Margaret (Valerie Leon) suffers a recurring nightmare in which she sees an ancient Egyptian queen, to whom she bears an uncannyt resemblance, sealed up in a sarcophagus. The priests who entomb her first chop off her hand, before throwing it to jackals. They are then killed by a mysterious and powerful force that lacerates their throats. Margaret's father, Professor Fuchs (Andrew Keir), gives her a ring that he discovered in the tomb of Queen Tera 20 years before- the ring was on the queen's disembodied hand. At the moment Fuchs discovered the Queen's perfectly preserved, still bleeding body, MArgaret's mother died giving birth to her. It transpire that Margaret is a vessel for Tera's magic. When a certain celestial condjuction is complete, and three key artefacts are assembled by Tera's corpse, the evil sorceress will be reborn... The shooting of this complex and disturbing film was beset by tragedy. Original star Peter Cushing had to leave the production after just one day when his wife fell ill and subsequently died. Five weeks into shooting director Seth Holt suffered a heart attack and died, leaving Hammer's managing director Michael Carreras to complete the remaining sequences.
