to play both the roles of Margaret and Kara with subtlety and her creepiness near the end of the film is created more by her makeup rather than her acting. She is however, praised at being much better at performing the lighter scenes as Margaret. Patrick Drury as Paul Whittier: Corbeck's assistant in the latter part of the film and Margaret's love interest. Bruce Myers as Dr. Khalid Nadim Sawalha as Dr. El Sadek Ian McDiarmid as Dr. Richter Ahmed Osman as Yussef Miriam Margolyes as Dr. Kadira: Anne Corbeck's nurse during the birth of Margaret. Michael Mellinger as Hamid Leonard Maguire as John Matthews Ishia Bennison as Nurse Madhav Sharma as Doctor Chris Fairbanks as Porter Michael Halphie as Doctor Production The film was announced in July 1979. Filming took place in Egypt and England. Director Mike Newell later said the production of the film was "utterly terrible" although he 'adored' working with Heston. Newell recalled about Heston, "He's a great big [star]. 'He would come to all the rushes. He was at rushes every day." Newell would also remark that he found the final cut of the film to be "miserable in the sense that it got recut by a very, very nice man, Monte Hellman..." Release Home media The film was released on DVD by Studio Canal on June 25, 2007. It was later released by Warner Bros. Digital Distribution on June 14, 2012. Reception TV Guide awarded the film 1/4 stars, commending the film's set design, cinematography, and soundtrack. However they criticized the film as being "predictable, unrelentingly dull, and padded with tedious Egyptian travelog footage". The Terror Trap gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing, "Subtle and slow paced, this might not appeal to all tastes, but is certainly worth a watch, particularly to see sci fi hero Heston in an uncharacteristically subdued terror performance." Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film negative reviews on their TV show, with Siskel saying it was one of the worst movies of 1980 and Ebert simply saying with a bemused laugh "This movie is ridiculous." Box office The Awakening earned $2,728,520 when it opened in theatres in 1980 and has a lifetime gross of $8,415,112. References External links 1980 films 1980 horror films 1980 fantasy films British horror films 1980s English-language films Films about archaeology Films set in 1961 Films set in ancient Egypt Films