Trance is a 1998

1998 in film

-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...

 horror film

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

. Trance is commonly mistaken to be a remake of the 1932 film The Mummy

The Mummy (1932 film)

The Mummy is a 1932 horror film from Universal Studios directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff as a revived ancient Egyptian priest. The movie also features Zita Johann, David Manners and Edward Van Sloan...

although it isn't. It directed and written by Michael Almereyda

Michael Almereyda

Michael Almereyda is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His most well known work is Hamlet , starring Ethan Hawke.-Early life:...

. The film's score features music by Mark Geary

Mark Geary

Mark Geary is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician born in Dublin, Ireland into a large family with ten siblings, one of whom is actor Karl Geary. In 1992 he emigrated to New York City after being called up for a lottery-won green card...

. It premiered on Toronto Film Festival, but actually film released as direct-to-video

Direct-to-video

Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...

 in USA, UK and many parts of the world including Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and many more.

Plot

Nora (Elliott) is a young American woman of Irish origin who suffers from alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

. She and her husband Jim (Harris) are coming home from a night of drinking when Nora suffers an accident, tumbling down the stairs of their New York apartment building. Nora survives the fall, but is soon visited by headaches, nosebleeds and hallucinations

Hallucination

A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...

.
Determined to dry out

Sobriety

Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels, or effects from, alcohol or other drugs that alter ones mood or behaviors. According to WHO "Lexicon of alcohol and drug terms..." sobriety is continued abstinence from alcohol and psychoactive drug use...

 for the sake of their young son, the couple head to Ireland where they pay a visit Nora's grandmother and Uncle Bill Ferriter (Walken) in their huge, labrynthinian mansion. Uncle Bill harbors a dark and fascinating secret in the basement: the perfectly preserved, mummified remains of a Druid

Druid

A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....

 witch; one of the "bog-men"

Bog body

Bog bodies, which are also known as bog people, are the naturally preserved human corpses found in the sphagnum bogs in Northern Europe. Unlike most ancient human remains, bog bodies have retained their skin and internal organs due to the unusual conditions of the surrounding area...

. It is revealed that this corpse is a distant ancestor of Nora's.
Uncle Bill explains to her that the druid witch was neither good nor evil in her life, but more like a force of nature. However, the witch comes to life

Undead

Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...

 and attempts to steal the body, soul and identity of her hapless descendant.

Cast

Actor/Actress	Role
Alison Elliott Alison Elliott Alison A. Elliott is an American actress.Elliott was born in San Francisco, CA, the daughter of Barbara, a teacher of nursing, and Bob Elliott, a computer executive. She moved with her family to Tokyo, Japan when she was 4 years old, and then moved back to San Francisco when she was 8, where she...	Nora / Niamh
Rachel O'Rourke	Alice
Jared Harris Jared Harris Jared Francis Harris is a British character actor, well known for playing the obnoxious Mac McGrath in the Adam Sandler film Mr. Deeds, and for his portrayal of Lane Pryce on the AMC series Mad Men.- Personal life :...	Jim
Jeffrey Goldschrafe	Jim, Jr.
Christopher Walken Christopher Walken Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...	Uncle Bill Ferriter
Lois Smith Lois Smith Lois Smith is an American actress whose career in theater, film, and television has spanned five decades.Smith was born Lois Arlene Humbert in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Carrie Davis and William Oren Humbert, who was a telephone company employee...	Mrs. Ferriter
Sinead Dolan	Nora's mother
Raina Feig	Young Nora
Jason Miller Jason Miller (playwright) Jason Miller was an American actor and playwright. He received the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play That Championship Season, and was widely recognized for his role as Father Damien Karras in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist...	The Doctor
Paul Ferriter	Joe
David Geary David Geary David Geary is an award winning playwright from New Zealand. He also writes for television.Geary studied acting at Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School in Wellington. He graduated in 1987. His play Lovelocks Dream Run was published by Victoria University Press in 1993. The play is studied at...	Nora's Father

Critical reception

Trance received mixed reviews from critics. Film review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a "rotten" score of 33% based on 10 reviews . For David Nusair (from Reel Film Reviews) film is "just silly and not the least bit scary". Mark R. Leeper said for film "This is the kind of film you used to see in the 60s from small studios like Tigon" and also he said "Once it gets going it is entertaining but it would be hard to claim it is actually a good film."

Awards and nomination

Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival
Year	Nomination	Result	Category
1998	Jared Harris Jared Harris Jared Francis Harris is a British character actor, well known for playing the obnoxious Mac McGrath in the Adam Sandler film Mr. Deeds, and for his portrayal of Lane Pryce on the AMC series Mad Men.- Personal life :...	Won	Best Actor
	Michael Almereyda Michael Almereyda Michael Almereyda is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His most well known work is Hamlet , starring Ethan Hawke.-Early life:...	Nominated	Best Film