6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
An archaeologist from the US is in Egypt with his pregnant wife, searching for the tomb of a long-lost Egyptian queen. At the same moment he discovers the tomb and opens it's accursed seal, his wife gives birth to his daughter. Years later it transpires that the malevolent spirit of the Egyptian queen left the tomb just as he was entering, and possessed his baby girl. As the truth becomes clear, the archaeologist realizes that he must destroy his daughter in a ceremonial ritual, before she uses her awesome powers to threaten the safety of mankind.
Starring: Charlton Heston, Susannah York, Jill Townsend, Stephanie Zimbalist, Patrick DruryThriller | Insignificant |
Horror | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
1716 kbps
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Charlton Heston was originally considered for the role of Robert Thorn in The Omen (1976) so it's interesting that four years later, he starred in The Omen knockoff, The Awakening (1980). Accounts differ if Heston turned down the leading role or if Fox bypassed him for Gregory Peck. In The Awakening, Heston plays Egyptologist Matthew Corbeck, who's infatuated with uncovering the secrets to a mysterious tomb from 3,800 years ago. The film opens with a flashback in which Dr. Corbeck (Heston) is leading an archaeological expedition in the Valley of the Kings. Anne Corbeck (Jill Townsend), the archaeologist's wife, has grown unhappy during the trip because her husband has shown more interest in digging up ancient ruins than he has in paying attention to her. Mrs. Corbeck is also peeved that he's become close to his assistant, Jane Turner (Susannah York). Dr. Corbeck comes across a tablet with hieroglyphics bearing this warning: "Do not approach the Nameless One, lest your soul be withered. The Nameless One must not live again." He's so obsessed with unlocking the tomb that he ignores the tablet and begins beating the outside of the tomb with a sledgehammer. Editor Terry Rawlings crosscuts between Corbeck pecking away and his wife experiencing premature labor pains. At a hospital in Cairo, Mrs. Corbeck goes into labor while Dr. Corbeck and Mrs. Turner are still excavating the tomb. Unfortunately, the baby comes out as a stillborn. However, when Dr. Corbeck and his team open the tomb to see the remains of the sarcophagus, the infant magically resuscitates and begins crying. Mrs. Corbeck is sorely disappointed when her husband arrives belatedly to peer into the hospital nursery to look at their child.
The narrative flash-forwards eighteen years later to the movie's present day. The Corbecks have divorced. Anne lives in New York with her 18-year-old daughter, Margaret (Stephanie Zimbalist). Matthew has remarried and lives with his second wife, Jane Turner, in England where he teaches archaeology at a university near London. Margaret experiences some weird feelings within herself. She's in Central Park where the hyenas stare at her like they know something is wrong. Margaret is deeply interested in her father's excavation of Queen Kara and much to her mother's dismay, travels to Britain to stay with him and Jane. Dr. Corbeck and Jane know that after the sun's eighteenth eclipse, Kara may seek reincarnation. Is it a coincidence that Corbeck's daughter was born the same day he unearthed Kara's tomb? Is Kara's spirit permanently laid to rest or will the evil queen "reawaken"?
Shout! Factory's release of The Awakening comes on a BD-50, which employs the MPEG-4 AVC encode. The film appears in its original theatrical exhibition ratio of 1.85:1. The DI emanates from a new 2K scan of the interpositive. The restored transfer isn't quite as sparkling as the recent one Shout! did for Sphinx, though it still looks very good. The prologue has coarse grain that looks scattered amidst the blue skies in the Sahara. There are more film artifacts on the print than there are on the transfer of Sphinx. Heston's ruddy complexion shows in the desert (see Screenshot #2). The opening credits display the rippling of water with Egyptian carvings shown in the background (see #19). Mike Hughes of the Gannett News Service lauded cinematographer Jack Cardiff for filming "lovely hues of gold and copper." You can see how they shine in #s 5 and 12. For an intimate scene between father and daughter, Cardiff creates halos around their shirts (see frame enlargement #s 13 and 14). Lighting for the interiors was frowned upon by one original reviewer. Writing in the New Jersey-based The Record, Robert Feldberg griped that "many of the indoor scenes are so darkly lit it's hard to see what's happening." Yet on this transfer, the candlelit dinner contains ample light to fill the characters' faces (see #s 9 and 10). Shout! has encoded the feature at an average video bitrate of 34000 kbps.
Shout! provides twelve scene selections for the 105-minute movie.
Shout! supplies the original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (1716 kbps, 24-bit) as the lone sound track. For the opening scene in the Valley of the Kings, I had some trouble discerning some of the spoken words. Dialogue and distinctness of sounds improves after the prologue. Composer Claude Bolling crafted a somewhat unusual score compared to other films that have been set in Egypt. The liner notes to Quartet Records' limited edition soundtrack album describe the music associated with the specter of Queen Tara as a four-note ostinato performed on harp while the melody is played on oboe. The booklet also notes that Bolling uses a harp-flute-oboe trio to score the scene in "Corbeck's Garden." Music sounds fine on the uncompressed stereo mix.
Optional English SDH can be switched on from the menu or during playback.
I was ready to recommend The Awakening until the third act starts to unravel and then comes off the rails. The film is ambiguous about what ultimately happens to Margaret's boyfriend. Although his fate is probably not good, the camera cuts away to an exterior long shot of the Corbeck house, leaving it inconclusive. It seems that the production executives at Orion wanted to leave the final scene at least somewhat open-ended and perhaps create room for a sequel. Mike Newell had only directed episodes for British television and The Awakening is essentially his directorial debut for the silver screen. I wish Shout! Factory had produced some new extras that would give context to what happened during and after production. It's my hypothesis that the studio moguls took the film out of Newell's hands during the editing. On the bright side, Stephanie Zimbalist is pretty and intelligent as Heston's daughter. Shout!'s recent 2K scan of film elements is solid and the lossless stereo mix is adequate. I believe The Awakening is WORTH SEEING but I'm not going to recommend a purchase unless you've watched it at least once and consider the film worth owning.
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