The Awakening (1980)

Bram Stoker’s 1903 mummy novel The Jewel of Seven Stars (which is in many ways a better and more interesting horror novel than his much better-known and more popular Dracula) had been adapted for film with considerable success by Hammer in 1971, as Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb. The Awakening, released in 1980, is a very different adaptation of this same novel.

While Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb is unashamedly an exploitation horror movie (and a very good one) The Awakening is much more in the style of the big-budget big-studio horror movies of the 70s such as The Exorcist and even more particularly, The Omen. In fact it owes a great deal to The Omen.

Dr Matthew Corbeck (Charlton Heston) is an eminent Egyptologist who has devoted much of his career to the search for the tomb of Queen Kara, the so-called nameless queen. Kara had such an evil reputation that after her death every reference to her was expunged. If any Egyptian tomb is going to be the subject of a curse it is Queen Kara’s. Corbeck and his assistant Jane Turner (Susannah York) have finally discovered the tomb. And, wonder of wonders, it is intact. It has not been defiled by tomb robbers. This may be simply because the secret of the tomb’s location was very well hidden, or it may perhaps be because of Kara’s terrifying reputation.

While Corbeck and Jane are unearthing Kara’s tomb Corbeck’s wife Anne goes into labour. The baby is born dead. Or so it seems. But at the moment that Corbeck lays eyes on the sarcophagus of Kara the baby suddenly starts to cry. She is not dead after all. 

Corbeck’s wife had been insanely jealous of the intimacy between Corbeck and Jane. The movie suggests that her jealousy had no real foundation but be that as it may Anne leaves Corbeck and takes their daughter Margaret with her back to her home in the US.

Eighteen years later Margaret suddenly decides that she must see her father. She sets off to England, despite Anne’s vehement opposition. Corbeck has by this time married Jane. Margaret is about to turn eighteen, which happens to have been Queen Kara’s age at the time of her death.

Corbeck has always been obsessed by Queen Kara but now the obsession threatens to get out of hand. Things become more serious when Corbeck and Margaret visit the tomb and discover the canopic jars containing Kara’s internal organs. These were always removed from the body before mummification and carefully stored.

Corbeck’s obsession increasingly hinges on a forbidden ritual which supposedly has the power to restore Queen Kara to life. Kara had a reputation as a sorceress and she had never intended that her death would be a permanent thing.

Corbeck is a desperately conflicted man. He knows his obsession is dangerous and he fears that Kara is controlling his actions from beyond the grave. Whenever he tries to draw back, or whenever somebody else attempts to hinder his plans to perform the ritual, terrible things happen. People die violently, in accidents that are too convenient for Kara’s purposes to be easily dismissed as mere accidents. Corbeck is losing control of events. Kara may prove to be too strong for him. And possibly too strong for Margaret.

The Awakening performed disappointingly at the box office. The hostility of critics certainly did not help. Much of this hostility was undoubtedly aimed at Charlton Heston. By 1980 his  approach to acting was unfashionable and his politics were even more unfashionable. Critics might have forgiven him for his supposedly dated acting style but they were not going to forgive him for his politics. Actors who insisted on holding dissenting political views were not to be tolerated.

As for his acting, the criticisms leveled at him on that score miss the point entirely. The extravagantly over-the-top theatrically of his acting was a feature, not a bug. It was Heston’s style and he did extremely well and it worked for him. There’s a reason that Heston’s most notable late-career performances were mostly in science fiction, horror and disaster movies. They were the only movies being made at the time that gave him the opportunity to utilise his talents effectively. His performance in The Awakening is spot-on.

The problem is not Heston but rather Stephanie Zimbalist. She is absolutely the wrong actress to play Margaret. She lacks the presence, the charisma and the mystique that the role requires. The hint of an incest theme isn’t developed fully, which is perhaps just as well since it would have been an unnecessary distraction.

While Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb approaches the subject from the standpoint of pure gothic horror The Awakening takes a radically different tack. It attempts to tell the story as psychological horror. This works for the character of Matthew Corbeck, although it works less well in the case of Margaret.

The movie benefits from high production values and from Jack Cardiff’s superb cinematography. There are some good visual set-pieces and some imaginative mayhem including a rather obvious homage to Dario Argento’s Suspiria. 

The Region 4 DVD offers a good if not brilliant transfer without any extras.

Despite its indifferent reputation The Awakening is a fine example of the 1970s big-budget big-studio approach to horror. It’s perhaps a little slow in places and the ending is a little abrupt but on the whole it’s an interesting and rather successful adaptation of Stoker’s very underrated novel. It’s a must-see for Charlton Heston fans like myself. Highly recommended.

The Ghoul (1933)

Boris Karloff, then at the height of his popularity, returned to Britain in 1933 to make The Ghoul for Gaumont-British Pictures. This often overlooked Egyptian-themed horror movie had been floating about for years in very sub-standard editions until its release on DVD, in a very fine transfer indeed, by MGM.

The Ghoul was clearly an attempt to cash in on the enormous success of The Mummy the year before.

Boris Karloff plays Professor Morlant, an ageing and ailing Egyptologist who believes he can cheat death by means of a fabulous jewel looted from an Egyptian tomb. By means of this jewel Anubis will give him eternal life.

Unfortunately for the professor quite a few other people know about this jewel and they all want it, in some cases for its mystic properties and in others simply for its monetary value.

As Professor Morlant dies he assures his faithful servant Laing (Ernest Thesiger) that he will return from the dead. Since this happens early in the film the audience will certainly believe him even if Laing doesn’t.

After Morlant’s death the various parties seeking the jewel converge on his very gothic house. Unfortunately at this point the movie becomes more of an Old Dark House comedy thriller rather than a horror movie. It will return to horror eventually, with mixed success.

The first third of this movie is actually quite good. It builds the gothic mood successfully enough and it achieves a certain creepiness, mainly due to Karloff’s performance as the professor who already looks like a corpse before he is dead.

The motley collection gathered at the house includes Morlant’s heirs, young Ralph Morlant  (Anthony Bushell) and his cousin Betty Harlon (Dorothy Hyson). Betty drags along her friend Miss Kaney (Kathleen Harrison) whose job it is to provide the obligatory painfully unfunny comic relief. Also present are a young clergyman (played by a very young Ralph Richardson), Professor Morlant’s shady solicitor Broughton (played by Cedric Hardwicke) and the inevitable mysterious Egyptian Aga Ben Dragore (Harold Huth).

Nothing notably happens for quite a while as the film gets badly bogged down but finally Karloff does reappear to deliver a certain amount of horror.

The fairly strong cast assembled by Gaumont-British for this picture deserved better material. Karloff is effectively creepy, while Ernest Thesiger overacts outrageously and fairly amusingly.

The failings of The Ghoul are many. The basic idea is good but the script does little with it. The pacing is too slow, especially in the middle stages. The payoff is a rather disappointing cop-out. Comparing it to The Mummy merely emphasises its weaknesses. While The Ghoul boasts some reasonable sets and does have some gothic atmosphere it lacks the visual brilliance that Universal brought to their horror films of this era. Director T. Hayes Hunter is competent but sadly uninspired. There are a few good visual moments, especially early on. The funeral scene is quite creepy and atmospheric.

MGM’s DVD is superb. Picture quality is extremely crisp, contrast is good and there is no sign whatsoever of print damage. Sound quality is good as well. The lack of extras is a slight disappointment but MGM are to be commended for making this relatively little known   horror movie available in such a pristine state.

The Ghoul is not a terrible picture. It’s certainly no worse than most of Universal’s 1940s efforts. It’s just not a very good picture. It illustrates the important truth (one that Universal understood in the 30s but forgot in the 40s) that if you want a good horror movie it helps to have a good script and a director and a cinematographer with a genuine feel for the material, and you need to keep the focus on the main horror plot as much as possible. Boris Karloff fans will be reasonably satisfied by his performance. Worth a look as a rare example of a 1930s British horror movie that at least tries to deliver some genuine chills, and does at times partially succeed.

The Mummy’s Shroud (1967)

The Mummy’s Shroud was the last Hammer movie made at Bray Studios. This 1967 production was also director John Gilling’s final movie. Hammer’s mummy movies are a bit of a mixed bag. The best of them was rather surprisingly their last, Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb, but The Mummy’s Shroud has its moments.

The plot is fairly standard for mummy movies. We start with a prologue, recounting events 4,000 years ago. The Pharaoh’s brother seized the throne and his devoted servant Prem set off into the desert with the heir Kah-to-Bey. When Kah-to-Bey was near death he presented Prem with the seal of the Pharaoh. Prem constructed a tomb for his beloved master and was later buried with him.

In 1920 an expedition sets out to find the tomb, led by the famous Egyptologist Sir Basil Walden (André Morell). One mummy had been found years earlier. Sir Basil believes it to be Prem. He intends to find the mummy of Kah-to-Bey. When the expedition fails to return a rescue expedition is sent, led by the wealthy Stanley Preston (John Phillips), the man who financed the original expedition.

Sir Basil and his team have in fact the tomb. They are warned off by a mysterious Arab (Roger Delgado) who claims to be the keeper of the tomb, but undaunted they carry on. The mummy of Kah-to-Bey is found and is taken to Cairo.

Of course there is a curse on anyone who disturbs the tomb of the Pharaoh. And of course it’s not very long before the first of those who entered the tomb meets an untimely end. One of the expedition members, Claire de Sangre (Maggie Kimberly) had already had psychic premonitions of doom even before the tomb was found.

There are no iconic horror stars in this film but there’s a solid cast and John Gilling’s script features more complex characterisation than you generally expect in a horror film. The most interesting characters are Stanley Preston and his wife Barbara (Elizabeth Sellars). Preston has already shown one side of his character, stealing the credit for the expedition’s success. This point is made in a clever scene in which he dictates his own self-serving account of the expedition to his long-suffering but faithful assistant Longbarrow (Michael Ripper) while the rest of the team is doing all the work and taking all the risks. When the curse claims its first victim we discover that he is a coward as well.

Barbara Preston has always despised her husband but she hadn’t realised until now just how much she despised him. She can’t bring herself to hate him - she merely feels sorry for him. It’s a nicely judged performance by Elizabeth Sellars.

The early part of the film is a little slow but as doom continues to pursue the expedition members it starts to hit its stride and there are some effective horror moments.

The mummy makeup won’t please everybody but I thought it did its job well enough.

John Phillips is rather good as Preston - like his wife we come to despise him but we almost feel sorry for him. He’s a man who has never been honest with himself and he’s more an object for pity than a villain. André Morell is reliable as always. Roger Delgado overacts outrageously. Maggie Kimberly can’t act at all but she looks suitably spooky. Catherine Lacey nearly steals the movie as a maniacal old fortune-teller.

Michael Ripper gets a more substantial part than usual and makes the most of it. He must have been overjoyed when he read the script and discovered he wasn’t going to be playing an innkeeper!

Not one of Hammer’s best but still a fairly entertaining movie and worth a look.

Anchor Bay’s DVD presentation is superb.

Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (1971)

Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb has always been one of my favourite Hammer films and watching it for the third time I find myself liking it as much as ever.

This is in fact the best of Hammer’s mummy films, and with the exception of the original 1932 Universal classic it’s arguably the best mummy film ever made.

It’s based on Bram Stoker’s best and most interesting novel, The Jewel of Seven Stars (yes I really do think it's better than Dracula). Christopher Wicking produced a fine screenplay and Seth Holt directs with considerable flair. Sadly Holt died before the movie was completed and Michael Carreras had to finish the shoot.

A couple of decades before the film opens Professor Julian Fuchs (Andrew Keir) had led a team of British archaeologists on an expedition to find the tomb of a mysterious unnamed Egyptian queen. His interest is more than just archaeological - he has found references to this queen in ancient and medieval manuscripts and he had become convinced that she had discovered the secrets of life and death.

The tomb is found, along with the perfectly preserved body of Queen Tera (for that turns out to be her name). Tera had made bitter enemies of the priesthood of her day. After her death they attempted to destroy all references to her, to expunge all record of her existence. And they feared her so much they cut off her hand, believing that with her body incomplete she could never return to life. Without that precaution they considered this eventuality to be a real possibility.

And the priests had been right to fear that Tera could conquer death, but their precautions were in vain.

At the exact moment that Fuchs opened Tera’s tomb his wife back in England died in childbirth. The child was apparently born dead, but then started to breathe and survived. This child, his only daughter Margaret (Valerie Leon), is now a beautiful young woman. Her birthday is approaching, an event that is infinitely more significant than one might suppose.

All this is revealed in flashbacks occurring during Margaret’s troubled dreams. Margaret dreams of other things as well. She dreams of Queen Tera’s life and death.

Margaret has never been allowed into the basement of the Fuchs home. When she and her boyfriend Tod Browning (yes, Tod Browning) finally do gain access to the basement they make two alarming discoveries. The first is the apparently lifeless body of Professor Fuchs. The second is the perfectly preserved body of Queen Tera, and she is (as the audience already knows) the exact double of Margaret.

The Professor is not dead but in an extreme coma. He has left instructions for his old friend Doctor Putnum, indicating that he expected this to happen.

The very smooth and very sinister Corbeck (James Villiers), who had been a member of the Fuchs expedition, now appears on the scene. Corbeck clearly has his own agenda and it’s likely to be a selfish one but Margaret has nowhere else to turn for help - Corbeck at least knows what is going on. The other members of the expedition are dying one by one in unexplained circumstances. Queen Tera may be dead, but she’s been busy. Margaret’s destiny is indissolubly linked to hers, but the link may well prove to be a fatal one.

There’s moderate gory and very brief nudity in this movie but really it’s a very old-fashioned horror movie. Old-fashioned in the best possible way - a horror movie that relies on the building up of an atmosphere of dread and does it in a quite subtle way. Queen Tera is terrifying not because she’s violent but because she threatens to undermine the very order of nature, because she had gained access to powers in her lifetime that no mortal should possess, and these powers did not die with her. And since these powers gave her control over life and death can Tera be said to have ever truly been dead?

This kind of horror has always seemed to me to be far more effective that knife-wielding maniacs. It’s the kind of horror that suggests that there really are fates worse than death.

Tera is also a slightly ambiguous monster. We’re not quite sure what her ultimate agenda might have been, nor can we be certain exactly what her intentions are if she succeeds in reuniting her soul and her body. Perhaps she is somewhat akin to Hammer’s other great monster, Baron Frankenstein - not precisely evil but horribly dangerous because she recognises no limits to her ambitions and regards any means as justified in order to achieve her ends.

There are no major stars in the cast, but there are some very fine actors delivering very effective performances. Andrew Keir as Professor Fuchs is a strangely ineffectual figure, a man who was once himself prepared to dare anything but who was badly frightened by what took place twenty years ago and who has lost his nerve. James Villiers is delightfully malevolent, a smiling but deadly cobra. Valerie Leon is a perfectly adequate heroine. Aubrey Morris is wonderfully creepy as always as Dr Putnum.

Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb has style, atmosphere and a genuine sense of horrifying forces being unleashed and it all adds up to a superb horror movie.