The Mummy Lives!

 

 (the moviedb.org)

THE MUMMY-1959-Steve Banning (Felix Aylmer), his brother John (Peter Cushing) and their uncle Joseph (Raymond Huntley) are digging around ruins in Egypt. After finding princess Ananka, Steve accidentally calls forth her mummy guardian and goes crazy. Years later, an Egyptian brings the mummy to Steve (now in an asylum) in England. A flashback reveals how it all came about. How when the princess died and high priest Kharis tried to bring her back to life, was caught and buried alive. The now mummified Kharis (Christopher Lee) goes for revenge, killing Steve and Joseph. His killing of John fails when he notices that John's wife Isobel (Yvonne Furneaux) resembles the princess. A disbelieving police inspector (Eddie Byrne) helps set up Kharis in the finale. 

Another great Hammer horror picture directed by Terence Fisher, a remake of the 1933 Boris Karloff film.

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Hammer Mummy

 

 (tcm.com)

THE MUMMY'S SHROUD-1967-After a lengthy intro about the death of an Egyptian boy king, pompous rude Stanley Preston (John Phillips) and his wife (Elizabeth Sellars) arrive in Cairo intent on locating a missing expedition he funded. The lost group is headed by Sir Basil Walton (Andre Morell), along with his assistant Claire (Maggie Kimberly), Harry (Tim Barrett) and Preston's son Paul (David Buck). They are looking for the tomb of the young prince. 

Preston's group finds the expedition but Basil is bitten by a snake. They find the mummy and the elder Preston proceeds to hog the spotlight and take all the credit. When they get back to Cairo, he even has Walton committed to an insane asylum. A fortune teller's son, Hasmid (Roger Delgado) revives a different mummy and it kills Walton who has escaped the asylum. The second victim is Harry who has acid poured on him and is set on fire. Next is Preston's long-suffering assistant Longbarrow (Michael Ripper) who is thrown out a window. When Preston tries to illegally leave the country (deserting his wife & son) the mummy gets him. Later while trying to apologize to the mummy Hasmid sics the mummy on Claire who with help from David and the chief of police (Richard Warner) says the words of death and the mummy crumbles.

 This Hammer production is a pretty standard horror film, not offering anything new. Director John Gilling (THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES (1966)) wasn't happy with the results. It's the last movie made by Hammer in their Bray Studios. The Mummy is played by Eddie Powell, Christopher Lee's “Dracula” stunt double.

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Shot On Location!

 

 

 (imdb)

DAWN OF THE MUMMY-1981-In ancient Egypt, a mummy is entombed with a curse placed on it to whoever tries to break in. In the modern day, a group of photographers and models go to the desert for a shoot while some grave-robbers look for an ancient treasure. After a lot of talk the mummy comes back to life and brings some other mummies with him. They turn out to be cannibals too. Later the mummy horde invades a wedding, killing and eating guests and the bride and groom. 

This was shot mainly in Egypt with too much talking, dark scenes and actors bellowing when scared. The director Frank Agrama also made QUEEN KONG (1976) and later was involved with the US production of the Japanese anime ROBOTECH.

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Mummy in Spain

 

 (imdb)

VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST-1974-A voodoo priest in the Caribbean is burned for having an affair with a married woman named Kenya. Many years later he comes back as a revenge seeking mummy when he's discovered by an expedition and brought aboard a luxury liner. He wakes up and sometimes he's crusty looking but most times he's normal. He cuts off the head of a steward and puts the head in the bed of Silvia (Eva Leon), a woman who may be the reincarnation of his girlfriend. Then he has a guy he's made his slave run over a doctor with a steamroller. A short rotund police chief figures out what's going on and the mummy is burned up. 

This production from Spain is pretty bad. The director Manuel Cano also made THE SWAMP OF THE RAVENS.

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Hopefully They Stopped Walking By Now...

 

 (imdb)

GHOSTS THAT STILL WALK-1977-A nice kid named Mark (Matt Boston) is having trouble with his medulla oblongata. His grandma (Ann Nelson) takes him to see a psychiatrist. The shrink (Rita Crafts) believes Mark's trouble might stem from the fact that his mom (Caroline Howe), an author, has suffered a nervous breakdown. Mark hears voices and says he tried to kill grandma who agrees to undergo hypnotism to find some repressed memory. She remembers when she and hubby bought a motor home and went to the Calico ghost town then a horrifying experience when their vehicle went out of control. Then the old folks are attacked by boulders on a salt flat desert while the theme from SPIDER BABY plays. Then while grandpa is fixing the air-conditioning, their vehicle starts up by itself and takes him and granny on an unscheduled driver less ride.

 Back in the present, grandma and the shrink have a long pointless discussion. At night the shrink reads the notebook of Mark's mom which relates the story of 3 ancient mummies she has and astral projection. Later it seems that Mark is being possessed by an American shaman who died a long time ago but still exists in his Astral form. Grandma's prayer to God saves the day. 

This boring incoherent mess was the brainchild of director/writer James T. Flocker who was involved in several low budget productions and wrote the original story for the movie that became THE CURSE OF BIGFOOT.

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Night of the Living Head

 

 (imdb)

LA CABEZA VIVIENTE-1963-In the year 1525 in Mexico, Aztecs worship the head of a great warrior, Acatl. They hide the head in a secret tomb along with a priest Xihu (Guillero Cramer) and a princess Xochiquati (Ana Luisa Peluffo) (who they seem to blame for Acatl's demise) to watch over it. 

In 1963 Prof. Muller (German Robles) discovers the head and opens a stone coffin to find the well preserved body of the priest. When Muller removes a mask from the head it opens its eyes. (No one in his party sees it) They take the head and the mummy like priest back to their lab. Muller's daughter Marta (also Peluffo) is there and she discovers one of the archaeologists dead with his heart cut out. Police inspector Toledo (Producer Abel Salazar) investigates. It seems the head can control the dead priest and has him/it kill the defilers of his tomb.

Considering there's a reanimated severed head and a fairly scary warrior mummy this isn't that good with a climax that goes on way too long. Director Chano Urueta made his first movie in 1928! After this he made several “Blue Demon” wrestling movies.

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Lucha Libre vs. Monsters

 

 (imdb)

SANTO & BLUE DEMON VS. THE MONSTERS-1970-After Santo (playing himself) watches a women's wrestling match, he watches his friend Blue Demon in tag team action. Later it's announced that a famous scientist Dr. Bruno Haulder (Carlos Ancira) who once brought a dead person back to life with a brain transplant has died. His brother refuses to answer questions about his experiments when his daughter Gloria (Hedy Blue) asks. Gloria also happens to be Santo's main squeeze. The dead doctor's body is taken from his tomb by some green faced ghouls. While driving in his snazzy sports car Blue Demon (also playing himself) sees the ghouls taking the corpse to a castle. He investigates and finds a hunchback dwarf  Waldo (Santanon) reviving the dead doctor. BD is captured and duplicated. An evil Blue Demon attacks Santo & Gloria with the green faced gang. Gloria is kidnapped and Santo is tossed down a mountain side. He survives and rescues Gloria but it's apparent Doc Haulder is alive and up to no good. With Bad Demon and Waldo's help Haulder resurrects an army of classic monsters. A vampire with big ears, a wolfman with huge fangs, the Frankenstein monster, a skinny mummy and a cartoon Cyclops. They are all kind of wimpy and Santo, Gloria and her father hold off their attack when the gang invade their house. After that fails, the vampire puts on a mask and challenges Santo to a wrestling match which he accepts. When that doesn't work out either the fake Blue Demon and the monsters storm the ring! Later the vampire makes some female vampires attack Santo, who beats up the monsters and escapes. Since they only come out at night he advises Gloria and her dad to sleep in the daytime and go to crowded places at night. At a restaurant the monsters finally overpower Santo and capture Gloria & dad. Frankenstein drives the getaway car! Santo tracks them down, frees the real Blue Demon and they destroy the lab while Haulder and Waldo cower. After freeing Gloria and dad, they put stakes in the vampires. 

What happened to the evil doc and Waldo isn't explained. 

Director Gilberto Martinez Solares much earlier had directed scenes with Lon Chaney in FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF. Little person Santanon was later in 2 of Boris Karloff's Mexican horror films ISLE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE and FEAR CHAMBER.

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Mummy From Outer Space

 

 (imdb)

TIME WALKER-1982-In King Tut's tomb college professor McCadden (Ben Murphy) finds the mysterious sarcophagus of Akhn Venharis (Jack Olson). He brings it back to LA where he and his students examine it. Stupid student Sharpe (Kevin Brophy) accidentally gives the mummy too much radiation while x-raying it. He also steals some crystals in a secret compartment. McCadden and his girlfriend/student Susie (Nina Axelrod) also discover a green fungus which Dr. Melrose (Austin Stoker) can't figure out. Dean Rossmore (James Karen) and his ass kissing assistant (Gregory Prendergast) want to show it off but the mummy disappears. They think it's a college frat joke. Meanwhile the mummy wanders around killing people (mostly shown in POV shots). When a student is burned by the fungus his arm has to be amputated by a doctor (Antoinette Bower). Shari Belafonte Harper is a college DJ/photographer. Idiot Sharpe starts spreading the crystals all over town and Venharis wants them back. It seems he's not Egyptian but an alien from outer space.

This is low budget nonsense that's pretty boring and dumb and ends with the words " to be continued". Unfortunately there was no sequel as this was the only film directed by Tom Kennedy who co-wrote the story with co-producer Jason Williams, star of FLESH GORDON.

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Mummy Time!

 

(IMDB)

THE MUMMY'S TOMB-1942-Stephan Banning (Dick Foran in old age makeup) relates his tale from 30 years before of the search for Egyptian princess Ananka (events told in the previous THE MUMMY'S HAND). Also present are his son John (John Hubbard), John's girlfriend Isobel (Elyse Knox) and her mother Mrs. Evans (Virginia Brissac). Banning takes satisfaction in knowing he destroyed the mummy, Kharis. 

However in Egypt Prof. Andoheb (George Zucco) did not die and neither did Kharis. Andoheb clues his new discipline Mehenet (Turhan Bey) in on to how to control the mummy with tana leaves. Mehenet and Kharis head to the US for revenge. The bandaged monster's first victim is Banning. The sheriff investigates because strange dust marks are found on his throat. Then Babe (Wallace Ford as an old man) arrives but Kharis comes back and kills Banning's elderly sister (Mary Gordon). Babe is the next victim. John finds a torn bandage and takes it to Prof. Norman (Frank Rei-cher) who confirms it comes from a mummy. Then John gets a draft notice and proposes to Isobel. Mehenet hangs around and clearly de-sires Isobel. He wants to make her his wife and commands Kharis to kidnap her. The mummy is not happy about it but does it anyway. A posse is formed to find her. Mehenet plans to make himself and Isobel im-mortal. The posse con-fronts him and he's shot by the sheriff. Kharis and Isobel are trapped in the burning Banning house but John rescues her (and is almost strangled by Kharis). The poor mummy burns up again and John and Isobel get married.

TOMB is arguably the best of the Lon Chaney Mummy series but did they really have to kill off the characters from the previous entry? 

Director Harold Young had made THE SCARLET PIMP-ERNEL with Leslie Howard in 1934 but later on was mostly a B-movie director. In 1945 he worked with Chaney again on one of the “Inner Sanctum” series, THE FROZEN GHOST and made THE JUNGLE CAPTIVE, the last entry into the “Paula, the Ape Woman” series.

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It Started Here

 

TEENAGERS BATTLE THE THING-1958-A high school teacher Roger Mason (Dave Flocker who directed) and his friend anthropologist Bill Wyman take five teenagers to an Indian burial ground in Ivanpah to dig for artifacts. After digging for a while and eating lunch they discover a cave with a mummy inside. Somehow they get it out and take it to the house they are using. After 2 of the guys talk about a bottle of pop the mummy monster comes to life! It kills a local woman and the next day the sheriff shows up. They search part of an orange grove and discover traces of the monster. Roger has a plan to lure the mummy monster out in the open. Using bales of hay, meat scraps and gasoline, the adults and kids burn the monster mummy to death. The End. 

This less than an hour little low budget regional horror film later became the basis for THE CURSE OF BIGFOOT in 1974, in color with a new introduction featuring Flocker in the Mason role. His brother James T. Flocker wrote it and later on made some very low budger movies of his own like GHOSTS THAT STILL WALK and ALIEN ENCOUNTERS.

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Robot vs. Mummy!

 

THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY-1958-The narrator tries to say it's based on a true story. Dr. Diaz and Dr. Estelle visit the home of Dr. Amalda (Ramon Gay) and his wife Flor (Rosita Arenas). Also there is Amalda's assistant Picante (Crox Alva-rado). Once settled Amalda relates the story of an Aztec breastplate and bracelet to his guests. He tells about the time he gave a lecture on regressing past lives through hypnotism that was not well received. Depressed he hypnotized Flor and learned her past life was as an Aztec queen named Xochtil. She and her warrior lover Popoca decide to elope but are caught by some priests and after a big singing and dancing ceremony Xochtil is sacrificed and Popoca is buried alive and cursed to watch over her tomb forever. 

Accompanying her are the breastplate and bracelet that tell where some ancient Aztec treasure is buried. It's also mentioned that a guy at Amalda's lecture Dr. Krupp (Luis Aceves Casteneda) has turned into a bad guy now called “The Bat” who knows all about the “regression experiment”. In another flashback Almalda and Flor and some others visit an ancient tomb where they find the breastplate on Xochtil's skeletal remains but without the bracelet they can't find the treasure. Undaunted by a warning they find, Almalda, Picante and Flor's father Dr. Sepulveda (Jorge Mondragon) go back to the tomb. Not so lucky this time, they run into the walking mummy that is now Popoca (Angel Di Stefani). They hold him at bay with their flashlights and escape. Later Popoca tries to sacrifice Flor but is stopped by Sepulveda who uses a cross to hold off the mummy. He then sacrifices his own life to save his friends and keep the mummy entombed. Dr. Krupp manages to kidnap poor Flor and her daughter and get the sacred items. He forces Almada to translate the hieroglyphics that will lead to the treasure. Just when Krupp is ready to kill the family Popoca bursts in. He knocks down Krupp's henchman Tierno (Arturo Martinez), (who winds up with an acid scarred face) and throws The Bat into a pit of snakes. However when Almalda returns the next day with the police they discover Krupp escaped through a hidden door! 

Then Krupp and Tierno once again kidnap Flor (she's under The Bat's hypnotism) and find the mummy. When Almada and Picante find a dead body, radium and that a large amount of metal has been stolen they suspect The Bat is back! After Almada and Picante are captured by Tierno and brought to Krupp, he introduces them to his great creation, a “human robot” (Aldolfo Rojas), a big clunky cartoonish metal thing with a human head inside the frame that can disintegrate with it's claws. Krupp wants the robot to kill Popoca, so they all go off to the cemetery. When the robot and the mummy go at it, it seems the robot is getting the better of Popoca. Almada arrives with the police and shoots the control box Krupp uses. After that the mummy trashes the robot and kills Krupp and Tierno. Flor gives the breastplate and bracelet back to Popoca who, screaming, goes back to his tomb. This third and final segment of the Aztec mummy trilogy is also a compilation of the entire series as all the flashbacks are scenes from the previous entries.

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Deranged

 

DERANGED-1974-Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom) listens to his mother's hateful speech on her deathbed. They've lived alone on a farm for the last 15 years. When she dies he builds a shrine to her and waits for her return. One night he hears her voice (it's him talking) tell him to bring her home. He digs her up ("mama, you're in terrible shape") and mummifies her, using other dug up bodies to "patch her up". He meets a woman who talks to her dead husband and during a seance' tells Ezra to have sex with her. But of course he kills her instead. He gets a waitress Mary (Micki Moore) to come to his house where she discovers Ed's collection of corpses and Ed dressed in dead skin. He gets caught after killing a local girl and hanging her up in his barn. Not sure about the reporter/narrator (Leslie Carlson) being comedy relief or not. 

However Roberts Blossom gives a great performance as Cobb (of course based on the real life ghoul Ed Gein). Alan Ormsby (CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS) wrote the screenplay and co-directed with Jeff Gillen.

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Keep Your Eyes On Quintillas

 

CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN-1958-At a dig in Pompei, a worker discovers a box of jewels and a 2000 year old kind of mummified man. While being transported in the back of a truck it shows signs of life. Carlo Fiorillo (Luis Van Rooten), head of the Pompei museum calls in Dr. Paul Mallon (Richard Anderson) to examine the body. He's assisted by former lover Maria (Adele Mara), Fiorillo's daughter and her fiancee Enrico (Gar Moore). 

Meanwhile the body comes to life and kills the truck driver. The truck crashes but the body is found intact and un-moving. Another egghead Dr. Emmanuel (Felix Locher) translates a medallion found on the body. It seems there's a curse that caused Mt. Vesuvius to erupt. They also learn the body's name is Quintillas (Bob Bryant). Paul's fiancee Tina (Elaine Edwards), an artist, paints a picture that looks like the body after seeing it in a dream. After viewing the body Tina becomes obsessed-hypnotized by it and visits the museum at night to make a sketch (apparently no locks are employed; she walks right in through the front door). While she's drawing, the body gets up and she faints. A guard's bullets fail to stop it. The body puts the medallion on Tina and becomes immobile again. Paul, Carlo and Maria put the brooch near the prone body of Q and he gets up and clobbers Paul who tried to stop him with an ax. Quintillas goes after Tina and chases her before collapsing again. When Emmanuel regresses Tina they learn she is the reincarnation of Q's lost love. After killing En-rico, Q grabs Tina and heads for the sea. The confused monster thinks he's saving his love from Vesuvius' destruction. The water dissolves Quintillas and Paul rescues Tina. 

Slight Mummy inspired movie has a few nice touches by the great Edward L. Cahn and like many of Cahn's pictures a narrator gives the whole thing a kind of documentary type feel. In this case the narrator is the uncredited Morris Ankrum. The screenplay is by Jerome Bixby (who also penned IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE for Cahn a few years later).

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Blood Drinking Mummy

 

PHARAOH'S CURSE-1957-In 1910 Cairo British army Sgt. Storm (Mark Dana) leads a small party to an ancient tomb. Along with him is Sylvia Quentin (Diane Brewster) whose husband is at the site. While camping they meet the mysterious Simira (Ziva Rohann; billed here as Ziva Shapir) who wants to guide them so they'll get to the tomb quicker. Suddenly their food and water starts to disappear. When Sylvia is bitten by a scorpion they find their medical kit gone as well but Storm saves her. Meanwhile Sylvia's hus-⁹band Robert (George N. Niese) decides to open the tomb despite the warnings of his colleague (Ben Wright). They discover a mummy but when Storm gets to the site he finds the tomb sealed, the mummy has vanished and strange footprints are found. Their guide (Simira's brother) starts to turn into a mummy! He later drains the blood from a donkey. The next day while everyone is exploring, the full fledged mummy kills a soldier and drinks his blood. 

A dead pharaoh has actually transferred his spirit into the guide and made him a wrinkled up blood drinking mummy. While the main group searches for the tomb their translator (Kurt Katch) is killed. Storm tries to stop the mummy but only gets its arm. Simira scares Sylvia who runs into a cave but she is rescued by a soldier. Quentin is killed in a cave in while following the mummy (who also seems to die). Simira was probably a cat goddess and it's decided the group won't tell the outside world about the discovery. 

Despite it's low budget PHAROAH'S CURSE has some creepy scenes thanks to director Lee Sholem who'd directed SUPERMAN VS. THE MOLE MEN, TOBOR THE GREAT and a few in the Jungle Jim saga. Like a lot of fast but competent low budget filmmakers he went into TV. 

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"Let's pay Mr. Tartu a Visit"

 

DEATH CURSE OF TARTU-1966-In a pre-credit scene Dr. Hunter (exploitation film director Brad Grinter) gets trapped in an underground tomb and is killed by an Indian warrior. After a decrepit hand shows us the credits we are now in the Everglades where Dr. Gunter (Frank Weed) and local yokel Billy (Bill Marcus) argue over ancient spirits. Billy leaves the doc to his exploring. He drinks coffee and digs up an artifact. As soon as he does a dead witch doctor Tartu (it reminded me of The Aztec mummy) awakens in his coffin and turns into a snake. Gunter is crushed to death by a giant python. Enter Ed Tison (Fred Pinero) and his wife Julie (Babette Sherffill) and some of his students. They go looking for Gunter but only find the artifact he dug up. After the students have an impromptu dance party, Tartu (Doug Hobart) rises from its tomb once again. It turns into a shark (?) and kills Tommy and Joanne, two of the students. When all they find is one bloody limb they agree something evil is going on. Johnny sets out alone for help. Tartu turns into a snake again and bites Johnny to death. After the remaining student Cindy has a dream Johnny is dead, the trio go looking for Tartu's tomb. There they find Hunter's corpse. Cindy flees in terror and is killed by an alligator. They try to open Tartu's coffin but instead Tartu rises and turns into a scary native warrior. He beats up Tison and chases Julie through the swamp. Tison recovers from his beating and pursues them. While Julie sinks in quicksand, Tison and Tartu scuffle again. This time the ancient warrior falls into quicksand and Tyson saves his wife. 

Despite its low budget restraints and its barely seen monster TARTU director William Grefe' manages to provide a fairly haunting and claustrophobic atmosphere in this technicolor low budget horror film . Grefe' (STING OF DEATH) went on to make THE DEVIL'S SISTERS (with Pinero and Sherrill), THE NAKED ZOO (with Rita Hayworth) and IMPULSE (with William Shatner).

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Mexican Wrestling Mummies

THE MUMMIES OF GUANAJUATO-1972-After a too long travelogue intro, Panguino, a little person guide shows a group a bunch of mummies. One called Satan is dressed like a Mexican luchador. Panguino tells the story of how the original El Santo beat Satan in a wrestling match and the heel swore vengeance. After the group leaves Panguino thinks he sees Satan's hand move and he faints. He then has a dream the mummies are attacking him. After the caretaker wakes him up, he tells his friends Lina and Alicia about the incident. They don't believe him so the trio go back to the tomb and convince the caretaker to let them in. When they get to the mummy display they find Satan missing! They hightail it to a wrestling arena where famous luchadors Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras are wrestling. Fortunately Lina is Mil's girlfriend and they all discuss what happened. Mil and Panguino go to investigate and Blue Demon is knocked out by Satan who remembers his fight with Santo (Satan isn't a mummy apparently and wears a red mask). Satan kills a night watchman (the director) and an old man. Two lovebirds witness the last event but the police don't believe them. After Satan kills Panguino, Lina and Alicia, along with Demon's adopted son Julito stay at Mil's house. Blue Demon is once again knocked out by Satan who steals BD's wrestling gear and gives it to his mummy pal who kills two people with the real wrestler getting the blame. Two mummies break into Mil's house and kill Alicia and kidnap Lina.

While Mil and Demon are out looking for mummies, Julito is kidnapped (he was hiding in the trunk of their car). El Santo and his manager happen to stop in Guanajuato and are attacked by mummies. They fend them off but the mummies terrorize and kill the town's populace. Santo tries to fight the mummy horde single handedly but has little success so he and his manager drive away! He meets up with Mil and Demon and they take on the mummies not too successfully until Mil gets some flame guns from Santo's car and kills them.

There's lots of plot holes and long stretches of talk. This color triple hero adventure (which most fans think is the best) could have been better.

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THE M

THE

Small Lee Role

TALE OF THE MUMMY-1998-In 1948 Egypt, an archaeological expedition lead by Sir Richard Turkel (Christopher Lee) uncovers a mysterious tomb. When it's opened a strange force kills him and his two partners (Gerald Butler & Jon Polito).

In 1998, a new expedition led by Turkel's granddaughter Samantha (Louise Lombard) find the mummy of Talos. A professor (Michael Lerner) brings the remains back to England. Talos reanimates itself and kills. Reily (Jason Scott Lee) investigates. One expedition member Bradley (Sean Pertwee) goes crazy but knows all about what's happening. After a lot of confusion and death, the mummy boringly walks around talking like Darth Vader. Lysette Anthony and Shelly Duvall are also in it. Honor Blackman has one scene near the end. Idiotic final scene.

Director Russell McCauley made this incomprehensible nonsense after doing lots of TV and music videos.

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Chan Again!

CHARLIE CHAN IN EGYPT-1935-The unflappable (phony) Asian detective (Warner Oland) goes to Egypt to find a missing archaeology professor. Thanks to an x-ray machine they find him bandaged up in a sarcophagus instead of a real mummy! Chan tries to help the professor's daughter (Pat Paterson) and her injured brother (James Eagles) but winds up just getting blamed for all the bad things that happen. Her boyfriend Tom (Thomas Back) assists Chan who while investigating a tomb seems to be attacked by an Egyptian goddess! It's a little talky but builds up to a nice climax. Frank Reicher is a doctor and Rita Casino (later Hayworth) has a small role. Worst part: Stepin Fetchit as a frightened servant name Snowshoes.

 

 Director Louis King began in silent films and later made several Bulldog Drummond mysteries and the tearjerker THE WAY OF ALL FLESH (1940). One of the few entries in the series where Chan is not assisted by a son.

 

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More Hammer Mummies

BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB-1971-In this Hammer "mummy" entry, a dead (but amazingly preserved) Egyptian queen named Tera (Valerie Leon) is brought back to England by Prof. Fuchs (Andrew Keir; Quartermass in 5 MILLION MILES TO EARTH). Unfortunately it's at the exact same time his wife gives birth to their daughter. Several years later when the daughter Margaret (also played by Leon) is an adult and the result of the expedition is still a mystery Tera takes control of Margaret and she slashes several throats.

James Villiers is a weirdo scientist who thinks he can control Tera with "the scroll of life". George Coulouris plays a fellow scientist confined to an asylum. It's a nice little horror movie with good flashback scenes, some bloody deaths and an interesting, unexpected climax.

The production was shrouded by some bad luck. Peter Cushing was the original Fuchs but left early when his wife passed away. Director Seth Holt (who had made THE NANNY and SCREAM OF FEAR earlier for Hammer) died before completing the film and it was finished by studio head Michael Carreras.

Unfortunately the very hot Valerie Leon never really had another role like this but strangely made appearances in two movies featuring James Bond (THE SPY WHO LOVED ME with Roger Moore and NEVER SAY NEVER with Sean Connery). It's based on a story "Jewell of The Seven Stars" by Bram Stoker and there's a character in the film named Tod Browning!

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Naked Mummies

THE MUMMY'S KISS-(2002)-This is sort of a soft-core remake of the original MUMMY movie from 1932! Except the reincarnated mummy in this one is a lesbian princess. But who is anyone kidding? It's all just an excuse to show a lot of women naked, having a good time with each other. Most of the actress appear nude (or at least topless). It even features a flashback to ancient Egypt.

Richard Lynch appears as a professor and wears some weird robes. Mia Zottoli plays the evil title role. Arthur Roberts plays Orisis.

Director/writer Donald F. Glut was known for making clever amateur home movies in the '60's and later wrote for cartoon shows like "Scooby-Doo", "Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends" and "The Transformers". 

Guess he got tired of cartoons...

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