The Awakening (1980 film)

The Awakening

Company type	Film
Industry	Motion picture
Founded	1980
Headquarters	United States / United Kingdom
Products	Supernatural horror film
Parent	Warner Bros. (distribution via Orion Pictures)

The Awakening is a 1980 supernatural horror motion picture marking Mike Newell's debut as a director, featuring Charlton Heston, Susannah York, and Stephanie Zimbalist in leading roles. The storyline follows an archaeologist whose daughter becomes possessed by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian queen. This film represents the third cinematic interpretation of Bram Stoker's 1903 novel The Jewel of Seven Stars, succeeding the 1970 television adaptation titled The Curse of the Mummy and the 1971 Hammer production Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.

A collaborative US-UK project, filming took place in England and Egypt during 1979. Orion Pictures, a division of Warner Bros., handled distribution, with the movie debuting in the United States on Halloween 1980. It earned $8.4 million domestically against a production budget of $6 million.

Two distinct cuts are available: the original 105-minute version directed by Mike Newell released in the United Kingdom, and a truncated 101-minute edit by Monte Hellman created for the North American audience under Warner Bros.' instruction.

Plot

Set in 1961, the narrative begins at an archaeological excavation in Egypt, introducing Matthew Corbeck, his wife Anne, and Jane Turner. Matthew and Jane are engaged in unearthing Queen Kara's tomb, while Anne becomes increasingly uneasy about their relationship—a suspicion that proves accurate.

They uncover a tomb bearing a cautionary inscription: "Do Not Approach the Nameless One Lest Your Soul Be Withered." As Matthew prepares to enter the burial site, Anne experiences premature labor. After returning to camp, Matthew discovers Anne in a trance-like state and rushes her to a hospital. Although her pregnancy results in stillbirth, when Matthew and Jane open the mummy's coffin, the infant inexplicably revives. Anne departs with the baby, neglecting both herself and their daughter Margaret.

Fast forward eighteen years: Matthew has become a British university professor married to Jane. He endeavors to transport Kara's mummy to England due to bacterial threats endangering its preservation. After an accidental death involving a rival Egyptian expert, Matthew succeeds. Margaret, now eighteen—the same age as Kara at her death—travels to England despite Anne's objections. Matthew and Jane disclose Kara's violent past along with legends of reincarnation.

Matthew’s fixation intensifies as Margaret displays altered behavior; those opposing them die under mysterious circumstances. Margaret doubts herself as the cause. In Egypt, she and Matthew locate Kara's Canopic jars. Secretly returning them to England, Matthew plans a ritual intended to resurrect Kara, convinced that Kara’s spirit inhabited Margaret since birth. When Margaret falls into a coma, he insists on performing this ceremony at the British Museum to save her.

Ultimately, the ritual allows Kara’s spirit to fully inhabit Margaret’s body. The reincarnated queen kills Matthew, leaving her future plans ambiguous.

Development

Announced in July 1979, the screenplay was penned by Chris Bryant, Allan Scott, and Clive Exton adapting Bram Stoker's The Jewel of Seven Stars. The project initially bore the working title The Waking.

Casting

Charlton Heston was selected for the leading role after having previously turned down a part in The Omen (1976).

Filming

Principal photography commenced in August 1979 with an estimated budget near $6 million. The majority of shooting occurred in England, complemented by roughly a month of location filming in Luxor, Egypt. Significant sites included the Valley of the Kings and Cairo’s City of the Dead. Remarkably, the production secured authorization to shoot inside Cairo’s Egyptian Museum, marking the first time a feature film obtained such access. Studio scenes were completed at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, while University College London served as a stand-in for the British Museum interiors during location shoots.

Director Mike Newell described the overall production experience as "utterly terrible," yet he expressed appreciation for working with Heston, highlighting the actor’s dependable attendance during rushes.

Post-production

Following Warner Bros.’ rejection of Newell’s 105-minute final cut for North American distribution, Monte Hellman was brought in to re-edit the film over a two-month period during the summer of 1980. The United Kingdom release retained Newell’s original version, whereas Hellman’s shortened cut, approximately five minutes briefer, was issued in the United States and Canada. Despite his respect for Hellman, Newell later labeled this re-edited version "miserable."

Release

The Awakening debuted theatrically in the United States on Halloween 1980 under Orion Pictures, distributed through Warner Bros.. The film premiered in London on 21 November 1980.

Home media

In 1981, Warner Home Video issued The Awakening on VHS throughout North America. In contrast, the UK home video release featured only Hellman’s truncated 101-minute version, despite Newell’s original cut having been shown theatrically.

The film saw a DVD release by Studio Canal on 25 June 2007 and was reissued by the Warner Archive Collection on 15 May 2012, both presenting the revised North American cut running approximately 101 minutes. On 15 June 2021, Scream Factory released a Blu-ray edition containing the North American version. Meanwhile, Australian distributor Imprint Films issued a Blu-ray on 6 August 2021 showcasing Newell’s full original 105-minute cut.

Box office

During its opening weekend across 909 theaters in the U.S., The Awakening generated $2,728,520 and ultimately grossed $8,415,112 domestically. Due to its limited profitability, it was generally considered a financial disappointment.

Contemporary

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times criticized the film as "so complete and rigorously inconsistent that it attains that kind of negative perfection which invites laughter," observing that the actors’ earnest performances inadvertently created humor. Richard Freedman from The Spokesman-Review described it as lacking both humor and suspense and later included it among the worst films of the year. Ed Arnone of The Olympian deemed the screenplay "obvious" and viewed the film as an unsuccessful attempt to exploit interest generated by the King Tut exhibit.

Rex Reed from the New York Daily News dismissed it as a "cheap jack-hammer ripoff," though he acknowledged that Heston and York brought sophistication to their roles. Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the film’s visual elements and set design but criticized Heston’s unconvincing English accent. Jeff Simon from The Buffalo News considered it more melodrama than horror but complimented Jack Cardiff’s cinematography.

Both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert offered unfavorable reviews; Siskel ranked it among his least favorite films of 1980, while Ebert labeled it "ridiculous" and gave it one star out of four.

TV Guide assigned a rating of one out of four stars, lauding aspects such as set design, cinematography, and score but condemning it as "predictable" and "unrelentingly dull," burdened by excessive Egyptian travelogue footage.

Retrospective

Susan D. Cowie and Tom Johnson, in their work The Mummy in Fact, Fiction and Film, characterize The Awakening as an "expensive endeavor to adapt Bram Stoker's The Jewel of Seven Stars for the screen," which ultimately did not succeed despite having a skilled cast and crew. Critiques were especially directed at the performances of Zimbalist and Heston.

The review from The Terror Trap awarded the movie a score of 2.5 out of 4 stars, highlighting that its deliberate and understated tempo might not appeal to everyone but remains worthwhile, particularly to witness sci-fi icon Heston in a notably subdued role.