transfer is not as good as it could have been and is little better than on vhs.
It would be nice to see a Region 1 or 2 dvd of this film, with a proper transfer and 5.1 sound. Now that really would be something.

Movie Review: A classic
Summary: 5 Stars

"The Awakening" isn't a summer blockbuster; it was never meant to be. This is a story about an archaeologist trying to break ground despite being the 17 millionth person studying ancient Egypt. He is a believer and his passion consumes him. He is also not a perfect man. He is a man of science who's work defines his whole being. This is why I think the audience may have a hard time warming up to him.
I don't like to give details in my reviews. What this story has to offer is a realistic horror film. Even though there are virtually no special effects, we are still drawn in to a world of silent malevolence.
This is not a "slasher" film. There is much weight given to suspicious happenings and ancient curses that frankly, makes this story much more creepy. There is virtually nothing offered in the movie that I couldn't see actually happening. Not that I believe in curses, but you never know, there are things in the universe that you don't want to piss off. Leave them alone, you may live longer.
Some have said that is story is "slow". Yes. It is a drama. It's trying to weave a tale for you that is intelligent, thoughtful and if you're willing sit and be invested in the story, it may scare you more than Freddy Kruger ever could.

Movie Review: Better than given credit for
Summary: 5 Stars

I saw this movie in the theater. It's entertaining and certainly not as bad as some critics say. Especially the references to magic which is real and Egypt was/is the font of all true magic. How can anyone doubt when looking at the pyramids and other Egyptian wonders?

Movie Review: 'Mummy' Film Directed by Mike Newell! Now That's Something
Summary: 2 Stars

And starring Charlton Heston! 'The Awakening' (1980) has so many potentially good elements -- look, beside Susanna York, the supports include Miriam Margolyes and Ian McDiarmid, and the camera is by veteran Jack Cardiff. Plus, the film acknowledges the cooperations from the Government of Egypt, where part of the scenes are shot. And the results are ... nothing but boring mess.

Heston's character is Matthew Corbeck, Egyptologist obssessed with the idea of the ancient Queen. As he discovers her long-hidden tomb, Corbeck's own baby is born ... how convienient! ... but the new-born girl was immediately taken away to USA, by the hand of the neglected wife. (And do you bring your wife who is pregenant, all the way to the excavating site in hot Egypt?)

Cue to the 18 years later. Professor Heston (with thick beard and black-rimmed glasses) meets his daughter again, only to find that some strange things keep on happening around them. Like curious 'accidents.' They get more and more curious as the story unfolds, so you may finally start laughing until the very unexciting, and abrupt, ending.

Now, 'The Awakening' is not scary at all, because of the actors' awful overacting. Heston et al cannot just look like 'scared' people. Their 'scared' means contorted facial expressions. And the way they speak! When they should subdue their emotions, they start to howl literally.

Lack of the story's pace is another fatal mistake, and moreover, as we do not know why we should care about the obsessive protagonist or his daughter, to whom we can never relate. People drop dead like flies, and we start wondering ... so what?

Credited as 'based on Bram Stoker's novel, 'Jewels of the Seven Stars,' but don't be fooled. The film hardly resembles the original, which is much better.

Mike Newell, who helms the fourth Harry Potter film, once did this kind of dreadful film, and this idea may be encouraging to some young filmmakers. Except that, and Jack Cardiff's beautiful photography in Egypt, you get nothing remarkable in 'The Awakening.'

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Summary of Awakening, The [VHS]

An archaeologist on a dig in the Egyptian pyramids releases a curse that causes the spirit of a murderous princess to enter the body of the man's daughter.

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