Rating: *
Review Date: 9/29/24
Cast: John Carradine
A plane carrying two Egyptian sarcophagi crashes into Lake Mead and an archeologist who lives nearby manages to retrieve them. One sarcophagus contains the perfectly preserved princess Akana while the other contains the mummy of her lover, Silat. A prophecy states that Akana will rise from her eternal rest in 1969 and that Isis will grant her the power to speak English (I'm not making this up). It also states that anyone in the presence of the princess during a full moon will suffer "the curse of the jackal," meaning they will transform into a bloodthirsty "jackal-man" during the full moon. Naturally, the archeologist wants to test this idea and is stricken with the curse. He also falls madly in love with Akana, who has him helplessly under her spell. Not surprisingly, this angers Silat, who comes back to life to aid and protect Akana. He and the jackal-man are mortal (immortal?) enemies, and they chase each other down the Las Vegas strip, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. The film ends abruptly as the mummy and the jackal-man drown in Lake Mead and Akana inexplicably turns to bones and dust.
The film is a staggering monument to no-budget ineptitude and is tough to watch. The primary location appears to be a condemned fire-damaged house in the middle of the desert where the archeologist lives. The massive spiderwebs that cover the front porch miraculously reappear every few hours so that people are constantly walking into them. The makeup and visual effects are laughably bad and the acting is appalling. Only screen legend John Carradine displays any shred of talent, and he only shows up in the last twenty minutes for a handful of scenes to explain what's going on to the bewildered local police. The location footage in Las Vegas is hilarious, as people point and laugh at the rampaging monsters and try to follow them down the sidewalk as if they were some kind of sideshow entertainment.