snicewanger
Pharaoh's Curse is one of my all time favorite "BAD" movies. I had a big crush on Ziva Rodann, billed here as Ziva Shapir, and to have Diane Brewster in the cast as well was double fun. Mark Dana was a busy TV leading man in the 1950's but his career ran out of gas by the mid 60's. He tries to effect a British accent for his role but fails badly. George N Neise had a four decade career as a character actor in films and television.He's a bit overblown here as the films obsessed archaeologist.Ben Wright's voice was as familiar the his face. He worked for Disney in 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, and the Little Mermaid. Director Lee "Role Em" Sholem was a favorite of "B" movie and television producers all over Hollywood because his reputation for staying on schedule and within budget and being able to do the most with the least. He delivers a creepy and entertaining fright film here. Make up men Gordon Bau and Ted Cooley created a very realistic and frightening mummy based on Nick Volpe's concept.The mummy is a little different from most of the other movie mummy's in that it is really one of the expedition members whose body has been possessed by the mummy's vengeful spirit. It is also a bit of a vampire too, in that it needs fresh blood to keep on going. After several mules and a few expedition members meet their end it finally dawns on the group what is going on. Although they still can't seem to determine what to do about it. Pharaoh' Curse was made to be a low budget Saturday Matinée shocker for junior high aged kids. That and a film for the drive-in movie crowd. It holds own with most any of the black and white horror films that were being released at the time. It's not Boris Karloff but it's a fun little film that is worth a watch.
Michael O'Keefe
There is always something mysterious about searching for ancient Egyptian tombs and PHARAOH'S CURSE has everything you waited for at a Saturday matinée. Typical strange things begin to happen when a crew of archaeologists led by Professor Quentin(George N. Neise)start an excavation of an area suspect of a buried tomb. No sooner than a mummy's sarcophagus is opened, death makes its rounds. A wandering local named Simira(Ziva Rodann) forecasts the doom, but no one wants to listen seriously. A British Captain Storm(Mark Dane)has escorted Quentin's wife Sylvia(Diane Brewster)to the excavation site. Her trip doesn't appear to be for love, but her husband's situation. Creepy and predictable; but not a waste of time. Other players: Terrance De Marney, Richard Peel, Guy Prescott and Alvaro Guillot.
jc1b7
I saw this movie last weekend and it is silly and mindless. An ancient curse turns a man into a mummy in his pajamas? The victims are scared senseless and can not run from a slow moving old man. They drop their torches and shiver instead of attempting to ward him off or,duh, burn him. Quentin alias Mr. Fabersham of the Honeymooners is married to Diane Brewster alias Miss Canfield of Leave it to Beaver fame, who is unhappy in marriage. Wow, love plot. The rest of the cast just follows each other in the tombs and wait for screams to react and run to their aid. The Egyptian girl is not bad looking but does not lend much to the film. Where is the mummy? Really just a curse unleashed. This does not hold a torch to Universal Mummy films in the least.Watch this movie if you need sleep, because you will dose off.
Chukar
I saw this film when I was just a little kid. I saw it close to the time that I saw "Curse of the Demon," and thoughout my life I always wondered if these two films were real films or some kind of nightmare I remembered that I just thought were movies. I found "Curse of The Demon" a few years ago for sale, and I was able to record "Curse of the Pharaoh" about a year ago when it was shown uncut and without commercial breaks on the Tele.Now, as a grownup, I have a little of a hard time finding just what scared me so awfully much in "Curse of the Pharaoh." I guess I was very young at the time. However, I still rate the film as better than most others rate it and have watched it about four times since I recorded it. That compares with many of the new films on DVD that I have watched on once after purchasing them. Perhaps it is just that I remember it as such a good film from when I was little, but I still enjoy it today. Many of the early "classic" horror films are not as scary as it is, and they certainly move even slower. I feel that the audience for a good mummy film was not there when it was released back in the late 50's.In closing, I can truthfully say that I enjoy an average horror film much more than an average film of any other genre. I can spend a whole evening watching horror and mystery movies. How weird?
AD
