After a group of archeologists tinker with and oxidize a Sphinx statue of a being known as Norzzug [hmmm, that doesn't sound like an Egyptian name to me], the protector of a certain area of Egypt, the Sphinx becomes animate, and goes on a rampage, seeking out various oil repositories, which it uses as a fuel source [it's too bad that George Bush Jr. wasn't President at the time, since he would have sent the entirety of the U.S. Armed Forces at poor old Norzzug to save his family's beloved oil, and then probably found an excuse to go to war with Egypt to secure control of that oil in the process!].