The Eternal (1998)
I used to own this on big box vhs when it came out originally in 1998. I'm thinking it was possibly one of my last of this kind of cassette as by October that year i had moved onto dvd and aside from finishing the Doctor Who vhs collection that was pretty much the end of vhs collecting.
What i do recall about the film is fairly standard. A young American couple move to Ireland and discover an emaciated body near their house which turns out to be the body of a witch who revives herself and terrorizes the couple. On the whole it was fairly slow moving, but that's about it.
How wrong was I?
Granted the couple move to Ireland, they are actually both recovering alcoholics and decide Ireland would be a good place to dry out.
On arrival they move in with her uncle (Christopher Walken) and events just spiral from the bizarre to the ****ing barking mad.
Yes there is the mummified body of a druid priestess, a body Walken hopes to revive and go on a date with (His words not mine). Fans of the great man should adore this film as he's in full on Walken mode in that
Pulp Fiction 'Hid it up my ass' style, sort of comforting but quite clearly bonkers.
In fact bonkers is a good word to describe the whole thing. There's little structure to the plot, scenes are practically detached from one another, the soundtrack veers wildly from trance to
Stiff Little Fingers and the whole thing flies along in an unfocused haze almost as if everyone in the cast is actually drunk, and when you see how much Jamesons they all drink they probably were. In fact i wasn't sure if i was just watching a film about a womans decent into alcoholism and the witch was all part of her general downward spiral. Having said that it's not a gloomy downbeat film. It's all quite amusing, i just hope it was meant that way.
The film had that quirky, oddball ambiance to it, never scary or gory, no, strike that, it was quirky and oddball, as if it were about to sit down to a teddy bears picnic with
The Lair of the White Worm, (1988)
Gothic (1986) and
Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1970). If that mad hatters tea party sounds like an event you'd like to attend then
The Eternal might just be for you. I know i'll be back for second helpings.