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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Information Exchange  |  Movie Reviews  |  Submitted Reader Reviews  |  DAWN OF THE MUMMY (1981) « previous next »
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Author Topic: DAWN OF THE MUMMY (1981)  (Read 7562 times)
retrorussell
In the town of Valentine Bluffs, there are many ways to die. Take your pick.
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****

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Hanniger! I'll be waiting in HELL for you!


« on: July 25, 2021, 07:15:46 AM »

DAWN OF THE MUMMY
3 slimes
Unrated
Copyright 1981 Harmony Gold USA/Goldfrab Distribution
Reviewed by Russell Shiley aka retrorussell

The Characters:
Sephirama -  Ancient evil Pharaoh of Egypt, buried and millennia later accidentally resurrected by a fashion film crew and their bouncy models shooting a video.  Tall and imposing, he and his resurrected minions munch on everyone they can get their dentures on.  Buried by rubble at the end, but this mother/mummy ain't so easy to put away..
Gary -  Director of the shoot.  Helps lure the mummy into a shack and blow it up. 
Lisa -  Blonde model.
June -  Black model.
Omar -  Friend of Gary.  His was going to get married but his fiance got involved with dinner plans.
Bill -  Photographer of the shoot.  Demands the shoot go on as scheduled despite all the danger.  Hard to keep shooting when your trachea has been burned out and your intestines removed.
Rick - Head of the tomb raiders (not including Lara Croft).  Where did they find this actor??  Crazy gnashing of the teeth, crazed eyes and such wild energy!  Good for a few chuckles.  Unfortunately it didn't save his character.
Other models, thieves and Egyptian townsfolk: Mummy nom-noms. 

The Plot:
This was one of the infamous "Video Nasties", a list of movies seized by British authorities for supposed censorable content.  It does have some fairly nasty moments, mostly confined to the last 20 or so minutes with a gut-munching free for all by the mummy and his undead minions in this film, though it isn't quite as nasty IMHO as the uncensored finale of EVILSPEAK.  The acting is often bad but enjoyably so (especially by the actor playing Rick!) and the film, at least to me, wasn't terribly boring.  Good authentic locations, with some Egyptian actors and director (real name is Farouk Agrama, not "Frank"), make it worth a look.

In a rather cheesy sequence taking place in ancient Egypt, the wicked pharaoh Sephiraman and his followers beat, whip and rape (the latter merely implied) innocents.  Fast-forwarding a bit we see the mummy, apparently killed for his crimes (not really explained) and being prepared for entombment along with his followers.  He is disemboweled in a ritual and his followers put to sleep with gas while a high priestess intones.

We cut forward to the present as his tomb is being blasted open by thieves Rick, Tariq and Karib.  Rick somehow knows the air inside is poisoned so they decide to wait until morning to enter.  Before they can set up camp the High Priestess from millennia ago somehow appears before them!  She freaks out and warns them of their impending doom but a single warning shot scares her off.  Rick goes to town and leaves the others to guard the tomb.

That night a separate bumbling band of thieves happen upon the tomb that Tariq and Karib somehow aren't guarding.  They start to bleed to death after breathing in the poison; cut to title card and then New York where a photo shoot team and their models shoot for a bit before a flight to Egypt.  Once there one of their Jeeps blows a tire and while changing it, one of the models slips down a dune and finds a severed head from a bandit-- I thought they bled to death?  Anyway, we cut to the thieves trying to loot the tomb.  They are unable to find gold or artifacts but blast again to better free up the chamber.  The following morning Karib shoots at the crew, thinking they plan to beat them to the treasures.  Rick and Tariq stop him and simply warn them to stay away from the tomb (which they will, of course, ignore).  Seeing as how the crew just wants to shoot photos the bandits look elsewhere in the tomb for treasure, telling the crew "it's just an excavation".  Their lights make a weird boiling, oily residue seep from the mummy's body as photos are snapped.  Rick sabotages a camera as they leave the mummy's chamber and model Jenny burns her hand when a jar with Sephariman's organs spills onto her hand (huh?).  As her infection gets worse Karib steals a crook and flail from inside of Sefiraman's body.  As he tries to leave he is knocked out by a sliding door and dragged away.

Rick and Tariq find the crook and flail and other treasures on Sephiraman's corpse and hide them just as the crew return.  The lights continue to revive Sephiraman, who sits upright after they leave.  That night the crew has a campfire and discovers the earlier bedouin thieves' corpses (plus one expiring in front of them), but Bill, the photographer, is steadfast in finishing the shoot, wanting one more day on location (f***ing A, really?!).  Rick continues to tell them to leave, but nooo...

As Rick starts to get frisky with a model freaked out by the expiring thief, the High Priestess reunites with Sephiramummy.  He's not as happy to see her as she thought he'd be, as he strangles her.  His mumminions start to rise outside.  Uh.. weren't they gassed IN HIS TOMB?  Anyway.. Lisa finds Karib's body during shooting, but Bill STILL INSISTS on more shooting.  Investor Ahamed arrives, meets the crew and takes Gary to town for some hookah action, with some of the girls (and the thieves) following.  Hookah shop owner Omar greets them.  The mummies start to enter the town, and Sephiraman buries a cleaver in Tariq's head and one model back at camp gets a tracheotomy (in loving closeup) and pulled under the sand after a late night swim.  The crew returns in the morning wondering where she is instead of actively looking for her.  Bill goes to town that night as Rick races back to the tomb after finding Tariq's corpse.  The crew FINALLY decide to pack up and leave as Rick goes full nutso in his pursuit of the treasures (has to be seen to be believed!), which he finds.  Unfortunately, he also finds Sephirama, who gives a negative review of his acting.  Omar invites Bill and Gary to his wedding.  Bill for the time being heads back to the tomb and finds Rick's severed head, which falls out of nowhere onto him!  He tries to leave in his jeep with (really bad night-for-day issues), and it gets stuck in the sand as the mummies attack.  He gets away and escapes on foot.  He tries to protect the girls at camp but his gun does no damage.  He is strangled (and his throat burned) and disemboweled.  Let the carnage begin!

Models Lisa and June start to escape on horseback but Jenny, sans horse, is munched by several mumminions.  The mummies decimate the town's populace starting with Omar's betrothed.  I like that the mummies aren't sprinters, by any means, but they don't shuffle slowly once they're in a town full of yummy victims!  Yep-- these suckers really get a pep in their step with 10 minutes left in the film!

Ahamet and Gary return to camp as the mummies continue to snack on Jenny.  Ahamet is next on the menu as Gary drives away.  More yummy carnage continues in town, including eye-gouging, disemboweling, neck chewing, etc.!

Omar and the girls lure Sephiraman into a shack full of dynamite and gasoline and set it on fire, blowing it up.  Gary joins them shortly after.  But ol' Seph raises his hand out of the rubble as the credits roll..

Kind of dumb, with some bad acting (but more on the side of good-bad, though the actress who screams the same dialogue over and over when chased gets annoying), and some plot holes or unexplained events that don't hold up under the tiniest modicum of scrutiny, gives this low budget flick its share of detractors.  But it's still watchable and the gore is commendable, as well as the makeup effects on the mummies-- which isn't perhaps super detailed but certainly looks great in the less-is-more mold.  Good authentic locations help too.  Worth a look!

Things I Learned From This Movie:
Mummies are filled with cooking oil.
Photo shoot lights reanimate mummies and boil said cooking oil.
High priestesses survive for several thousands of years!
Bleeding to death from poison gas makes your head fall off.
Ancient pharaoh organs are acidic and do not rot after several thousands of years.
Ancient high priestesses hoping for a fond reunion with their Pharaoh master millennia later will be sorely disappointed.
Minions of a Pharaoh mummy are buried in about one foot of sand.

Stuff To Watch For:
:31: Sephiraman till suffrage?
4:15: How the hell is that b*tch still alive after several thousands of years??
8:30: Ooh yeah.. dig that disco soundtrack!  Shuki Levy of "Power Rangers" fame!
38:56: Either the horses are whinnying at the mummy returning, or at Gary's singing/music.  I opt for the latter.
40:20: He he he!  She fainted pretty quickly.
41:10: Welp, back to the booze after all that..
1:00:17: What?  You didn't tie the horses up?
1:00:37: "Missed it by.. *that* much."
1:21:53: "Screw you!  I'm eating."

Quotes:
High Priestess: "He who will enter this tomb after it is sealed will die on the dawn of the mummy!"
High Priestess: "I have warned you!  You have defiled the tomb of Sephiraman!"
Mason (model): "Bill, give me a break!  We're not supposed to be working until we get to Barca.  Let me be a tourist like everyone else for a little while."
Karib: "UWAAAAAUUUGH!  THE CURSE!  THE CURSE!!!" (after a rat crawls on him)
Rick: (after finding the gold treasures) "Take it easy, Rick old boy.. WAAAHAHAHAHA!!!  AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
Logged

"O the legend they say, on a Valentine's Day, is a curse that'll live on and on.."
Trevor
Uncle Zombie and Eminent Shitologist
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 2121
Posts: 22709



« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2022, 01:45:45 PM »

I see some brave soul uploaded the whole film to Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPa84gxbVwg

 Smile Smile
Logged

I know I can make it on my own if I try, but I'm searching for the Great Heart
To stand me by, underneath the African sky
A Great Heart to stand me by.
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