In ancient Egypt, the high priests entomb Tera, a queen with great supernatural powers, surronding her with symbols of her magic, the skull of a jackal, statuettes of a cobra and a cat. For protection, they sever her hand, which wears a ruby ring, the symbol of her power. However, as the priests leave the tomb they are slaughtered by an unseen force.

In the twentieth century, archaeologist Professor Julian Fuchs opens Tera's tomb to find her body perfectly preserved. Affected by her influence, Fuchs orders the relics transported back to England. Fuchs's wife dies giving birth to their daughter Margaret at the precise moment that the professor enters the tomb.

Margaret grows up, and on her twenty-first birthday Fuchs presents her with Tera's ring. Margaret becomes possessed by the spirit of Tera, rejecting her boyfriend Tod Browning for the older Corbeck, one of her father's colleagues. One by one the members of the professor's party, Berigan, Danbridge and Helen Dickerson, are killed, and relics of Tera's are retrieved.

Margaret wills Tod's death when he tries to intervene. Corbeck has discovered the scroll of life, wich he uses to revive Tera. Fuchs stops the ceremony, mutilating Tera and starting a fire which destroys the house and everything in it. There is, however, one survivor, a dark-eyed girl who stares out from swathes of bandages...

The End

Cast

Andrew Keir - Professor Julian Fuchs

Valerie Leon - Margaret / Tera

James Villiers - Corbeck

Hugh Burden - Danbridge

George Coulouris - Berigan

Mark Edwards - Tod Browning

Rosalie Crutchley - Helen Dickerson

Aubrey Morris - Doctor Putnam

David Markham - Doctor Burgess

Director - Seth Holt

Producer - Howard Brandy

Screenplay - Christopher Wicking, based on the novel "jewel of the seven stars" by Bram Stoker

Music - Tristram Cary