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| Science-Fiction |
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| Horror |
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| Fantasy |
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DAWN OF THE MUMMY
Rating: 
Italy. 1981.
Director/Producer – Frank Agrama, Screenplay – Frank Agrama, Ronald Dobrin & Daria Price, Story – Ronald Dobrin & Daria Price, Photography – Sergio Rubini, Makeup – Marizio Trani. Production Company – Goldfarb.
Cast:
George Peck, Brenda King, Barry Sattels, Joan Levy, John Salvo
Plot: Grave robbers break into the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Sakraman who was embalmed thousands of years ago for the practice of black magic. When an American fashion photographer and his models happen by to shoot a fashion spread in the tomb, the grave robbers pretend to be legitimate archaeologists. However, the mummy of Sakraman has been unwittingly raised back to life by their violation and calls his zombie followers up from the sands to slaughter the defilers.
It is not by coincidence that Dawn of the Mummy’s title resembles Dawn of the Dead (1979). So for that matter does the rest of the film. Indeed the mummy part is a virtual misnomer as Dawn of the Mummy is to all intents and purposes otherwise an Italian zombie film. A large number of such zombie films were made in Italy around the same time imitating the success of Dawn of the Dead, all of which pushed the extremes of gore and bloodletting about as far as they could go.
While some of the Italian zombie films of the era – several of the works of Lucio Fulci, for instance – are interesting, Dawn of the Mummy is tedious and suspenselessly paced. Nearly half the running time is over before the action proper begins. The script seems to consist only of the anonymous characters running back and forward between the cheap-looking tomb, the camp and the town, interspersed with numerous butcherings and entirely clothed sexual encounters. Some of the acting is so bad that it is funny. There is however an extremely high gore quotient – indeed this seems to be the film’s only real raison d’etre.
Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2012
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