Dawn of the Mummy (1981)

A group of fashion models disturb the tomb of a mummy and revive an ancient curse. Along with the mummy rising, slaves who were buried in the desert thousands of years before, also rise, with a craving for human flesh.

Director:

Frank Agrama

Writers:

Daria Price (screenplay), Ronald Dobrin (screenplay)

Stars:

Brenda Siemer Scheider, Barry Sattels, George Peck

Cast

Cast overview:
Brenda Siemer Scheider	...	Lisa (as Brenda King)
Barry Sattels	...	Bill
George Peck	...	Rick
John Salvo	...	Gary
Ibrahim Khan	...	Karib
Joan Levy	...	Jenny
Ellen Faison	...	Melinda (as Ellene Faison)
Diane Beatty	...	June
Ali Gohar	...	Tarak
Ahmed Rateb	...	Omar (as Ahmed Ratib)
Baher Saied	...	Egyptian
Ali Azab	...	Egyptian
Ahmed Laban	...	Egyptian
Laila Nasr	...	High Priestess / Xena

Storyline

A group of fashion models disturb the tomb of a mummy and revive an ancient curse. Along with the mummy rising, slaves who were buried in the desert thousands of years before, also rise, with a craving for human flesh.

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Plot Keywords:

mummy | fashion model | tomb | curse | photo model | 

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Taglines:

They came from the dead ... to feast on the living... [video cover]

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 December 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Mumie des Pharao

Filming Locations:

The Nile Studio, Cairo, Egypt

Company Credits

Production Co:

Harmony Gold

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Alternate Versions

The UK cinema version was cut by 27 secs by the BBFC and the same print was released on the Videospace label before the introduction of the VRA (Video Recordings Act). When the film was officially released on video in 1987 it received 1 min 43 secs of censor cuts with edits to all flesh eating scenes, an eye gouging, the stabbing of a man's head with a meat cleaver, and a woman being bitten in the neck and dragged under the sand. The cuts were waived in 2003 and the film was released unedited on the Anchor Bay label.

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Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)

User Reviews

Entertaining Mummy/Zombie Film

Dawn of the Mummy (1981)

** (out of 4)

Rather stupid but interesting American-Egyptian-Italian co-production has a group of fashion models heading to the pyramids of Egypt for a photo shoot. Sadly for them they show up just as a curse has been released with a mummy looking to eat people. Not only that but this mummy brings some zombie servants with him.

DAWN OF THE MUMMY, as the title suggests, is trying to cash-in on Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD but it goes a step further and appears to have been really influenced by Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE, which of course was released in Italy as a sequel to the Romero movie. This film isn't all that well made and features several flaws and boring moments but at the same time it's rather unique and has enough going for it to make it worth sitting through.

What I enjoyed most about the film was the actual mummy. The actor playing the part was extremely skinny and this gives the mummy a very unique look and helps separate it from other films in the genre. I also liked the actual look of it with an almost tar-like quality. The zombies aren't quite as interesting but who's going to frown on a mummy and zombies in the same film? The gore is scattered throughout but once the finale hits we get some very good gore effects with several people bitten and chewed up.

The performances really aren't anything special and there's no question that whenever the mummy isn't on the screen that the film becomes boring. Still, DAWN OF THE MUMMY has a great monster and enough gore to keep it entertaining.