DVD Review: Sands of Oblivion

By Jeff Swindoll Mar 18, 2008, 15:59 GMT

The story about an ancient Egyptian curse that\'s unleashed after having been buried among the sets of Cecil B. DeMille\'s original "The Ten Commandments." Would-be paramours Dr. Alice Carter and soldier Mark Tevis unleash an avenging spirit, in the form of Anubis, from the god of chaos and infertility. Plagues of locusts, swarms of snakes, death and destruction soon follow. ...more

In 1923, Cecil B. DeMille was shooting his epic silent version of the Ten Commandments in the California desert.  After some mysterious deaths on the set he had the whole thing buried beneath the sands.

Now a team of archeologists unearths the dig and discovers why DeMille was so insistent that it be claimed by the sands of time.
  
When John Tevis (George Kennedy) was a youth his father was in charge of procuring set pieces for Cecil B. DeMille (Dan Castellaneta).  DeMille was in the California desert in 1923 shooting his epic version of the Ten Commandments and insisted on building life size sets as well as using real Egyptian artifacts.  When some deaths occur on the set, DeMille insists that the whole shebang be buried in the sand dunes. 

Cut forward to present day and the dunes are going to be flooded for a transportation project.  Archeologist Alice Carter (Morena Baccarin) is trying to find this legendary set before the valley is flooded.  Tevis buried a box of boyhood treasures while he was on the set and brings his grandson Mark (Victor Webster) to the area daily so that they can dig around in hopes of recovering it.
 
Tevis stumbles upon the set and gets wedged in a hole on top of the room and one of the statues springs to life and tears his arm off.  Mark mourns his grandfather but hires on to help Alice move the set away from the danger zone.  Alice’s soon to be ex-husband Jesse (Adam Baldwin) shows up and threatens to sabotage her budding romance with Mark, but everyone’s life is in danger when the possessed statue breaks free from the prison that DeMille had created for it and starts creating havoc and destruction across the valley.
 
Only the knowledge of DeMille curator Nigel Barrington (John Aniston) and a necklace buried in John’s treasure chest can send the Egyptian demon back to the hot sands.
 
Sands of Oblivion won me over with the old Hollywood storyline – I’m a sucker for those.  However, it lost me with its terrible special effects, Sci-Fi Channel quality, and lack of a good villain.  The acting is decent from some of the leads but for the most part we’re into bad TV movie territory. 

It’s always a pleasure to see George Kennedy again (love his bit from the first Airport amongst many more) but this one is obviously to pay George’s rent.  Browncoats will get a thrill to see Firefly vets Adam Baldwin and Morena Baccarin back together again but if only it was in a film worthy of such a reunion. 

Sands of Oblivion has an interesting idea but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.  

Sands of Oblivion is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include the 10-minute “Beyond the Dunes” making of featurette.
  
Sands of Oblivion takes what could’ve been an interesting film and it sinks under the weight (or lack of weight) of a low budget.  You may want to rent it for the Firefly reunion but just don’t expect anything noteworthy. 
 
Sands of Oblivion is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.