The Awakening (1980)

In 1962, an archaeologist (Charlton Heston) discovers the tomb of an evil Queen of ancient Egypt. Her tomb is opened up at the exact moment his wife (Jill Townsend) gives birth to a baby girl. 18 years later, his daughter (Stephanie Zimbalist) shows signs of being possessed by the spirit of the evil Queen. Adapted from the 1903 Bram Stoker novel JEWEL OF THE SEVEN STARS (and previously made in 1971 under the title BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB) which has been influential in just about every Mummy movie ever made, this was the first theatrical feature of director Mike Newell, best known for FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. For a horror film, THE AWAKENING lacks any real sense of horror. The film seems to have used the popular 1976 film THE OMEN as a blueprint even down to some of the gory death scenes as when poor Susannah York inherits Lee Remick's plunging fall. That sanest of American actors, Heston can't quite convey the madness necessary for his final scenes and the uncharismatic Zimbalist is only able to summon up some genuine sense of evil in her very final scene. The cinematography (lensed in Egypt and England) is by the legendary Jack Cardiff and there's an appropriately mysterious score by the jazz composer, Claude Bolling. With Miriam Margolyes, Nadim Sawalha, Ian McDiarmid and Patrick Drury.