The Awakening

The Awakening is a 1980 British horror film. It is the directorial debut of director Mike Newell who got his early directing in television and is the third film adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1903 novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. The film stars Charlton Heston, Susannah York, and Stephanie Zimbalist in an early acting role.

Plot
A group of archaeologists dig up the body of a female mummy in 1961. Eighteen years later, it’s preserved in a museum

Why It Doesn't Awaken

 * 1) It's sort of a rip-off of Boris Karloff's version of The Mummy.
 * 2) Charlton Heston's attempt at making his accent sound British was rather poor.
 * 3) Kara is not a fitting name for an Egyptian queen.
 * 4) Laughable dialogue.
 * 5) In certain scenes, the hieroglyphics look like they were painted just recently. That's impossible to have the hieroglyphics look brand new.
 * 6) The film cuts from exploration scenes to scenes where Anne is going into childbirth.
 * 7) Matthew is so over focused on preserving the body of Kara that he doesn't look after Anne or their child.
 * 8) The film is slow paced at certain times.
 * 9) Certain parts don't look scary.
 * 10) The ending is odd and makes no sense.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The film has a pretty good potential of being a decent post-Boris Karloff Mummy type of film.
 * 2) Good Egyptian music in the opening with ancient carvings and monuments on the screen.
 * 3) Charlton Heston does a pretty good job in the film and so do the rest of the cast.
 * 4) Good old school practical effects.
 * 5) Interesting mummy effects.
 * 6) The idea of a female mummy being woken from the dead is pretty interesting.
 * 7) Exciting sequences of finding all kinds of interesting things people have found in ancient Egypt over the years like secret passages, hidden tunnels,
 * 8) Interesting setting location.
 * 9) Nifty artifacts that look like real Egyptian relics from the past.