A sarcophagus with its name and face scratched out is discovered in an old storeroom of the Louvre during remodeling. An attempt at X-raying the mummy inside unleashes a demonic force which infiltrates the building's electronic systems. Shopkeeper Lisa (Sophie Marceau) discovers a hole in the basement of her apartment building made by the Louvre workmen that leads her and electrician boyfriend Martin (Frederic Diefenthal) into the museum after hours where she is possessed by the demon. As British archaeologist Glenda Spencer (Julie Christie) tries to discover the name of the mummy, retired policeman Verlac (Michel Serrault) starts investigating the deadly sightings of a cloaked and masked figure that is stealing ceremonial items from the Egyptology wing and turning the guards fears against them (he investigated similar events 20 years before - allowing the filmmakers to use digitally augmented footage from the black and white miniseries; that film's star Juliet Greco also makes a cameo). Meanwhile, Martin is constantly bewildered by Lisa's bizarre behavior as she disappears each night the phantom strikes.

Jean-Paul Salomé remakes Claude Barma's 1965 miniseries (itself adapted from Arthur Bernède's pulp novel) with the aid of CGI and the marquee value of Sophie Marceau. The production looks marvelous with location work at the Louvre but the attempt to keep things light results in some unevenness (language, nudity and bloody deaths juxtaposed with the "cute" budding romance between Marceau and Diefenthal) and might have been more successful had it adopted a more consistently dark tone. The CGI effects are unimpressive with the mummy's skeletal spirit looking laughable while animated movements of the cloaked figure look cheap. On the other hand, Bruno Coulais' impressive layered electronic and ethnic score smooths over the uneven pacing and adds heavily to the ambiance of multiple scenes of Marceau supernaturally drawn to the museum. That said, it manages to be more interesting and entertaining than the American blockbusters producer Alain Sarde and director Jean-Paul Salome seem to be inspired by.