Monster of the Day #653

In 1991 some folks figured out that mummies are basically zombies. Inevitably the Italians made a mummy zombie movie, Burial Ground.That film is particularly beloved by Sandy Petersen, featuring characters who are jaw-droppingly stupid even for an Italian zombie movie, not to mention a very unseemly incest sub-plot involving a mother and her young son. The only reason that element doesn’t make the film completely unwatchable is, with it apparently pushing the envelope even for Italian horror, they cast a short guy clearly in his ’20s to play the ‘kid.’ The guy is an awful actor–again, even for an Italian horror movie–and vastly entertaining to watch.

This movie, more oddly (if fittingly), is Egyptian. It also somehow featured more of a Romero rip-off title than the Italian movie. This is the most mummy-ish of its maurading undead. The others were far more typically zombie-ish in appearance, and were indeed gut-munchers.

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Ericb

“not to mention a very unseemly incest sub-plot involving a mother and her young son”

You recapped another Zombie movie with that kind of subplot. WFT is going on with Euro zombie movies?
Ken_Begg

That was the same movie, I think, in a T(ween) Fest Diary. However, the ’80s were big on incest stuff. In terms of classic Jabootu stuff, both Flowers in the Attic and Holcroft Covenant featured incest sub-plots. Burial Ground was by far the most explicit, however.
Gamera977

‘Mummy vs. the American Wrestlers’? Just because the guy looks sorta like Ric Flair to me…

Funny, I’ve always liked mummy movies but never been a big fan of Romero-style zombies.
kgb_san_diego

Lord, I had managed to (mostly) forget that atrocity, and now you bring it back up again… ;-)

Actually, the incest sub-plot is really the most memorable part of “Burial Ground” for me. What does that say about me, I wonder?
Ken_Begg

Well, ‘memorable’ is a neutral term. I imagine most people would agree with you–I certainly do–because the thing was so appalling.
Rock Baker

So, the plot recap is from BURIAL GROUND, but the pic itself is from DAWN OF THE MUMMY, right?

I remember DAWN mostly because it was so schizophrenic. The plot about models and their photographers seemed designed to showcase a lot of flesh but instead the movie was rather restrained and just had fashion models doing a shoot. Then the movie swerved into horror territory and it was downright nasty (the guy’s innocent young bride being unveiled as a main coarse in particular struck me as needlessly crass). In the end, I felt I had watched a film with potential, but ultimately one I have no desire to ever see again.
Gravedigger’s Local 16

DAWN OF THE MUMMY: From the people that brought you ROBOTECH! No, really…
Flangepart

And now ,we get ads for BATES HOTEL…and the circle continues, methinks…
Cullen Waters

DAWN OF THE MUMMY is one of those movies I always saw on video shelves but never had a chance to see. Were it to be put on NETFLIX I’d be almost giddy with excitement over getting to see it, just like I was over ZOMBIE LAKE.

Which means I’ve learned absolutely nothing from ZOMBIE LAKE.
The Rev.

Burial Ground was shown at TwF2011.

Incidentally, I had watched BG for the first time not long before we
screened it. I was very unhappy to see it again so soon. I was mollified when
everyone started shrieking during the resolution of the incest subplot, but
then that thrice-damned ending came on and I was angry all over again.

Dawn of the Mummy is one of the only ’80s Euro-zom movies I have left, along with Zombie Lake, which is lurking on Netflix, and
The Beyond, which has been sitting on my DVR for far too long.

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