Sands Of Oblivion

With Saturday night a vast waste land on television the Sci-Fi Channel has made an attempt to fill the void. They have been producing a set of made for cable movies and present them in prime tome on that night. They are typically made on a low budget, I’ve heard an average of $5 million, in filmed in a fraction of the time a standard studio feature film would have. More times than not this translates to something is that good enough to avoid the Saturday night reruns but far from what most Sci-Fi haves have become used to. ‘Sands of Oblivion’ is about in the middle of the pack here; not dreadfully awful but also not up to its own potential. While the special effects in this flick are better than what is usually demonstrate by of members of the Saturday night special series the setting and fundamental story invite obvious comparisons to other more successful films. Basically this is of the specific genre of an archeological dig in the desert unleashing a deadly terror from the past. One of my best friends is an archeologist and in all the decades he has been on digs he has upset his share of townsfolk but never unleashed any terrors. As unlikely as the scenario may be it has stood the test of time at least in terms of cinematic historical time.

The film opens with a sweeping shot over one of the grand pyramids of Egypt. There is a support city surround the majestic tomb glistening in the sunlight. The shot is computer generated and about on par with what you would see on the History Channel. A pair of lovers embraces in one of the buildings. Suddenly, in the shadows the sand seems to form a giant snake. It attacks and devours the man blows the woman out of the window to her death. The valley had once been lush until the coming of In-la-ra, the left hand of the god Seth. Now there is nothing but sand and death. Gold painted high priests manage to defend themselves against the evil spirit. An amulet was created that could control it and eventually the spirit is trapped in a statue and buried. The amulet that could release the sprit was also buried. Moving ahead to 1923 in Guadalupe, California where men are working on creating a massive set for the C.B. DeMille silent film classic, ‘The Ten Commandments (Not the one with Charlton Heston, that would be in 1956.) DeMille was not a man who thought on a small scale. He was driven to make the biggest, most accurate set of ancient Egypt possible. To this end he went over there and brought back hundreds of actual artifacts. He had a temple and city recreated in California specifically for his film. During the filming many accidents happened and most just wrote them off as bad luck. When the filming was done DeMille (Dan Castellaneta) made the expensive and unprecedented move of having the entire set buried. Just before the set was abandoned a little boy, John Tevis, buries a time capsule.

In modern times a new damn project is about to flood the location of the old movie set. Archeologist rush in to dig for whatever real ancient Egyptian artifacts they could uncover. Although well versed in ancient Egyptian lore it would appear that none of them have ever seen any of the hundreds of Mummy flicks. Also coming to the site is the grandson of John Tevis, Mark (Victor Webster). His granddad (George Kennedy) wants to retrieve the time capsule he buried so long ago. The archeology team is headed by Dr. Alice Carter (Morena Baccarin) who is convinced that old John with his knowledge of the original set may be useful especially since time is running short before the damn. It doesn’t hurt that she thinks Mark is attractive and manly. Adding a little romantic triangle to the mix is the appearance of Alice’s ex-husband, Jesse Carter (Adam Baldwin). Soon enough the elderly man inadvertently disrupts the entrapment of the evil spirit and archeology students start dropping like flies. Naturally this is the best look bunch of field digging students ever assembled, for example Meagan (Kristina Sisco) who appears to have a perchance for wearing clothing that is two sizes too small, just perfect for working in the desert. A bunch more people get killed as the sands take shape and, you guessed it, the ex husband gets possessed by the spirit.

It is really not fair to try to make too many comparisons between this movie and the others in the genre. There has been a plethora of these flicks in the past and without a doubt many more ahead. Usually they have the word ‘Mummy’ somewhere in the title and to their credit the producers here avoided that cliché. If you look at the history of these films they go back to the silent film days. Of course some of the best, where in 1932 with Boris Karloff and the big budget action variations which started a few film franchise in 1999. Few movies could stand up against films like these so points are given here for the valid attempt that was made. The director, David Flores, has experience in these films for the Sci-Fi channel. He has worked as an editor on several and director a few others. This gives him an advantage in experience in dealing with the many constraints of this format film. First of all as the editor and now the director you have to make sure there is a dramatic moment scheduled to come about just as they go to commercial. While this is not important in a DVD release like this it is a necessity for the initial broadcast. Then there is the limitations shared by most independent film makers, a tight budget and even tighter filming schedule. To his credit Flores does much better than most of his Sci-Fi Channel peers in grabbing the interest of the audience and holding it. This flick is better paced than most flicks of this type.

Typical of the higher end Sci-Fi original flicks the cast here is designed to grab the fans of the genre. Morena Baccarin is popular from her role in the cult classic TV series ‘Firefly’ and the spin off movie "Serenity’. Her ex-husband here is another ‘Firefly’ alumnus, Adam Baldwin. This past experience does give them a great chemistry as an estranged couple. Victor Webster has a resume that includes featured roles on ‘Charmed’ and ‘Mutant X’ so he is a familiar face to the fans. In all the cast plays it straight combining action with enough storyline to carry.

Anchor Bay has been releasing these Saturday flicks to DVD for awhile now. This is one of the better discs so far. The technical specifications include an anamorphic 1.78:1 video and Dolby 5.1 audio. This is an unrated extended cut with ‘scenes not shown on television’. Add to this a behind the scenes featurette and they have made this release more than you could have gotten with your DVR. It’s not the best flick of the genre but it is a good popcorn flick.

Posted 02/14/08