PHARAOH'S CURSE

Mark Dana and Ziva Rhodann

PHARAOH'S CURSE (1957). Director: Lee Sholem. 

"It was never Robert's fate that he should meet a peaceful death." 

In 1902 Egypt Captain Storm (Mark Dana) travels with a woman named Sylvia Quentin (Diane Brewster) to her husband's archaeological site in the Valley of the Kings. Native uprisings against the Crown have necessitated a bodyguard for Mrs. Quentin and Storm is elected. Along the way they encounter a mysterious female named Simira (Ziva Rhodann), whose brother, Numar (Alvaro Guillot), is working at the dig. Sylvia basically wants a divorce from her husband, Robert (George N. Neise), but bigger problems develop when they open the tomb of King Rahotep, and there is a transfer of souls from the mummy into Numar, who instantly ages and even turns into a blood-drinking vampire. 

A vampire that looks most unwell

Pharaoh's Curse has some atmosphere and isn't badly acted but it never develops into a truly memorable horror film. In his vampire form, Numar manages to drain every ounce of blood from both animals and humans, but he does it in such a record-breaking amount of time that it's almost comical -- one can imagine him slurping up a person's entire blood supply in a matter of seconds. The fact that he hardly seems animated or energetic enough to do much of anything makes it even funnier. George N. Neise seemed to make a specialty of playing immoral and weasel-like characters. This was the first film credit (after one TV appearance) of Ziva Rhodann, an Israeli actress who was first billed as Ziva Shapir in this film and others; she did mostly  television work. From those fine folk at Bel-Air Studios. 

Verdict: Mediocre vampire-mummy movie. **1/4.