B Movie Challenge: Pharaoh’s Curse

𓉔𓂝𓂋𓂝 𓂋𓇌𓂝𓊃 𓊃o𓅓𓂝 𓇌𓂧𓇌o𓏏 𓅱𓉔o 𓅱𓄿𓏏𓆬𓉔𓂝𓊃 𓃀𓄿𓂧 𓅓o𓆑𓇌𓂝𓊃 𓏏o 𓏏o𓂋𓏏𓇋𓂋𓂝 𓉔𓇌𓅓𓊃𓂝𓂋𓆑                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 (Translation: Here lies some idiot who watches bad movies to torture himself)

Here is a fun little history for you: in the 17th-19th century, there used to be a color paint made from the ground-up remains of mummies because there was such an onslaught of them available (talk about a new shade of pale). However, watching a buried treasure from ancient times (the 50s) known as Pharaoh’s Curse, I now understand why a mummy horror movie WITHOUT A MUMMY FOR MOST OF IT bothers me so much! In recent years there has been an onslaught of superhero movies in which at the most challenging part of their journey they put the costume away and become their alter ego for most of the movie! To this, I say  the following:

𓊃𓉔𓇋𓏏 𓇋𓊪, 𓊪𓇋𓏏 o𓈖 𓇋o𓇋𓂋 𓏏𓇌𓎼𓉔𓏏𓊃, 𓄿𓈖𓂧 𓊃𓄿𓆑𓂝 𓏏𓉔𓂝 𓂧𓄿𓇋 𓇋o𓇋 𓅓o𓂋o𓈖𓊃!

(translation: Shut up, put on your tights, and save the day you morons!

If I pay good money (although I streamed the film for free) to see a mummy, then you better deliver the goods, cause the only curse I have is expecting to see something the title promised (although if you’re a fan of B movies this happens quite often, so I should calm down). 

When good ol’ Uncle Carl Laemmle started releasing his infamous ‘Universal Monsters’ series starting in the late thirties and into the early cities, he never had an idea how many homages (or as we like to call them around here: Rip-offs) there would be, especially when the famous Monopoly case of the studios allowed independents to get their films into theatres. For every great movie like The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, and Dracula came I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Frankenstein 1960, and Return of the Vampire with Bela Lugosi returning to the role of Dracula (although they never call him by name). The same idea came to Bel Air Pictures producers when they saw the success of The Mummy starring Boris Karloff (and its many goofy sequels with Lon Chaney Jr.) when they set out to make their version of Egyptian curses in the ancient ruins of drive-ins across America! Howard W. Koch, who produced this film through his Bel-Air Productions company, was a successful film director and produced many genre flairs such as westerns and war films, but only went excavating in the catacombs of horror with a few films and this one shows why. Although the set design comes off very well and the actors are capable with the script (as rare as an ancient curse in popcorn fairs such as these), the main issue is within the execution (or embalming) of the mummy itself, relying on dried tissue paper and avatars instead of giving us a good old fashioned killer to get wrapped in amongst the desert dunes of Egypt. 

In the Valley of the Kings near the lost tomb of Rahateb, a group of archeologists have gone missing and the army sends a troop to locate the missing among the army of the dead. When they arrive they find it is too late, as the archeologists have opened a tomb cursed to be opened, releasing the curse of Numar, the mummy. As the group prepares to survive the harsh elements of the desert landscape, they must also survive the killing spree of those NJumar curses (he must have run out of toilet paper in the restroom)! As people start to disappear, it dawns on them there is a mummy on the loose, however, how the filmmakers made the film, will take you a long, long time to see it happen. By the end, they find the curse has been from the mummy’s priests to occupy the bodies of the living to seek revenge on those who have disturbed the resting place of their master. Throw in some smoke-filled sets from the torches burning the styrofoam sets, mix in a little desert dust on well-executed costumes, and bask in the horrors of make-up effects you can buy at the Dollar Tree (sorry, Dollar-Twenty-Five Tree) and have a hoot-in-common theatrical experience never to forget (unless you can break the curse of your cat’s eyes to forget all you witnessed). 

Carving the film your way at a hard sixty-six minutes, and was directed by Lee Sholem (who directed genre greats like Tobar the Great, Superman and the Mole People, and Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki) who was known as ‘Roll ‘Em” Sholem, for being so quick and efficient with over 1300 credits to his resume in Film and television. You can find this on most streaming sites, but you’ll have to hire Indiana Jones to help you dig up a copy on VHS or DVD. If you are adventurous and can see the writing on the wall from the title alone, you should not worry about getting lost in tunnels of bad movie-making. Yet be warned, as those who don’t heed my words, beware this film or suffer the curse of the B Movie Challenge: 

𓇋o𓇋 𓉔𓄿𓆑𓂝 𓏏o 𓅱𓄿𓏏𓆬𓉔 𓅓o𓂋𓂝 𓏏𓂝𓂋𓂋𓇌𓃀𓂋𓂝 𓆑𓇌𓂋𓅓𓊃, 𓅱𓉔𓇌𓆬𓉔 𓇌’𓅓 𓊃𓇋𓂋𓂝 𓇋o𓇋’𓂋𓂋 𓊃𓇋𓂋𓆑𓇌𓆑𓂝….

(Translation: You have to watch more terrible films, which I’m sure you’ll survive…)