When European Egyptologists Dubois, Giles and Bray discover the tomb of
the Egyptian prince Ra, American entrepreneur and investor Alexander
King insists on shipping the treasures and sarcophagus back to England
for tour and display. Once there, someone with murderous intent has
discovered the means of waking the centuries dead prince.
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb is a Hammer film and was
produced, written and directed by Michael Carreras, starring Terence
Morgan, Ronald Howard, Fred Clark and introducing Jeanne Roland. It was
the only Hammer gothic horror film of the year as they turned their
attention to thrillers.
The film has the same basic beginning as most all Mummy movies. A dig
occurs, a mummy is found and a curse is unleashed. But this film
actually goes off in a different direction than just about every mummy
film that I've seen. Usually the mummy awakens to dish out his
vengeance and sees the lovely lady and decides she's the reincarnation
of his lost love. There is no love here....the mummy is awakened for a
completely different purpose. The film got mostly bad reviews overall
but I found the unique twist that ends the film to bring the movie up a
star based on that alone.
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| Fred Clark does a great job as the greedy businessman looking to cash in on the mummy. |
The film was certainly a low budget affair as no outside shooting was
done at all. You get poorly painted backdrops instead. Female lead
Jeanne Roland has her voice dubbed in and it's so bad that at times she
is difficult to understand. Fred Clark does a fine job as the greedy
businessman who doesn't give a damn about curses and museums. He's
going to make a fortune taking the mummy across the world. The film
plods along almost as slow as a mummy but it picks up when the mummy
finally awakens about a third of the way through the film. And I must
mention that the makeup on the mummy is extremely well done. Far
superior to the mummy's that Universal threw out there. It also has
quite a few gruesome scenes as hands are routinely cut off and the mummy
pounds the shit out of one guys skull with a statue.
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| Sup |
Overall this is one of the weaker Hammer horror films but as far as
mummy movies merrily move meticulously along (say that 5 times real
fast) it's not as bad as some reviewers make it out to be. A good
second half of the film and the twist at the end doesn't save the
picture but it does make it an enjoyable good time.
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| Sorry, the door was open.. |
Trivia:
During the Egyptian flashback scenes Franz Reizenstein's theme from Hammer's original The Mummy can be heard.
Double-billed with Hammer's "The Gorgon."
Jeanne Roland is dubbed.
Released by Columbia TriStar Home Video [us] on VHS PAL as a Hammer Horror Double Bill with The Revenge of Frankenstein
