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Released by: MGM Limited Edition Collection
Released on: April 2, 2012.
Director: Lee Sholem
Cast: Mark Dana, Ziva Shapir, Diane Brewster
Year: 1957
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The Movie:
Directed by accomplished B-movie veteran Lee Sholem, 1957's Pharaoh's Curse doesn't really bring anything new or noteworthy or the mummy movie genre in terms of concept nor is it concerned with things like logic or serious character development but it's a fun sixty-six minute monster movie that is never short on goofy charm.
The storyline follows a group of archaeologists hanging out in Egypt's Valley Of The Kings. When some local turmoil results in tensions in the area, Captain Storm (Mark Dana) teams up with a few other disposable 'red shirts' and the wife of one of the archaeologists (Diane Brewster) to head into the danger zone and get the scientist types back safe and sound. On the way there they somehow manage to meet up a foxy native gal (Ziva Shapir) who tags along for the duration for reasons never really fully explained. Unfortunately for all involved, the archaeologists have been digging where they shouldn't have been digging and they unleash an ancient Egyptian curse - enter the mummy, who wanders around in what looks like pajamas, randomly killing people off.
The early fifties weren't really a hot bed of mummy movie activity so it's sort of interesting to see this one pop out of MGM's back catalogue (originally Bel-Air production that belonged to United Artists). This mummy thinks outside of the box a little bit, rather than just lumbering around and strangling people he actually drinks their blood and evidently needs it to sustain himself. The monster is absolutely the highlight of the movie, his makeup is rather cool and periodically even a little bit spooky and any time he is on the screen, the movie is gold.
Unfortunately, any time he's not on screen, the movie is slow and a bit plodding. Despite the fact that the film clocks in at only a few minutes over an hour in length, the first half hour of the movie (and the first half of the movie as a whole) suffers from some pretty obvious padding. It's as if the filmmakers decided, hey, we've got a cool monster, let's put him in a typical mummy movie setting, spice things up by having him drink blood and wear pajamas and… that's it. There isn't much else to the film and you'll find yourself fighting not to hit the fast forward button to skip to the monster mash action. The climax is also handled rather poorly and comes off as lackluster. Outside of the monster, and some cool effects relating to the monster, there's not a whole lot to recommend here.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Pharaoh's Curse is presented in its original 1.33.1 and it looks decent enough on this MOD/DVD-R release from MGM. There's a bit of print damage here and there and some occasional contrast flukes but overall this is a perfectly watchable release taken from what seems to be a source in nice enough shape.
The no frills English language Dolby Digital Mono track on the disc isn't anything to write home about but it offers up easily discernible dialogue and properly balanced levels without any serious hiss or distortion issues.
No extras to speak of, just a static menu and chapters set up at ten minute intervals.
The Final Word:
Goofy and fairly dull, Pharaoh's Curse is great whenever the monster is on screen and not great at all whenever he disappears from view. The movie is worth seeing for fans of fifties monster movies for the scenes that do work, but keep your expectations in check for this one. MGM's DVD-R looks and sounds decent enough though.
