This film is brilliant. I love the brash nature of the characters. Christopher Walken is magnificent. JIM is your old drinking buddy. Nora is you old school girlfriend. The mansion is great is like resident evil without zombies. Just your crazy grandma, the characters above, a witch, a bog man, a few kids, etc. Its like a trip.Keywords Druid Bog Ireland Walken Witch. I get the low rating because just think of the average IQ of the simpletons. We that appreciate movies like this are on a different level. I need to be rude sorry but this is one of my favorite movies. This film is a great story ! if you do not pay attention you will have no idea what going on. However! if you consume at least half a bottle of Jameson it makes it fun because that is whats happening in the movie.

Beautiful looking and sedately handled, but immensely muddled independent art house horror feature by writer / director Michael Almereyda. Kind of similar in style to his film "Najda" four years earlier, which I don't think so highly of (other than the excellent soundtrack that accompanied it).Nora and Jim (who are alcoholics) along with their son leave America and head to Ireland to visit Nora's grandmother. Despite the advice of their doctor not to go, as Nora one night with Jim got on the drink and she ended up falling down some stairs leaving her with a minor concussion. When getting there, she meets her uncle where he takes her down the basement to show her a decomposed body which he believes to a centuries old druid witch. Could this be the connections to the headaches and visions plaguing Nora's mind, as she'll find out when the witch is revived."Trance" is a touch better, but still engulfed by similar problems and nonetheless keeps the same positives. Again this atypically brooding fable is not for everyone, but it managed to hold my attention and I found the direction less concerned with its distracting artsy mechanics (than say in "Nadja")… although they're still evident. There are some delirious images, consisting of jaded visions rocking the main protagonist's mind. These stylised passages hold a certain arresting, if haunting charge. However this is when it's not in its nauseating head spin of mangled ideas. While the plot has a slight structure and little narrative drive, it's stretched out by its unfocused fabricated episodic developments with its dry, upfront and moody trimmings. Every one of these characters / including the witch / monster of the piece are damaged, but still humane vessels in the search of something to make them complete. Secrets are buried, to only be awoken.It's messy and meanders, but strangely alluring like caught in a drunken, abstract state. I put it down to the performances. A breathtaking Alison Elliot (in dual roles) and narky Jared Harris acquit themselves to their lead roles. Lois Smith holds strong. Christopher Walken looking rather weary goes about things in a sober, but underlining twisted manner. Also Jason Millar's inclusion is merely a throwaway cameo with an amusing line. Almereyda's slickly calculative direction is switched on, making good use of the lush backdrop consisting of a stunning beach line and the Gothic interiors of mansion that the enclosed action mostly takes place in. Intimate photography is sharply engineered and well-intended. The brilliant soundtrack is notable with it tunes (that are perfect choices), and the music score is clinically alienating but whimsical in flight.

If you are looking for a slasher or a monster movie, you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a moody, humorous, beautifully-shot B movie, this is it. As in his previous film, Nadja, Michael Almereyda's "monster" has human frailties and desires. He manages to find humor in his characters' constant drunkenness (why did they come to Ireland to try to dry out!?) and conveys this drunken feeling in the way the scenes cut from one to the next. The inventive cinematography leaves several scenes etched in your memory, and the sometimes-trip-hop soundtrack is very hip and lends to the dark mood. The pacing starts out slow but becomes engrossing and heart-pumping.In the end Trance/Eternal/Kiss of the Mummy is a fun film and merits multiple viewings. My sole complaint is that the visuals and the soundtrack really deserve and would benefit from large-screen presentation.

I LOVED this movie. It was intense and moody and very deep. The acting was out of this world and the cinematography,beyond description. This is a movie that needs to be absorbed, not just watched between runs to the kitchen. Don't expect flash and fire, video style. It will stay with you for a long time. The soundtrack is wonderful too by the way.