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We all know the song and dance, "don't disturb the mummy's tomb because it will unleash a curse". Been there done that, but movies like 1999's The Mummy prove that a stale formula doesn't necessarily spell doom. Alas, this entry into the sub-genre achieves none of that. The setup is as generic as you'd expect for a mummy movie but it immediately loses any familiar charm by sticking the audience with a gob of unlikable characters (portrayed by godawful actors, no less) for an interminable amount of time during which the "plot's" progress is as slow as the mummy's shamble. Speaking of shambling, this might as well be a walking and talking simulation. That we DO get, in spades. That's all fine and dandy but the script/dialogue is somehow worse than the actors that deliver it and so we are thrust back to square one.
Bad movies can be fun, you retort. To which I say, this is as dull as the sands of Egypt.
The plot is stretched thin, so everything between the intro and the big finale is insipid filler. Worse, despite having a panoply of players to use as cannon fodder in the meantime, the movie delays the carnage till the end. Yup, you've seen this before in poor horror pictures (Anthropophagus comes to mind): a group of people in an unfamiliar place wander endlessly whilst spewing drivel until ONE interesting (read: "shocking" or "gory") thing happens. Slap some credits on it, hint at that scene on the poster, and call it a day.
Dawn of the Mummy was never destined to be high art but it had the tools to be a romp. Unfortunately, it is driven by ineptitude in front and behind the camera. It takes a special kind of failure to make what looks and feels like an Italian-flavored exploitation flick into a boring dud. Like the aforementioned Anthropophagus, Dawn has a set piece that stands out and makes it somewhat memorable. When the mummy action comes to a large wedding feast at the end, you get what is basically pseudo-Fulciesque shenanigans. Only, unlike Fulci, these people spent too much time not earning the big blowout. And, just so you know, it's not worth the wait.
Dawn of the Mummy is the type of cult film that makes you question the taste of an entire group of people. There is certainly a place for high camp or low brow stuff. Trash can be entertaining, this has been proven many a time. This, however, lacks charm, lacks humor (unintentional or not), lacks personality, lacks plot....I could go on. In short, avoid this stinker. This is for completionists (or masochists) only.
