Professor Douglas McCadden, Ben Murphy, leads an investigation into the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king Tutankhamun, only to have an earthquake reveal a hidden chamber that seems to contain more than a royal relic. Inside the sarcophagus lies a body that initially appears to be a mummy, but the viewers soon learn it is an extraterrestrial being preserved in suspended animation, its form masked by a dormant green fungus. The discovery travels to California, where Dr. Ken Melrose takes charge of the scientific work, coordinating examinations that begin with X-rays performed by student Peter Sharpe, [Kevin Brophy]. The medical team notices five crystals clustered around the alien’s head, a detail that will drive a shocking chain of events.
The next developments hinge on those crystals. Peter, drawn by curiosity and opportunity, steers a dangerous course by stealing the crystals and fabricating new X-ray results to conceal the theft. He distributes four of the crystals to other students, who remain ignorant of their origin. The act of reusing the X-rays exposes the mummy to an excessive dose of radiation, a reckless move that wakes the dormant intruder from its centuries-long sleep and reactivates the creeping green fungus that had kept it dormant for so long. The tension intensifies as the laboratory becomes a crime scene without a clear motive, and fear grows among the campus community.
At the subsequent press conference, the public is shown the dramatic aftereffects of the renewed life within the sarcophagus. A curious student’s touch of the fungus causes a grotesque bite and the initial signs of danger are dismissed as a prank or a misstep. When the glass case is finally opened in front of the cameras, the mummy is gone, and the investigators must confront an unsettling truth: someone tampered with the artifact. Dr. Hayworth joins the effort to identify the alien fungus and devise a plan to neutralize it, while University President Wendell J. Rossmore, James Karen, looks for a scapegoat to shield the Egyptian department and land a strategic promotion for his ally, Dr. Bruce Serrano.
As the alien begins to actively pursue the stolen crystals, Lt. Plummer, Darwin Joston, is drawn into a case that resembles a serial-killer investigation more than an ordinary science mystery. Plummer follows a trail of violence that grows colder and more deliberate as more students fall victim to the creature’s ferocious attacks. The investigation forces Douglas to push beyondEgyptian hieroglyphs and into the alien’s biology, while the layers of campus politics begin to peel away. The tension between scientific curiosity and institutional ambition becomes a backdrop for a dangerous hunt.
Douglas dedicates himself to translating the hieroglyphic text recovered from the sarcophagus in the hope that it will reveal the alien’s origins and its weaknesses. The inscriptions tell a chilling tale: Tutankhamun encountered the alien long ago and treated the creature as a divine presence, touching it out of awe and fear. The consequence was a deadly fungal contagion that killed Tutankhamun’s attendants and bound the two beings together in the tomb. This revelation makes it clear that the crystals are not mere ornamental artifacts; they are essential components of an intergalactic transportation device that would allow the alien to travel back to its home planet. Douglas traces the stolen crystals to Peter, and the student eventually confesses, handing over the remaining crystal to finalize the theft-recovery.
With the alien’s plans exposed, the final confrontation unfolds in a cluttered boiler room where the device comes to life. The mummy, wrapped anew by the fungus, sheds its wrappings to reveal its true form and activate the transportation matrix with the last recovered crystal. A violent standoff ensues as a security guard fires at the alien, and Douglas sacrifices himself to shield the creature, stepping between danger and the etheric device. The alien and Douglas vanish into the transportation portal, leaving a single crystal behind where the alien stood. Bruce Serrano, Sam Chew Jr., seizes the crystal only to feel the fungus tighten its grip on his own hand, signaling that the creature’s influence may be far from finished. The film closes on a haunting note, with the ominous line suggesting a continuation: To Be Continued.
