Rating: 3/5
Cult Movie Challenge 2018 | 18/52 | Splatter
We begin, not in Manhattan, but in Egypt. An archeologist, George, catches a scorpion for his nine-year-old daughter, Susie. Emily, a journalist and George’s wife, takes a picture of Susie in front of the Sphinx. A hole opens in the sand. Susie goes into a trance, her hand full of sand. Emily runs off to take photos, letting Susie catch a break. A mysterious woman with white eyes approaches Susie. She holds out her hand, and Susie puts some lire in the woman’s hand, and the woman puts an amulet with a jeweled eye in Susie’s hand.
George’s team unearths a stone that George believes holds the answer to many mysteries, including the Tomb of Habnumenor. The locals believe that the tomb is cursed and regret having unearthed it, but one man volunteers to enter with him. They find a hidden passage, but fall through a trapdoor, sending the assistant down into a bed of spikes. George rolls away in time to evade the spikes. He sees a glowing blue orb on the wall, matching the image on the amulet the woman gave to Susie. It’s blue light lasers that blind George.
Emily returns to find Susie holding the mysterious amulet. George, blind, miraculously stumbles out of the tomb. Back in New York, the family reunites with their younger son, Tommy, and the nanny, Jamie Lee. Things seem okay at first, but the amulet starts to have a strange effect on the family.
Fulci worked with producer Fabrizio De Angelis, who promised Fulci his largest budget to date. Along with screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti, they sought to craft a horror story without the Gothic ethos of traditional horror. However, when De Angelis cut their budget by three-quarters, many of the special effects planned could not be realized, resulting in a film that left De Angelis alone satisfied.
That isn’t to say the film is a total failure. The opening stuff in Egypt is quite fun, albeit no real departure from traditional horror. It’s wild that the Egypt stuff was added after the fact just to give the film an “international feel.” Instead, the film is just slow and relatively uneventful after the Egypt scenes. Still, Fulci and crew create an uneasy atmosphere that gives way to a few eerie moments.
Fulci followed up this movie with Conquest, which was quite the departure for him
** Stray Thoughts **
- I wish they hadn’t killed that snake for real :(
- Tommy calls Susie a “lousy lesbian.”
- “Did you say ‘yoga’ or ‘yogurt’?”
- — Is something the matter? — I don’t know, it’s a premonition or something.
- Unacknowledge blood splatter, I dig
- Fulci just seems to have consistent access to scorpions.
- They sure were impatient with that Polaroid!
- The actor who plays Tommy looks like baby Klaus Kinski
- This score, as always, rules.