Stephen Romano’s RETRO 13 – Dawn of the Mummy… Part 2?
Stephen Romano
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Hey, kids! Ready for some Egyptian zombie action? I just thought you might be. This week, I’m resurrecting a film a lot of people probably wish would stay buried—in fact, I’m giving it a SEQUEL. Pictured below is my all-new poster tribute to the notoriously sleazy 1981 undead knockoff Dawn of the Mummy, by way of its even-sleazier imaginary follow-up feature Dawn of the Mummy Part 2: Wrath of the Undead. (Confused yet? Don’t worry, I’m confused all the time.)
The name of the game at RETRO 13 is finding interesting new takes on weird old genre movies. Some weeks you’ll see a straight homage to the film—other weeks, you’ll find the sequel that never was.
I must confess: I’ve never been the biggest fan of Mummy—though it is gut-wrenchingly campy and a fun watch on Bad Movie Night—but I always really loved the poster for the film. It’s a great image which graced the front of VHS covers all over America when Mummy was released on tape by video giant Thorn EMI in 1983. Zombies were big business back then. Everybody was doing zombies. It was a real gold rush in Italy and other countries—and the poster art from that era is a gloriously gory, batshit-crazy body of work.
Pictured at right is the original poster for Dawn of the Mummy. I love the central figure rising from the earth, with the glowing light beneath suggesting an ascension from hell or wherever. For RETRO 13’s imaginary sequel, I wanted to combine that awesome visual idea with the aesthetic championed in the poster for my second-favorite Lucio Fulci film The Gates of Hell (City of the Living Dead). I figured the Mummy sequel could be more along those lines. But it’s still directed by Frank Agrama, the twisted mastermind of the original. In fact, the whole cast from the original returns, as you can see in the credits!
Dawn of the Mummy’s composer—the awesome, legendary Shuki Levy—is also worthy of note because he went on to a lot of work in cartoons, including all 130 episodes of “He Man and the Masters of the Universe.” His Dawn of the Mummy score is really memorable, particularly in the opening credits, which are set in New York for no particular reason that matters. Seriously. Every scene in the movie takes place in Egypt—except for the credits. The closing theme is awesome, too, invoking a real sense of 1980s zombie mummy doom with a beat you can almost dance to. It also suggests the sequel—which may be the scariest, sleaziest, creepiest horror movie you’ve never seen.
An interesting and ironic development in recent months was the posting of a mysterious trailer on YouTube for what appeared to be a remake of Dawn of the Mummy, starring none other than John Rhys-Davies and directed by Roger Christan (Battlefield Earth). The film was released just this month on DVD in the UK. So far, the reviews are awful—which may be a comment on how zero budget zombie movies are made today, as opposed to the schlock of yesteryear. Or maybe it doesn’t mean anything. One thing is certain—that damn title is just too cool to be used only once. Enjoy!
Click here for the full-size image.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This poster is intended as FAN ART only and is designed to be shared, for free, for anyone who wants to own it for themselves. Download it, share it, spread the horror! And come see me at my website for more fun.
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