As a cruel Egyptian ruler is laid to rest, a curse is placed upon his golden treasure - that he and his former slaves will rise from the dead and destroy anyone who disturbs it.
Skip ahead to 1981. An American tomb robber and his helpers have located and opened the tomb. Their activity first draws the attention of crazy old Xena, then another trio of would-be thieves, followed by a group of fashion models and photographers who are out for a photo shoot in the desert. This proves bothersome for the robbers as they try to keep their intentions a secret from the fashion set, who impose themselves the moment they find out they have an undiscovered tomb at their disposal. The mummy and his undead servants soon rise from the grave.
The story is very straightforward, and plays like a zombie movie with a mummy theme. It's a very low-budget affair, and the lack of effort is seen in the mostly static camerawork, sparse lighting, misogynistic characterization, and over-the-top acting. I'll speak to those last two, for a moment.
The female characters in Dawn of the Mummy are among the most shrill and defenceless in the annals of Italian horror. They scream uncontrollably and excessively, to the point of not being able to move or, worse yet, collapse in a fit a shrieking and writhing about. It's painful to watch. Fortunately, two of the models redeem themselves by fighting back - with explosives.
Despite budgetary restraints, the mummy himself is quite creepy. He is freakishly tall, and the makeup by genre regular Maurizio Trani is effective. Sadly, Trani's gruesome work on the undead servants' faces might be overlooked as one will be distracted by it not matching their bodies at times. The previously mentioned lack of proper lighting, paired with the poor quality of existing prints, also makes a lot of the gore effects hard to see. I'd like to see this cleaned up and re-released one day. It's by no means a classic, but worth a watch.
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