The Eternal: Kiss of the Mummy (1998)

Michael Almereyda, whose unusual career finds him bouncing between personal experimental movies and genre pictures, is back in commercial territory with the supernatural thriller The Eternal, which was given the opportunistic yet appropriate subtitle Kiss of the Mummy to cash in on the success of 1999's The Mummy. Alison Elliot and Jared Harris star as an alcoholic American couple who travel to Scotland with their son so he can meet his grandmother and, ostensibly, so they can dry out. ("Ale isn't like alcohol. It's like food," she explains to her dubious son as she immediately violates her vow to quit drinking.) Unfortunately, they walk in on their crazed uncle (Christopher Walken), who is in the midst of reviving a centuries-old Druid witch--who looks just like Alison Elliot! Almereyda manages to create some genuinely spooky moments (the underwater photography in particular takes on a dreamy beauty), but much of the film has a slapdash quality, from clumsy special effects to awkward performances. The exception is Elliot, excellent as usual in the double role and conveying more with her eyes alone than many actors can manage with words, while Jared Harris offers a dead-on Walken impression in a humorous interlude. It's a gorgeous film with a marvelously eerie soundtrack, but the story is too slight to carry the tension through to the end. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

Great potential that is never fully realized...

I really wish that Michael Almereyda had kept the alternate title for this movie, which was Trance. The Eternal: Kiss of the Mummy is a terrible title, and the cover graphics make it look like any other lame horror flick. But it's not.

The Eternal is traditional mummy/haunted house/zombie movie, but with interesting details. A woman who emigrated from Ireland at the age of 16 returns to her native country with her Irish-American husband (I think; Jared Harris looks like a short version of Conan O'Brien here) and their son. She and her husband are alcoholics and want to start over by reuniting with her grandmother and uncle. You can tell that they love their son, but they neglect him by drinking. It's not a typical mummy movie set-up, and it makes you see the characters as people and not just victims.

It returns to conventions with the addition of her invalid grandmother, her crazy uncle, and the mysterious little girl he adopted. But even these have twists. The mummy is a Druid corpse and not an Egyptian one. Christopher Walken makes the uncle simultaneously hilarious and terrifying. And the little girl is the most sane one in the house. With the exception of the grandmother, who seemed one-dimensional, the characters are well-played. There are slight touches of other films in it: Psycho, Days of Wine and Roses, What Lies Beneath, even Straw Dogs.

Michael Almereyda's Hamlet is one of my favorite movies, but since The Eternal obviously does not have Shakespeare's writing, it exposes Almereyda's weakness in plot development. Once the scariness sets in, the story becomes so loosely constructed that it's hard to determine what's actually happening. And that's how the film dies, so to speak.

Overall, it's a good movie but not a great one. November 11, 2006

whose your mummy?

this one gave me a sort of chill down the center of my spine. Jared Harris(Igby Goes Down), his wife played superbly by Allison Elliott(dont know whatelse shes played in) and their son go for a vaction in Scotland to where Elliott used to grow up. Their they meet Joe, a guy who Elliott loved back then and her relatives, a eeirly Lois Smith(Minority Report) and a ever so mad frankensteinish Christopher Walken(Catch Me If You Can, Envy). Walken brings Elliott to the basement where a centuries old corpse of a mummy lies. He tells her a chilling tale about love and death. Pretty much what you'd expect from Walken, thought I sort of knew he would die. He looked more like a pale vampireish figure (with one blind eye). Maybe it was the red robed coat that gave it away. The mummy is in the shape of Elliott and it's on the loose when it gets done chopping poor Walken to bits. It goes on, roaming threw the house. Tensions flare and chills fly. Camera work is dizzy and amazing. Almereya knows how to make you feel like your there. Harris does a nice Walken impression...Elliott is sexy as ever and Karl Geary(was in 2000's Hamlet with Ethan Hawke with was also directed by Michael Almereya, forgive me if I spelled his last name wrong), Geary is a nice supportee with his long tied back hair and gun. He was bitchin in this movie. Some people might not like this type of movie but I did really enjoy it and I watched it last night. So I recommend this movie May 14, 2004

Nothing to really brag about

Eternal is an OK horror film. The idea is that Nora and her Husband Jim, along with their son Jim, travel to Ireland to visit her ailing grandmother. While there she stays with her Uncle Bill (Christopher Walken) who seems to be as ecentric and insane as he described her Grandmother. FOund this 2000 year old druid witch mummy in the bog and seems to be trying to ressurect her. HE succeeds and he dies. From there the witch is trying to fuse with Nora and live her life out again for another 100 years or so. As it turns out however that Nora Grandmotehr is Good Witch and with Nora help slays the evil witch.

This movie is only Ok and is a weekend rental. There is mild violence and gore, and really the R rating goes for the [f]word ... being said a few times, a slit throat, and a lot of drinking. January 24, 2003

Not a horror movie

This is not really a horror movie, more of a psychological
thriller. In fact, it's not even all that heart-pumping
suspenseful. Rather, it has a cool rhythm and sense of
inevitability and growing dread. The camerawork is beautiful,
Almereyda's direction is deliberately choppy to give you a
sense of what the usually drunk) characters are feeling.
The soundtrack is great. I loved this movie, which is why
I went out and bought the DVD. I thought it was lovely and
uplifting, while still delivering B-movie thrills. November 29, 2001

Soundtrack Info

For anyone wondering about the origins of the first track of
this film, it's a song titled "Rockets" by Cat Power. I've
always loved this song and was quite surprised to hear it in
a film. This movie surprised me quite a bit. Much better than
I expected, especially considering the horrible DVD cover that
the studio gave it. October 17, 2001

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