In 2000BC a son is born to an Egyptian pharaoh [Bruno Barnabe]. When the boy Kah-to-Bey [Toolsie Persaud] is about 12 the pharaoh is overthrown and killed, but the boy escapes into the desert with one some of the pharaoh's servants lead by Prem [Dickie Owen]. However they soon start to perish through lack of food and water. As he dies, Kah-to-Bey presents Prem with the royal seal of the pharaohs. Prem carves the time and place of death onto a nearby rock.In 1920 an expedition led by Sir Basil Walden [André Morell] is searching for the tomb of Kah-to-Bey but goes missing. Financier Stanley Preston [John Phillips] and his wife Barbara [Elizabeth Sellars] arrive in Egypt, met by his publicity manager and assistant Longbarrow [Michael Ripper]. The Preston's son Paul [David Buck] is part of the expedition. Preston instructs Longbarrow to increase the efforts to find the expedition.The expedition is camped in the desert but stuck in a sandstorm. Walden, Paul, Egyptian linguistics expert Claire [Maggie Kimberly] and expedition photographer Harry [Tim Barrett] believe they are close to the tomb but debate returning to safety. They decide to continue but Claire believes trouble will really start once they have left the desert.Preston presents a news conference at which he displays a mummy [Eddie Powell]. He believes it to be the body of Prem, who was buried as a pharaoh because he had the royal seal but was actually the slave who buried Kah-to-Bey at the rock of death in the desert. Pressed by the journalists, Preston agrees to join one of the search expeditions.When the sandstorm stops, Walden and the others find the rock marking Kah-to-Bey's tomb. As they enter they are confronted by Hasmid [Roger Delgado], protector of the tomb, who is armed with a knife. They disarm him and he leaves, warning them death will come to them for entering the tomb. Walden is bitten by a snake and while the others treat him, Preston and Longbarrow's search party arrives. When Walden has recovered, they dig through the wall of the tomb until Walden, Preston, Paul, Claire, Harry and Longbarrow are able to enter. They find Kah-to-Bey's body buried in the sand under a shroud but Claire refuses to read the wording on the shroud because she believes it will raise evil spirits.Back at the hotel Walden becomes ill and is admitted to hospital but soon after is transferred to a mental hospital. Paul is suspicious and accuses his father of deliberately having Walden transferred in order to take all the credit for himself. Police Inspector Barrani [Richard Warner] arrives to inform them that Walden has escaped from the mental hospital.Walden flees through the streets hiding from the police. Haiti [Catherine Lacey], a fortune teller, brings Walden into her house and warns Walden he will soon be dead. Her son is Hasmid, who tells Walden they will all die one by one for entering the tomb. Hasmid goes to the museum room where the Egyptian exhibits are being stored including Kah-to-Bey's body and Prem's mummy. He reads the shroud and the mummy awakens. The mummy goes to Haiti's house and kills Walden. A cleaner later finds Walden's body in the museum. Barrani asks Preston to identify the body and points out the shroud is missing. Preston wants to return to England but Barrani wants him to remain in Egypt while the investigation is in progress.Harry has a photo of the shroud so Claire asks to go and see it. As they leave the hotel, Haiti gives Claire her card. Claire believes the shroud may hold the clue to Walden's murder and that the shroud may bring something to life but also cause death.Haiti and Hasmid watch Claire, Paul and Harry through Haiti's crystal ball. Hasmid awakens the mummy again by reciting the words on the shroud and it goes to Harry's apartment after Paul and Claire have left and kills him.Preston wants to leave immediately and Longbarrow wants to go with him. Barbara, Paul and Claire decide to stay to uncover the mystery. However, Longbarrow is spotted by the police looking at the sailing departures and Barrani returns him to the hotel, insisting Preston remains at the hotel too. Preston instructs Longbarrow to discretely book him a solo passage that night, but that evening the mummy goes to Longbarrow's room and throws him through the window to the ground below. Preston becomes nervous when Longbarrow doesn't appear and decides to leave. Haiti and Hasmid watch him through the crystal ball. As Preston walks to the dock Hasmid stops him, pretending to arrange a transport carriage for Preston. Instead Hasmid returns home to waken the mummy again and it kills Preston.Barrani tells Paul, Claire and Barbara about the supernatural forces that may be at work in the deaths and says they are free to leave. Claire goes to Haiti's and asks why four of her friends have died. Haiti tells her it is because they entered the tomb and two more will die including Claire, but she may be able to save herself. Watched secretly by Hasmid, Haiti tells Claire to go to Prem's mummy and beg for forgiveness.Paul goes to the museum and sees blood on the mummy's hand so knows the mummy is responsible for the deaths. He goes to fetch the police and returns just after Claire arrives and starts speaking to the mummy. Hasmid wakens the mummy by reciting the words again and it attacks Paul. The police try and stop it but Hasmid laughs at them because only a person with the shroud can stop the mummy. The police shoot Hasmid and Claire reads the words from the shroud causing the mummy to crumble into dust. Claire places the shroud back where it belongs over Kah-to-Bey's body.