Pile of Zs

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

THE AWAKENING Directed by Mike Newell Screenplay by Allan Scott, Chris Bryant and Clive Exton

At the tomb site a professor and his assistant (Charlton Heston and Susannah York) are prizing open the evil princess's mummy case. Back in camp his wife (Jill Townsend) goes into labor--two months early. A mysteriously difficult birth ensues. No one needs a translation of the hieroglyphics in the burial place to know what is happening--the soul of the royal personage is reversing the usual journey, moving from tomb to womb.

When the professor's daughter turns 18, she answers a mysterious call of the blood and flies to her father's side in London. There, estranged from the child's mother--he was always digging up stuff instead of tending to her wifely needs--he has latched on to Co-Finder York. Never was there such an absent-minded professor, or one so absently played. To make a long story unbearable, mysterious unpleasantnesses begin occurring as soon as father and daughter are reunited, and most of the people who get involved with her end up colorfully slain.

Unfortunately, there is very little suspense between the death scenes, and far more exposition of the obvious than anyone needs. Horror, as a genre, has lately become the province of functionaries who disregard such niceties as motivations, explanations and, for the most part, production values. It seems significant that The Awakening's only credible performer is young Stephanie Zimbalist, who throws herself zestfully into the part of a girl mysteriously possessed, but gamely fighting her lethal impulses. All others look badly in need of alarm clocks. Audiences will share that need.

--Richard Schickel

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