Wilder's Fright

 

 (imdb)

FRIGHT-1956-After psychiatrist Dr. Hamilton (Eric Fleming) helps police stop a murderer (Frank Marth) from jumping off a bridge, he meets Ann Summers (Nancy Malone; INTIMACY (1966)) who seems to have some problems. He regresses her through hypnotism where she speaks German. Then she disappears. Later he learns she was once Baroness Maria in 1889 Vienna. They wind up falling in love. The doc thinks it's a case of split personality but an annoying reporter prints the reincarnation story which causes a rift between the two lovers. Eventually, Maria takes Ann over completely and vanishes, leading the police to think she might have been murdered by the doc. To get her to come out of hiding, he convinces the murderer that he's the crown prince Maria might be looking for! 

Extreme boredom from director W. Lee Wilder, whose son Myles wrote the screenplay obviously inspired by the Bridey Murphy reincarnation case. The elder Wilder also made MANFISH the same year. Lead actor Fleming starred in QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE in 1958 and in 1959 began a long run as the trial boss on TV's “Rawhide”. TV actress Malone later was also a TV director.

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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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The Aztec Mummy Strikes Back!

 

THE CURSE OF THE AZTEC MUMMY-1957-In this sequel to THE AZTEC MUMMY (made earlier in '57), Dr. Krupp (Luis Aceves Castenada) aka The Bat is sprung from jail by his gang led by Tierno. Krupp is still after the necklace and breastplate the mummy Popoca (Angel Di Stefani) is guarding. They invade the home of Dr. Almada (Ramon Gay) and kidnap his wife Flor (Rosita Arenas) because under hypnotism she was regressed and turns out she was Popoca's love, Xochitl. Also thrown in is a masked "El Santo" crime fighter called "The Angel". 

9monsterAfter Krupp awakens the mummy by stealing the sacred objects. Popoca inadvertently saves the good guys by beating up the gang and throwing Krupp into a pit of snakes. 

This is a wacky sequel that looks more like it was made 10 years earlier. Every one runs around a lot and Popoca is pretty scary. The director Rafael Portillo also made the second sequel THE ROBOT VS THE AZTEC MUMMY and many more movies in Mexico.

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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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