Color, 1981, 91 mins. 47 secs.
Directed by Frank Agrama
Starring Brenda King, Joan Levy
Treasured Films (Blu-ray) (UK RB HD), CMV Laservision (Blu-ray) (Germany RB HD) / WS (1.66:1) (16:9), Anchor Bay (DVD) (UK R0 PAL) / WS (1.78:1) (16:9), Laser Paradise (DVD) (Germany R0 PAL)

This lovably dopey splatter film could only have come from the early '80s, when the dying throes of disco and the influx of gore-soaked European horror films produced some truly strange animals indeed. While the title promises a spirited, gory romp in the tradition of George Romeo, this low budget New York production (partially shot in Egypt) comes a lot closer to Lucio Fulci territory instead. Releasing unrated and seemingly everywhere on VHS for a few years, the film's reputation has subsided in recent decades thanks to its scarcity and the general tidal wave of gory exploitation films on disc ever since; however, it's still a roaring good time if you're in the right frame of mind and worth hunting down as a zombie-laced twist on a well-worn monster movie figure.

In the sticky prologue, a member of Egyptian royalty is graphically mummified (complete with organ removal) and placed into a pyramid crypt along with his slaves, who are entombed without body wrapping. About 3,000 years or so later, some jewel thieves break into the pyramid and awake the mummy, along with his now zombified servants. A visiting cadre of Americans stumbles into the pyramid for a photo shoot, but the models are more concerned about the state of their toenails than the rampaging dead lurking in the darkness. Pretty soon the nearby Egyptian village is overrun by zombies, who pillage the natives in a riotous orgy of eye gouging and entrail munching (including the screen's juiciest wedding reception) before the outrageous climax.

It may not qualify as fine art by any stretch of the imagination, but Dawn of the Mummy can be loads of fun and definitely delivers more thrills than Queen Kong, the previous film from Egyptian-American director and production company Harmony Gold founder Frank Agrama (who ended up in a lot of financial legal trouble in the decade before his death in 2023). The long, slow stretches of dialogue in the middle at least offer some unintentional laughs, but most gore fans will definitely want to stick around for the big finale. The catchy, kitschy dance-on-the-Nile score is pretty amazing as well, thanks to busy cartoon and commercial composer Shuki Levy.

Laser Paradise issued the first DVD of Dawn of the Mummy after years of unavailability, and it was a slight improvement over the unwatchably murky Thorn/EMI VHS. Of course, this film always had the appearance of being projected on a strip of dirty burlap and suffers from pale, lifeless colors and shadows. The Anchor Bay disc in the U.K. from 2003 (the country's first uncut home video release) was a noticeable step up though still limited by the mediocre nature of the original source material; the film's cinematography during the night scenes and crypt explorations is quite shoddy and features muddy lighting. Daylight scenes are crisp and colorful, however. The 5.1 remix is obviously fake and processed but fun, delivering outrageously amplified sound effects and consistently exaggerated split surround effects. The original two-channel mix (advertised as stereo, but really mono) is also included for purists. The film can be viewed in either a full frame open matte presentation or a widescreen anamoprhic version with higher resolution; either one looks just fine, though 16:9 TV owners will want to opt for the latter. The disc also includes the full frame theatrical trailer and a commentary with Agrama, who makes for a lively conversationalist. As with his discussion on Queen Kong, he's full of stories about the location shooting and candid about the commercial conditions of filmmaking at the time. Needless to say, things have changed considerably since the days when a title like this could play at mainstream theaters around the world.

A Germany Blu-ray of the film eventually turned up from CMV Laservision in Germany as a pricey mediabook, but a more stacked and carefully curated edition can be found on the 2024 U.K. Blu-ray from Treasured Films. Any pre-print materials on the film are long, long gone, so they've gone with doing additional color grading on a satisfying 1.66:1 presentation on a 2K scan from surviving 35mm prints from Spain and Germany initially pulled for the latter's release. Obviously there are limitations here given the source, but unless something miraculous turns up in an archive someday, this is as good as it's going to get. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 English mono track sounds fine, and optional English SDH subtitles are provided. In addition to the Agrama track ported over here, you get a new commentary by Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw who have quite a bit of infectious fun bantering with each other and analyzing the very peculiar place this film holds in the history of mummy cinema. They definitely come at it in the right spirit and dole out plenty of details about the film including the original intended director Armand Weston (right after The Nesting) and the in and outs of the production and its status as a video nasty. "Unwrapping the Mummy" (14m36s) is a wry and researched video essay on Agrama by Eugenio Ercolani covering the filmmaker's involvement in this film, his eventual Italian financial scandal, connections to Ovidio Assonitis, and his relevant family background, all forming one huge, crazy story. In "Peeling the Bandages" (33m48s), the always eloquent Stephen Thrower dissects the intersection of Romero and Fulci here as well as the elements of mummy characters and generally revived corpses in cinema that started off comedic and gradually became more horrific. In "Back to the Suture" (15m59s), Darrell Buxton enthusiastically catalogs the mummy films of the 1980s including this one, Devil Story, Dak Bangla, The Monster Squad, Saturday the 14th Strikes Back, Deathrow Gameshow, Time Walker, and lots of cartoons and Hong Kong films, as well as predecessors in the '70s from across Europe. Finally "Lighting the Mummy (25m54s)" is an interview with cinematographer Sergio Rubini covering his start with Dino De Laurentiis and his odd, prestigious path through Euro cinema that somehow led to this (and some far less pleasant productions). A trailer and image gallery are also included, while the limited edition rigid slipcase comes with artwork by Justin Coffee, a booklet with new essays by John Martin, Amanda Reyes, Andrew Marshall-Roberts, and John Llewellyn Probert, and six artcards. If you order directly from the label at the link above, you'll also be the proud owner of a mummy magnet, a Saphiraman "Curse Card" designed by The Nasty Pasty, and a reversible fold-out poster.

Reviewed on January 5, 2025