The Curse of King Tut's Tomb | |
---|---|
Written by | David Titcher |
Directed by | Russell Mulcahy |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Nathan Furst |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Mitch Engel |
Cinematography | Chris Manley |
Editor | Colleen Halsey |
Running time | 170 minutes |
Production company | Hallmark Entertainment |
Original release | |
Network | |
Release | May 27, 2006 |
The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (also known as The Curse of King Tut) is a 2006 adventure fantasy horror television film directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Casper Van Dien, Leonor Varela, and Jonathan Hyde.
In ancient Egypt, Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh who is said to have died young, was actually sent by the sun god Ra to protect the people from the demon Set, who escaped from the Underworld and caused chaos in Egypt. With Ra's blessing, Tutankhamun manages to overcome Set and keep the demon under control by breaking an emerald tablet into four pieces and sending the pieces to the far corners of the world. However, the tradeoff is that he must remain in the Underworld.
In 1922, Danny Fremont, an archaeologist, is searching for the last piece of the tablet, which is believed to be in Tutankhamun's tomb. He found the first three pieces earlier, but they were seized from him by his rival, Morgan Sinclair. Sinclair is in the service of the Hellfire Council, a secret committee formed by a group of influential men from around the world, and they wish to use the tablet's powers to achieve their goal of world domination. Sinclair uses the Hellfire Council's influence to damage Fremont's reputation and cause him to lose his job.
Fremont is undaunted by the challenges he faces. With help from his buddies, he manages to convince several others, including a sceptical Egyptologist named Azelia Barakat, to join him in his quest to find Tutankhamun's tomb and the last piece of the tablet. Despite their efforts, the last piece still falls into the hands of Sinclair and the Hellfire Council. Sinclair assembles all four pieces in the tomb, absorbs the tablet's powers, and unleashes Set and the demons of the Underworld. He also gets rid of the Hellfire Council's members later.
Fremont and his companions manage to hold off Sinclair and other enemies and make their way back to the tomb, where they open a portal to the Underworld. In the Underworld, Fremont and his friends succeed in finding and freeing Tutankhamun, but the boy pharaoh is too weak to help them. Meanwhile, Sinclair is absorbed by Set, who then attacks Fremont. At the critical moment, Barakat prays to Ra to empower Tutankhamun and her wish is granted. Tutankhamun springs to life, fights and destroys Set, and brings Fremont and Barakat (the only two survivors) safely out of the Underworld. Before leaving, Tutankhamun thanks them and tells them that "all things are as they should have been". Fremont and Barakat do not understand what he means and they leave the tomb just before it closes by itself.
Back in the streets of Cairo, Fremont and Barakat finally understand what Tutankhamun meant when they see that all the negative events which happened earlier have been reversed: their dead companions are alive and well; Barakat's fiancé is happily married to another woman and has a family. Fremont chances upon Howard Carter and gives him the map to Tutankhamun's tomb; Carter becomes world-famous for his "discovery". At the end, in the Museum of Antiquities, Fremont proposes to Barakat and she agrees to marry him.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2014) |
It was filmed in Jaipur and Mumbai in India. [1] Van Dien compared his character to Indiana Jones, noting that his character was geekier and that he was "not as cool" as Harrison Ford. [2]
Originally intended to be a four-hour miniseries, The Curse of King Tut's Tomb had about an hour and forty-five minutes edited from the length for the screener copy sent to critics; [3] the version aired on Hallmark was approximately 180 minutes in length. [4]
The film debuted in Spain on April 11, 2006. [5] The film premiered on Hallmark Channel on May 27, 2006. [6] The first DVD release was in Japan on December 23, 2006. [7]
Critical reception for the film upon its release on Hallmark was negative. [3] [8] [9] TV Guide reviewed the film, stating that "the CG-laden miniseries is a gluttonous bore of a tale that is only interesting for the cheesy effects that pop up on the screen every ten or so odd minutes. Otherwise, it's a spot-that-poor-classy actor game, which almost always leads to Malcolm McDowell, who's seen better days in far more worthwhile projects". [10] A reviewer for the Hartford Courant was similarly critical, as they felt that "the thing doesn't even have an ending, preferring to say 'To Be Continued ...' as if it were an old afternoon serial, or a movie we actually cared about". [6]
Howard Carter was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings.
Tutankhamun, Tutankhamon or Tutankhamen, also known as Tutankhaten, was the antepenultimate pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. His death marked the cessation of the dynasty's royal line.
Akhenaten, also spelled Akhenaton or Echnaton, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning c. 1353–1336 or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the fifth year of his reign, he was known as Amenhotep IV.
George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon,, styled Lord Porchester until 1890, was an English peer and aristocrat best known as the financial backer of the search for and excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
Zahi Abass Hawass is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, serving twice. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Western Desert and the Upper Nile Valley.
The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun, a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of four chambers and an entrance staircase and corridor. It is smaller and less extensively decorated than other Egyptian royal tombs of its time, and it probably originated as a tomb for a non-royal individual that was adapted for Tutankhamun's use after his premature death. Like other pharaohs, Tutankhamun was buried with a wide variety of funerary objects and personal possessions, such as coffins, furniture, clothing and jewelry, though in the unusually limited space these goods had to be densely packed. Robbers entered the tomb twice in the years immediately following the burial, but Tutankhamun's mummy and most of the burial goods remained intact. The tomb's low position, dug into the floor of the valley, allowed its entrance to be hidden by debris deposited by flooding and tomb construction. Thus, unlike other tombs in the valley, it was not stripped of its valuables during the Third Intermediate Period.
Ay was the penultimate pharaoh of ancient Egypt's 18th Dynasty. He held the throne of Egypt for a brief four-year period in the late 14th century BC. Prior to his rule, he was a close advisor to two, and perhaps three, other pharaohs of the dynasty. It is speculated that he was the power behind the throne during child ruler Tutankhamun's reign. His prenomenKheperkheperure means "Everlasting are the Manifestations of Ra," while his nomenAy it-netjer reads as "Ay, Father of the God." Records and monuments that can be clearly attributed to Ay are rare, both because his reign was short and because his successor, Horemheb, instigated a campaign of damnatio memoriae against him and the other pharaohs associated with the unpopular Amarna Period.
Tomb KV54 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. It was originally excavated by Edward R. Ayrton on behalf of the American lawyer Theodore M. Davis, who funded the work.
Egypt is a BBC television docudrama serial portraying events in the history of Egyptology from the 18th through early 20th centuries. It originally aired on Sunday nights at 9 pm on BBC1 in 2005. The first two episodes explored the work of Howard Carter and his archaeological quest in Egypt in the early part of the twentieth century. The next two episodes focused on the eccentric explorer "The Great Belzoni" played here by Matthew Kelly. The final two episodes dramatise the discovery and deciphering of the Rosetta Stone by Jean-François Champollion.
Harry Burton was an English archaeological photographer, best known for his photographs of excavations in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. Today, he is sometimes referred to as an Egyptologist, since he worked for the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for around 25 years, from 1915 until his death. His most famous photographs are the estimated 3,400 or more images that he took documenting Howard Carter's excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb from 1922 to 1932.
Tomb of the Golden Bird is the 18th in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and first published in 2006. It features fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. The story is set in the 1922 - 1923 archeological dig season in Egypt.
Exhibitions of artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun have been held at museums in several countries, notably the United Kingdom, Soviet Union, United States, Canada, Japan, and France.
Pierre Lacau was a French Egyptologist and philologist. He served as Egypt's director of antiquities from 1914 until 1936, and oversaw the 1922 discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter.
The curse of the pharaohs or the mummy's curse is a curse alleged to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian, especially a pharaoh. This curse, which does not differentiate between thieves and archaeologists, is claimed to cause bad luck, illness, or death. Since the mid-20th century, many authors and documentaries have argued that the curse is 'real' in the sense of having scientifically explicable causes such as bacteria, fungi or radiation. However, the modern origins of Egyptian mummy curse tales, their development primarily in European cultures, the shift from magic to science to explain curses, and their changing uses—from condemning disturbance of the dead to entertaining horror film audiences—suggest that Egyptian curses are primarily a cultural, not scientific, phenomenon.
Nakhtmin held the position of generalissimo during the reign of pharaoh Tutankhamun of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. His titles during the reign of Tutankhamun included "the true servant who is beneficial to his lord, the king's scribe," "the servant beloved of his lord," "the Fan-bearer on the Right Side of the King," and "the servant who causes to live the name of his lord." These titles were found on five ushabtis that Nakhtmin offered as funerary presents for pharaoh Tutankhamun.
The Curse of King Tut's Tomb is a 1980 horror film directed by Philip Leacock and starring Eva Marie Saint, Harry Andrews, Raymond Burr and Tom Baker, with Paul Scofield as the narrator.
Tutankhamun's mummy was discovered by English Egyptologist Howard Carter and his team on 28 October 1925 in tomb KV62 in the Valley of the Kings. Tutankhamun was the 13th pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, making his mummy over 3,300 years old. Tutankhamun's mummy is the only royal mummy to have been found entirely undisturbed.
Arthur Cruttenden Mace was a Tasmanian-born English archaeologist and Egyptologist. He is best known for his work for the New York Metropolitan Museum, and as a part of Howard Carter's team during the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb.
The mask of Tutankhamun is a gold funerary mask of the 18th-dynasty ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. After being buried for over 3,000 years, it was excavated by Howard Carter in 1925 from tomb KV62 in the Valley of the Kings. It has been displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo from 1925 to present. The death mask is one of the best-known works of art in the world and a prominent symbol of ancient Egypt.
The tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 by excavators led by the Egyptologist Howard Carter, more than 3,300 years after Tutankhamun's death and burial. Whereas the tombs of most pharaohs were plundered by graverobbers in ancient times, Tutankhamun's tomb was hidden by debris for most of its existence and therefore not extensively robbed. It thus became the first known largely intact royal burial from ancient Egypt.