Blood From The Mummy's Tomb (1971)
A severed hand beckons from an open grave!
Starring: Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon, James Villiers, Hugh Burden, George Coulouris, Mark Edwards, Rosalie Crutchley, Aubrey Morris, David Markham, Joan Young, James Cossins, David Jackson, Jonathan Burn, Graham James, Tamara Ustinov
Director: Seth Holt
Running Time: 89 minutes
US MPAA rating: N/AUK BBFC rating: 15
Horror
On DVD 'Blood from the Mummy's Tomb!!' (I've added the exclamation marks for some much-needed extra dramatic effect) is often described as cursed. If you happen to own a dictionary which defines the word "cursed" as "non-sensical garbage", then that's probably a fair description.
Based on Bram Stoker's 'The Jewel of the Seven Stars', the film kicks off with a group of hyper-paranoid priests murdering the beautiful but apparently evil Queen Tera (Valerie Leon) in ancient Egypt. Just for good measure, they chop off her right hand, which proceeds to crawl about on its own and even manages to dish out a good beating to a pack of wild dogs (so you could say she takes them on single-handedly - arf).
Centuries later, Andrew Keir turns up as the beardy Professor Fuchs (I said Fuchs) to discover the perfectly preserved body. Thinking her 'armless (chuckle), his companions agree to lend a hand (chortle) in carting ol' Queeny back to Blighty. But old Fuch-face soon realises the extent of his mistake when daughter Margaret grows up in the very image of the body he's been hiding in his basement, and the other members of his expedition begin falling victim to a series of grisly deaths. And you know what happens when you get possessed by a mummy, don't you? That's right, you start to walk like an Egyptian.
Keir is on familiar ground as the bamboozled Prof - he stepped into the breach after Peter Cushing pulled out because of the death of his wife. Leon, meanwhile, is gorgeous but permanently bewildered-looking in her double-part (one half of which requires doing little more than lying on a big stone slab in a skimpy outfit), and Mark Edwards is brain-sappingly dull as Margaret's woman-beating boyfriend.
There's a far more complex plotline than the Hammer folks normally supply us with, but it's a move that fails. The story skips confusingly between an array of characters never properly introduced, turning the 90 minutes into an incomprehensible mess. It probably didn't help that director Seth Holt passed away before the film could be completed, leaving Hammer honcho Michael Carreras to finish the job off - that'll be the curse then.
DVD Extras: Just a trailer. 'Blood from the Mummy's Tomb' is one of five movies included on the 'Hammer Horror Selection' box-set, which also features 'The Devil Rides Out', 'Lust for a Vampire', 'Scars of Dracula' and 'The Horror of Frankenstein'.
It's Got: A stonkingly-good ending - but it can't compensate for the crapness of what's gone before.
It Needs: The character and creepiness of the better Hammer flicks.
Alternatives: The Awakening, Legend of the Mummy
Summary: Awkwardly-paced, poorly put together and difficult to follow. A real disappointment.
Review by Gary Panton
Review Date: 13th October 2003
External Links
Blood From The Mummy's Tomb at the IMDB
Comments1 Comment |
| It wasn't Bram Stoker's best book either. |
| Comment by:- Jessica Wolff | | 09 October 2004 | ip: logged |
