Dawn of the Mummy

In 3000 BC, or thereabouts, Safiraman and his entourage of bodyguards (all six of them, by the looks of things) are buried in the desert and a warning issued to anyone who dares desecrate the tomb.

In the present three treasure hunters break into Safariman's tomb and, wary of poison gas, wait a while before entering. Good idea, as some natives blunder in and have their faces melted for their trouble…

Meanwhile, a group from models from New York have arrived to do a fashion shoot amidst the sand, pyramids and camels. Inevitably, they happen upon Safiraman's tomb and decide it would make an ideal backdrop…

Finally – mercifully – Safiraman and his mummy/zombie legions rise to take their revenge on those who have defiled their resting place, getting down to some serious killing and intestine munching…

This Italian-Egyptian production, directed by the Egyptian-born Frank (Farouk) Agrama, is a curious if not altogether successful attempt to fuse together old style Mummy films in the vein of Universal and Hammer with then-current Zombie inspired graphic gore.

On the plus side, the use of real Egyptian locations adds a veneer of class, while the splatter is surprisingly effective. Against this are arrayed a general lack of style and imagination, a thoroughly unappealing cast, and a deathly slow pacing that makes it a challenge to last the duration.

Shuki Levy's score, with its cheap synth-led Egyptian themes, is cheesier than a pizza with extra formaggio.

Not as bad as Oasis of the Zombies – though that would be a real challenge – Dawn of the Mummy is one of those films best viewed in MST3K mode.

Image quality on this Region 2 release from Anchor Bay is less than stellar. Maybe it's a limitation of the original materials, seeing as the German release by Dragon was also pretty bad by all accounts, but the image is way too dark, to the extent that one has to turn the brightness up to full to have much chance of seeing what's going on in all the night-time and exterior scenes – not good when, as it is, the colours are muted and there's a fair bit of graininess visible.

For whatever reason, Anchor Bay have elected to present the film in its 1.77:1 OAR and in 4:3 full frame. But, unlike the two-disc Halloween set, where the TV version of the film at least includes extra scenes absent from the original theatrical version, there's no difference here, making the 4:3 version curiously pointless unless one wants to relive that early 80s video experience – give us one decent transfer, not two crappy ones.

The commentary between fan Del Howison and director Agrama is a pleasant surprise. Agrama has had an interesting career – a child actor/extra in his native Egypt, he studied medicine in London and practiced for a half-dozen years before being accepted onto UCLA's film programme in the early 1960s, around the same time as Coppola and other famous "movie brats", graduating to direct and produce all manner of commercially-minded product in Italy, Egypt, the US and elsewhere – and exhibits a straightforward, honest, no-nonsense professionalism that makes one feel more generous towards his film, flawed as it is.

A small stills gallery, anonymously authored film notes, and the original theatrical trailer – complete with hyperbolic voice over and an emphasis on the gory moments – round off the disc.