"Pharaoh's Curse" is a really dull mummy film with very few good things about it.
**SPOILERS**
Hoping to quell restless natives, British Officer Capt. Storm, (Mark Dana) is sent off with a crew consisting of Sgt. Gromley, (Richard Peel) Sgt. Smolett, (Terrence de Marney) and Sylvia Quentin, (Diane Brewster) for the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Arriving at the spot, they are soon warned away from the site by Simira, (Ziva Rodann) a local wandering the desert, and decide to take her along. Encountering a series of hardships along the way, they finally manage to make it to the resting site. There, they meet up with Robert Quentin, (George N. Neise) excavating the site and join up with his crew. Discovering the seal of the tomb they were looking for, they soon find themselves the target of a series of murders that are found to be the work of a mummy. Trying to get away, they fight back against the creature who had entered the tomb.
The Good News: This one didn't have all that much going for it. One of them is that the mummy itself looks pretty good. With the shriveled face, dried-out skin and general rotting feel to it, making this a pretty nicely designed creature. The fact that it's the possessed spirit of one of the crew-members, who then has to spend the time not in bandages but in the tarnished rags of what they were wearing on the expedition. This is quite nice, and is a pretty good change-of-pace from most mummy films. There's also a few good sequences in here. The main trap scene comes with the film's single most memorable image where the mummy's arm falls off, a great sequence where the shadow of a cat walks along a tent wall only for the entity to appear isn't what the shadow gave it to be, and the first walk-through of the tomb are all pretty solid scenes. These, though, are all the film manages to get right.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot right, but there wasn't a whole lot wrong with it either. The film itself is just flat-out dull. Nothing much at all happens in the film, and this one just doesn't do anything. This is mostly concerned with talking about everything, from the beginning with the focus on the journey there to the fact that the tomb isn't even broken until the fortieth minute of the film, well over halfway there for the film. The endless talking is another factor in how short the film really is, as there's so little time for action in the film that there's almost nothing that happens in the film. That there is what's going to impact the film so much, as the short running time and completely dull nature are going to severely ruin this one.
The Final Verdict: An incredibly dull mummy movie without a whole lot going for it, this one instead has a few positive aspects. Really hard to recommend this one too, as the very few positives won't nearly make up for the negatives here, so seek caution with this one.
Today's Rating-PG: Mild Violence
**SPOILERS**
Hoping to quell restless natives, British Officer Capt. Storm, (Mark Dana) is sent off with a crew consisting of Sgt. Gromley, (Richard Peel) Sgt. Smolett, (Terrence de Marney) and Sylvia Quentin, (Diane Brewster) for the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Arriving at the spot, they are soon warned away from the site by Simira, (Ziva Rodann) a local wandering the desert, and decide to take her along. Encountering a series of hardships along the way, they finally manage to make it to the resting site. There, they meet up with Robert Quentin, (George N. Neise) excavating the site and join up with his crew. Discovering the seal of the tomb they were looking for, they soon find themselves the target of a series of murders that are found to be the work of a mummy. Trying to get away, they fight back against the creature who had entered the tomb.
The Good News: This one didn't have all that much going for it. One of them is that the mummy itself looks pretty good. With the shriveled face, dried-out skin and general rotting feel to it, making this a pretty nicely designed creature. The fact that it's the possessed spirit of one of the crew-members, who then has to spend the time not in bandages but in the tarnished rags of what they were wearing on the expedition. This is quite nice, and is a pretty good change-of-pace from most mummy films. There's also a few good sequences in here. The main trap scene comes with the film's single most memorable image where the mummy's arm falls off, a great sequence where the shadow of a cat walks along a tent wall only for the entity to appear isn't what the shadow gave it to be, and the first walk-through of the tomb are all pretty solid scenes. These, though, are all the film manages to get right.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot right, but there wasn't a whole lot wrong with it either. The film itself is just flat-out dull. Nothing much at all happens in the film, and this one just doesn't do anything. This is mostly concerned with talking about everything, from the beginning with the focus on the journey there to the fact that the tomb isn't even broken until the fortieth minute of the film, well over halfway there for the film. The endless talking is another factor in how short the film really is, as there's so little time for action in the film that there's almost nothing that happens in the film. That there is what's going to impact the film so much, as the short running time and completely dull nature are going to severely ruin this one.
The Final Verdict: An incredibly dull mummy movie without a whole lot going for it, this one instead has a few positive aspects. Really hard to recommend this one too, as the very few positives won't nearly make up for the negatives here, so seek caution with this one.
Today's Rating-PG: Mild Violence