PHARAOH’S CURSE (1957)
Article #1772 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-20-2006
Posting Date: 6-19-2006
Directed by Lee Sholem
Featuring Mark Dana, Diane Brewster, Ziva Rodann

An archaelogical expedition attempts to find the tomb of a pharaoh, but the members begin dying at the hands of a blood-sucking mummy.

I saw this on my local Creature Feature when I was a kid, and for years, all I could remember besides the title was the scene where the mummy’s arm is pulled off. Several years ago I watched it again. Afterwards, all I could remember was (once again) the scene where the mummy’s arm was pulled off. I have a funny feeling that in a few weeks, all I’ll remember from this third viewing will have something to with a mummy’s arm.

You know, in some ways, I admire this movie; it does try to do a few new things with the mummy concept. The makeup is also fairly good, and a couple of the attack scenes are well done. However, the direction is plodding, the story lacks any forward momentum, the plot is muddled, and the ending is severely anti-clmactic. As a result, I can’t really recommend this one, unless you really have a hankering to see a scene in which a mummy’s arm is pulled off.

***NOTE*** I have received clarification from several sources that the mummy in this movie isn’t really a mummy, but a modern man who has become a mummy-like creature. Feel free to substitute the phrase “mummy-like creature who really isn’t a mummy” where ever appropriate in the above write-up.