The Eternal: Kiss of the Mummy 1999 Horror Movie Review

Michael Almereyda, whose unusual career finds him bouncing betweenpersonal 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 Ireland 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