Movies I Love Everybody Else Hates: Dawn of the Mummy (1981) Revised and Expanded Review

DAWN OF THE MUMMY 1981 

 

Brenda King (Lisa), Barry Sattels (Bill), George Peck (Rick), John Salvo (Gary), Laila Nasr (High Priestess/Xena), Ibrahim Khan (Karib), Joan Levy (Jenny), Ellen Faison (Melinda), Dianne Beatty (June), Ali Gohar (Tarak)

Directed by Frank Agrama

The Short Version: Egyptian filmmaker Frank Agrama's last directorial effort is nowhere near as bad as many reviewers make out. DAWN OF THE MUMMY is more entertaining than a lot of the zombie junk cluttering video store shelves around the same time and after. The plot is the typical desecration of an Egyptian tomb unleashing a revenge from beyond the sarcophagus of the flesh-eating variety. The carnage is powered by an awesome soundtrack by Israeli-American Shuki Levy--composer for numerous cartoon favorites and co-creator of the POWER RANGERS programs. A US-Egypt co-production (with some Italian assist behind the camera), DAWN is one of the horror genres most curious, if frequently lambasted, motion pictures deserving of a rediscovery.

 

A group of fashion models and photographers on a photo shoot in Egypt run across some gold robbers and a newly opened tomb. Deciding to take their pictures inside the ancient burial place, they ultimately unleash the curse of Sefi-Ra-Mon and his undead, flesh-eating minions.

The zombie genre was riding a gut-munching high thanks to George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) and Lucio Fulci's unofficial 1979 sequel, ZOMBIE (or ZOMBI 2 in Italy). Those two films ushered in a shambling horde of viscera slinging intestine chompers for a few years till Romero, Stuart Gordon and Dan O'Bannon took the dead back from the Europeans in 1985 with the likes of DAY OF THE DEAD, RE-ANIMATOR and the transformative THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD.

Aside from a handful of films, Mummy movies were an unremarkable sub-genre in terms of monotonous storytelling and production values. The 1932 film THE MUMMY starring Boris Karloff as the ancient avenger remains the best example. It’s DRACULA (1931) but in a different setting. The color Hammer remake from 1959 is comparable to the original and is essential viewing--and especially if you're a fan of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. The property would be remade again in 1999 as a special effects filled adventure movie that birthed two sequels and a spin-off series. 

 

 

To include some titles on the lower rung, there's the four sequels to the 1932 film that went in a different direction with the character of Kharis the Mummy. Those films being THE MUMMY'S HAND (1940), THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942), THE MUMMY'S GHOST (1944) and THE MUMMY'S CURSE (1944). Ironically, these four 60 minute programmers reliant on lots of stock footage from Karloff's movie got more frequent airplay on television back in 70s and 80s compared to the superior original. 

 

In 2017 another remake surfaced—an absolutely terrible one—starring Tom Cruise. This showed great promise but barely gets 30 minutes in before it starts to unravel. The title Egyptian evil is a female this time out. She commands her own army of the dead that rise and kill that's reminiscent of DAWN OF THE MUMMY but made on an out of control budget.

Mummies in the 1980s were few and largely forgettable. Despite its horror potential, the star power of Charlton Heston and being adapted from Bram Stoker’s ‘Jewel of the Seven Stars’, THE AWAKENING (1980) put people to sleep. TIME WALKER (1982) was a unique premise blandly executed about an alien discovered in King Tut’s tomb who, like E.T. (1982), wants to go home. Meanwhile, THE MONSTER SQUAD (1987) was a fabulous Monster Kid throwback to the Uni-Horrors of old; only here, the Mummy is a supporting player next to the likes of Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein’s Monster (plus support from the Gill Man).

With zombies being a lucrative enterprise in the late 1970s and early 1980s, incorporating the living dead’s flesh-eating tendencies into the mummy mythos was a fresh and novel idea that’s never been done again. Agrama's film remains the goriest mummy movie thus far, beating out the gruesomeness of Carlos Aured's THE MUMMY'S REVENGE (1973) aka VENGEANCE OF THE MUMMY; that film of Spanish heritage starring Paul Naschy as the bandage-wrapped avenger.

That director Agrama was born in Egypt lends his movie an air of authenticity that no other film of its type shares. Moreover, DAWN OF THE MUMMY was the first film about tomb-ridden curses and their rudely awakened cloth-wrapped killers to be shot in Egypt. Another area Agrama's movie is different is that Sefi-Ra-Mon’s minions move at a quicker pace than your typical walking dead. They're not sprint runners packing heat and bladed implements like Lenzi's quasi-zombies of NIGHTMARE CITY (1980), but they definitely have pep in their Im-Ho-Step.

 

 

For years, DAWN has been cursed with an unjustified bad reputation; although the rough critics agree the 20 minute chow-down at the end is a show-stopper. It's a rabid assault on the cast and a small village full of extras by hungry zombies with thousand-plus year old empty stomachs. The mummy and his living dead followers lay siege to our fashion models at an oasis, a few other nearby victims, then it's on to crash a wedding procession where a groom and his guests get an unexpected surprise upon seeing the bride-to-be as the main course at a gore-drenched smorgasbord.

 

Maurizio Trani's splattery effects hit the screen in a buffet of dismembered limbs, brain-eating, flesh-munching and gouged eyeballs. Meanwhile, our main mummy Sefi-Ra-Mon, stands by and watches the carnage till his army of dead heads inexplicably disappear and it's just him and the last few dynamite-tossing survivors to contend with. Maurizio Trani's work can be seen in well-known Italian horrors like Fulci's ZOMBIE (1979), ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST (1980), THE BEYOND (1981), PIRANHA 2: THE SPAWNING (1981), 1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS (1982), 2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK (1983), RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR (1984) and THE WILD BEASTS (1984) to name a few.

The aforementioned bridal defilement scene is both memorable and clearly a tribute to a similar sequence in Lucio Fulci's genre-defining ZOMBIE from 1979. Both scenes have equal shock value. In Fulci's film, the wide-eyed closeups of stunned onlookers in total silence gives way to a sudden burst of loud music and the gorging of Olga Karlatos's flesh by zombies carefully choosing their cut of meat to consume. In Agrama's version, it's the frivolity of the groom as he prepares to unveil his bride to his guests; only he and everyone else gets the shock of their lives before they too are eaten by the uninvited living dead.

 

 

According to the director, the unknown, and towering 6'9" performer the production cast to play the main mummy complained a lot and was difficult to work with. Even so, the actor and the makeup applied to him evokes what is arguably the best, and scariest looking mummy ever to grace the silver screen. Sefi-Ra-Mon's first appearance as the revivified mummy is a damn effective "boo"  moment, too. The wet, burnt, somewhat rotted look to this literal giant of a man is an extraordinarily creepy design unlike any other interpretation before or since. The mummy also possesses an unusual ability—he burns the flesh of anybody he touches. This is never explained, but presumably it derives from the photo shoot lights which cause the mummy's wrappings to burn with an acidic effect and bring him back to life.

 

 

Continuing with MUMMY's attributes, there's a superb sequence where we see Sefi-Ra-Mon's "army of the dead" rise up from the desert sand as the sun ascends in the background. It's one of the best moments in the entire film. It easily trounces a similarly eerie moment from Jess Franco's execrable OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES (1982).  The location shooting, which took place almost entirely in Egypt and Cairo, add a layer of authenticity missing from similar low budget movies of this type. This sequence is another ode to Lucio Fulci's iconic island-set zombie epic.

 

The other area where DAWN OF THE MUMMY excels is in its dynamic soundtrack by Shuki Levy. Yes, the award winning composer responsible for the music from HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, INSPECTOR GADGET and music for the ROBOCOP and ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES cartoons and numerous other cartoon theme songs. Along with his business partner, Haim Saban, Levy was one half of the brains behind the MIGHTY MORPHIN' POWER RANGERS (an Americanized, re-edited version of several Japanese Sentai imports) got a massive career boost after composing cues for an Egyptian mummy-zombie movie. It’s the composers first of two horror movie credit--the other being BLOOD TIDE from 1982.  

 

The finest Mummy Disco Music you'll ever hear, the vibrant score is always active, often kinetic, and frequently throbbing with strong horror stingers. There’s a clear Egyptian tone to the music whereas a few of them would feel right at home in an Italian horror picture of the day. It's a shame it's never been released on CD. As of this revised writing, the film has now been released twice on blu-ray by European companies; so if and when a US release is ever forthcoming, the company that handles this title will hopefully include the soundtrack CD; and especially considering many view the score better than the movie itself. 

 

Now with the pluses out of the way....

 

Most reviewers share a dislike for DAWN OF THE MUMMY; at least up till the final 20 minutes when the guts really hit the fan. It's regularly labeled as dull, slow and badly acted. There's certainly bloody shenanigans occurring here and there till the finale, nor is it badly paced. Possibly the years of terrible quality versions has a lot to do with the bad reputation. 

 

 

The first time I ever saw DAWN OF THE MUMMY was in 1985 on local station WNRW TV-45 during a 3am showing that, amazingly enough, aired uncut! You didn't see this kind of movie on local television. Figuring there had to be gory business cut out of it, I eventually bought a used VHS tape in a video store a few towns over. All the gore was there but the print was shockingly dark throughout. During one attack scene on one of the girls it's almost impossible to see the gore. On the television version, this scene is much brighter and clearer to see what's happening. There are stills of this scene on the Spanish lobby card set that give you a good visual of the action.

 

Then there's the Anchor Bay UK DVD release from 2002. It's quite possibly the single worst release from Anchor Bay in what looks like a video master as their source. The menus are good and there's an informative commentary with the director, but the print is abysmal considering the work AB has done on their many Euro zombie and cannibal releases during their heyday. The first version of this article used caps from that AB release and you can compare them to the newest blu-ray caps used for this revised article by clicking HERE.

 

At the time, the TV airings were the best looking version of this much maligned movie. Now, the newest blur-ray, this one from Treasured Films in the UK, is the best DAWN OF THE MUMMY has ever looked.

 

The acting is surprisingly good, even if some of the performers go overboard in their mannerisms and line delivery. George Peck is the best example of the latter. Peck plays Rick, the gold-hungry, blonde-haired American tomb raider campaigning hard for the Jack Nicholson SHINING Award for Best Over-acting. He's constantly laughing, eyes bugging out of his head, and just carries on like he's having an orgasm in nearly every scene. There's maybe two quiet scenes with him, and he may have been shot with a tranquilizer gun for those moments. Even so, Peck’s performance is oddly endearing in depicting a half-crazed man consumed by greed.

 

 

The actor who does the best job here is Barry Sattels as Bill. He's really good as the other "villain"   of the piece. He's in charge of the photo shoot, repeatedly pushing his crew to get the best shots possible. Bill goes a bit mad himself—consumed by greed in the hope he’ll obtain fame and fortune by this authentic location photo shoot. He does manage to redeem himself, albeit too late, at the end when he memorably exits the picture after emptying his handgun into Sefi-Ra-Mon to no avail. Bill shows he has guts when the giant mummy removes them from his belly. Sattels has had the longest career of the cast. He's appeared in many TV shows, movies in a variety of genres, including a few erotic thrillers that turned up on Cinemax back in the late 90s. He's married to actress Lisa London and still active today.

 

 

Of all the actresses playing the models, blonde-haired Brenda King probably gets the most screen time. She's one of the most interesting performers in the movie despite having a relatively brief career as an actress. She and famous actor Roy Scheider were a couple as early as 1983 and married in February of 1989; they remained so till his death in 2008. Afterward, Ms. King became a documentary filmmaker, directing IN MY HANDS: A STORY OF MARFAN SYNDROME in 2009.

 

Agrama's movie is also undeniably sloppy in places, with some noticeable continuity errors and scripting snafus. The narrative is never ruptured, but certain events raise questions and instill general bewilderment from anyone paying attention. During the opening 3000 BC sequence, Sefi-Ra-Mon is buried in his tomb with six servants who are commanded by the High Priestess to "rise and kill" as per the curse should the tomb be disturbed. When the tomb is uncovered in the present day, there's no remains lying around of any of the guardians we saw at the beginning. However, we do see them rising from the desert during the aforementioned 'Dawn' sequence. Presumably Sefi's little helpers are the armies of the dead we heard about in the pre-credits sequence. If they're the six buried with him, it's never explained just how they moved from the sacred burial site to the desert; nor how they've remained in remarkable shape considering they were never mummified.

 

 

Before the mummy, or any of his living dead servants come back to life, there are a handful of killings. A few people end up with their faces badly mutilated and a decapitated head is found in the desert when one of the women rolls down a dune and bumps into it. Who exactly killed these people? There’s no explanation, but presumably it's the curse that has been unleashed with the opening of the tomb. The zombies make their arrival approximately 45 minutes into the movie, yet they never fully enter human buffet mode till the last 20 minutes. We see them skulking around most of the time. One of them does rip a chunk of a girls throat out just before she's pulled underground. Aside from that, they're mostly on the sidelines till the big finish.

The most blatant issue comes early in the movie. Bill is overtaken with joy by the fact that his photo spread will be shot inside a real tomb with a real mummy. Yet when the mummy comes to life, none of the crew says anything, or even notices that he's no longer in his sarcophagus. They just continue  taking pictures—oblivious to the fact the mummy is gone. Shortly afterward, an ecstatic Bill proclaims how incredible it is filming inside a tomb with a real mummy that's no longer there.

 

It’s possible some scenes were shot and removed that may have filled in some gaps; or possibly were intended but not shot at all. There are stills of scenes not in the movie so it’s possible this is a case of editing for pacing that messes with the film’s continuity.

 

Even with its faults, DAWN OF THE MUMMY is competently made B-grade entertainment. Made for around $500,000 and shot almost entirely in Egypt and Cairo (the opening credits involved a few days shooting in New York), it's even more bizarre in that director Agrama was a former doctor and an assistant to Alfred Hitchcock working on some of the fabled filmmakers productions such as THE BIRDS (1963)! Agrama also directed the obscure, but infamous giant ape picture, QUEEN KONG in 1976. 

 

His production and distribution company, Harmony Gold, was founded in 1983 and has been responsible for bringing the ROBOTECH animated series to America following the success of TRANSFORMERS and VOLTRON. A number of kung fu movies were also distributed to television bearing the Harmony Gold name. In October 2012, Agrama found himself involved in a tax fraud scandal surrounding his business dealings with Italian TV mogul and former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Agrama’s home was raided by the FBI in 2006 and court proceedings have extended beyond a decade. 

 

The appeals case was still ongoing when Agrama died on April 23rd, 2023. His daughter Jehan has taken up the appeals process. As of January 2024, she has asked the Supreme Court to review whether or not Agrama’s records held by the IRS were unlawfully seized by a district court that wrongfully enforced a summons by the IRS.

Unfortunately, DAWN OF THE MUMMY doesn't appear to have played theatrically in the US. On the DVD commentary, Agrama says his film didn't play in American theaters. The film was definitely being shopped around. In the July 1982 issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine (#185), the film is described in detail and discussed as coming soon to theaters; only these flesh-munching mummies never shambled their way into any. There were ads in Variety and posters were made, but the only territories it seemed to be shown were in Europe and other foreign countries around the world.

 

There are a number of admitted fans of this movie, but overall, DAWN OF THE MUMMY is deemed a dud by many viewers. Although the last 20 minutes are often universally in favor from all that have seen it, it's generally at the bottom of fans zombie movies lists, if there at all. It's mind-boggling that there's numerous restorations of Spanish hack-master Jess Franco's celluloid disaster-pieces in America while DAWN OF THE MUMMY continues to grow mold on it. Granted, the original negative is currently lost; if not confiscated by some unknown party in the midst of decades-long courtroom litigation or simply carelessness. 

 

 

Whether mostly from nostalgia, or a combination of the things it does right, Frank Agrama's most well known movie will always have a positive place in my movie collection.

 

This review is representative of the Treasured Films blu-ray (Region B); Specs and extras: new 2K restoration utilizing two 35mm prints from Spain and Germany; 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen; audio commentary from director Frank Agrama; audio commentary from Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw; interview with DP Sergio Rubini; three video essays; original trailer; image gallery; reversible sleeve; booklet on the film; Spanish lobby set reproductions; running time: 01:31:47