The saturation of the slash in the 80s market was great. With so many out there, how on earth do you set yourself apart?

You could make a quality movie with a lot of passion. You could maybe even create characters that will resonate with audiences for decades. OR you could create an absolutely bananas plot with a unique killer.

And when you read the synopsis of “A group of American models travel to Egypt for a photoshoot and awaken an ancient mummy’s curse” – you know it’s going to be the last option.

Dawn of the Mummy is a poorly lit, 80s slasher with forgettable characters and the pacing of a sail on roller skates. But it’s also clearly enthusiastic about its Egyptian setting (shot on location in Egypt) and manages to have a great final 15 minutes.

In Ancient Egypt, Pharaoh Sefirama dies and locals are kidnapped to be buried with him. A priestess places a curse on the tomb: whoever disturbs the tomb will be cursed to die.

Thousands of years later, a group of explorers discover the entrance to Sefirama’s tomb. Despite being warned away, they blow up the entrance and begin to look for gold.

They’re disappointed when they later only find “old junk”, which is mildly infuriating. The old junk is quite clearly going to be incredibly valuable? But gold, I guess. Some people clearly have no taste.

Meanwhile, a group of models arrive from New York. They begin a photoshoot in the desert. After being shot at by the explorers, they eagerly enter the tomb and decide to have the photoshoot there.

All sorts of things go wrong for everyone: the graverobbers, the models, the explorers. It gets even worse when they finally awaken Sefirama from his eternal slumber.

Sefirama wastes no time exacting his revenge on the people who have disturbed his tomb. He raises his army of undead to help him. Mayhem ensues in a delightfully gruesome fashion.

This movie is quite clearly meant to capitalize on the success of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, which was released only a few years prior. Unfortunately, there is a severe lack of zombies here to justify it. Though we do get zombie mummies and they are so fun to watch in the third act’s mayhem.

There are versions of this film without some of the key scenes of gore. Make sure you get a version with all the good bits: they make it worth watching Dawn of the Mummy through to the end.

You can’t help but wish that this movie was more. More 80s. More camp. More…more! But we only have what we got. Though it might be the darkest movie you’ll watch in a while (the lightning, that is, not the themes), there’s still plenty to deem watching for slasher enthusiasts.