| Author | Message | ||
     John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.208.48.89 |
When nations come together anything is possible – world peace, an end to poverty and hunger, even a new respect and tolerance for different cultures. It’s also possible to end up with 1981's ‘Dawn of the Mummy’ – a South African-Egyptian co production with Italian special effects and disco music from the Palestinian bloke who wrote the theme for the ‘He-Man’ cartoon series. It’s difficult to know where to begin with this film that rode on the coattails of the popularity of the zombie subgenre kick-started by George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and kicked along like a rapidly deflating football by a bunch of delinquent Italian schoolboys led by Lucio Fulci with his chums Bruno Mattei and Marino Girolami. What could have been a fantastic bit of gory knockabout fun is fumbled a bit by director Farouk Agrama, who basically crosses the standard ‘mummy’s curse’ storyline with Bagpuss. When this mummy wakes up, all his friends wake up too, and then proceed to wreak havoc. This all sounds great but for the most part it’s sadly not, due to a marked degree of incoherence in the plotting and no acting or characterisation to speak of. Horror prospectors keen to sift through the detritus of stuff like this will be rewarded with two fantastic bits: the reanimation of the mummy’s undead servants against a setting sun is superb, as is the ending where everything goes mental (starting with a wedding reception where the bride ends up on the menu) to the aforementioned pounding euro-disco music. Apart from that it’s a bit rubbish but still 1000000 times better than Bonekickers. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.194.227 |
The Mummy crossed with Bagpuss - sounds good to me! What do you think of the Charlton Heston Mummy movie THE AWAKENING, Lord P? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.225.63 |
When I think of Italian 80's horror sensibilities tackling a mummy movie with zombie overtones + outrageous craziness and a euro-disco soundtrack... mummies from their tombs ain't the only thing risin' up round here!... so I'm so disappointed to hear it's slain right out of the box... dammit... oh well, it will live on in my dreams.... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Ah, I have fond memories of trackong down an uncut version of this one back in the late 1980s. It's one crazy film...should've been great, but was in fact a bit crap. Huw - I'm a fan of The Awakening. | ||
| Martin Roberts (Martin_roberts) Username: Martin_roberts Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.5.239.91 |
I found Bagpus far more disturbing then this movie John... and you learn something everyday! ...disco music from the Palestinian bloke who wrote the theme for the ‘He-Man’ cartoon series... ...I do remember tracking down an uncut copy back in day too Gary  | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.199.0.86 |
I've only seen THE AWAKENING once yeras ago & I found it tedious - a horror movie made by people who don't like horror (eg director Mike Newell). Maybe I should rewatch it. I too tracked down Dawn of the Mummy uncut a good few years ago & really hated it, but last night for some reason I quite enjoyed it & hence the relatively benign review. I even watched the climactic ten minutes again as a pick me up this morning before I went to work. The commentary track had me in fits of giggles from about two minutes in when Frank Agrama admitted he had to take over when the original director suffered an appalling several-day long attack of mango-induced diarrhoea. Watch out for those mangos Martin! | ||
| Martin Roberts (Martin_roberts) Username: Martin_roberts Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.5.239.91 |
The All-Time Great Horror Movie Mango Quotes 1. "Heeeeere's Mango!" - The Shining 2. "I see dead Mango's." - The Sixth Sense 3. "They're heee-re." - Poltergeist 4. "I ate his liver with some mango and a nice fruit punch" - The Silence of the Lambs 5. "It's alive! It's alive!" - Frankenstein 6. "You're gonna need a bigger mango." - Jaws 7. "Was that the mango?" "Yes, I believe it was." – Halloween 8. "Oh yes, there will be mango!" – Saw II 9. "A boy's best friend is his mango." - Psycho 10. "Do you like scary mango?" – Scream 11. "Soylent Green is mango!" - Soylent Green 12. "Look what your brother did to the mango!" - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 13. "It wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the mango." - King Kong 14. "I have come here to chew mango or kick ass, and I'm all out of mango." - They Live 15. "I'll swallow your mango! I'll swallow your mango! I'll swallow your mango!" - Evil Dead II 16. "You got a mango? I got run over, Helen gets her hair chopped off. Julie gets a dead body in her trunk, and you get a mango?? Oh, that's balanced!" - I Know What You Did Last Summer 17. "They're coming to get you, Barbara! They're coming for you!" – Night of the Living Dead 18. "Gimme some mango, baby!" - Army of Darkness 19. "It's just people killing mangos." – 28 Days Later 20. "I prefer to use my mango." – Hostel Enough already... | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.199.0.86 |
Indeed. However, if anyone can find me a copy of the curiously addictive wibbly wobbly pulsing synth soundtrack (it came out on LP & cassette!) I will be eternally in their debt. | ||
| Martin Roberts (Martin_roberts) Username: Martin_roberts Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.5.239.91 |
As way of apology John, you have mail... |