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Blood
from the
Mummy's Tomb
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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
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4
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8 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Based
on Dracula author Bram Stoker's 1903 novel The Jewel
of the Seven Stars, this is fourth and last mummy movie
from Hammer Films. Set in the "modern" era, it departs
significantly from the previous flicks — there isn't even really
a mummy in the story per se — and is actually better off for
it. At any rate, the film is a vast improvement over its predecessor,
1967's abysmal The Mummy's Shroud.
Gorgeous Margaret Fuchs (The
Spy Who Loved Me's Valerie Leon, in a black Vampirella wig)
is on the verge of her 21st birthday. Her father Julian (Quatermass
and the Pit's Andrew Keir), an archeology professor,
gives her a huge ruby ring as a present. (More suitable as a
paperweight than jewelry, we think.) Within the gemstone can
be seen what looks like seven stars set in the configuration
of a constellation. Dad is cryptic about the ring's origins
and Margaret seems drawn to the humongous thing. Her fiancé
Tod (Mark Edwards) is intrigued as well, and takes Margaret
to see his friend, antiques dealer Geoffrey Dandridge, to ask
about the ring. Dandridge (Hugh Burden) nearly has a heart attack
when he first spies Margaret.
She
is the reincarnation of Tera, an ancient, evil queen whose perfectly
preserved body — without the slightest trace of decomposition
— was brought back to England by Prof. Fuchs shortly after Margaret
was born. Tera's tomb was initially discovered by Fuchs and
his partners during an expedition in Egypt, her sarcophagus
opened by them at the precise moment Margaret was born in London.
(Her mother died in childbirth.) Fuch's companions in the enterprise
— fellow academic Prof. Berigan (George Coulouris), spiritualist
Helen Dickerson
(Rosalie Crutchley), the mysterious Mr. Corbeck (For
Your Eyes Only's James Villiers) and Dandridge, whom Margaret
is unaware was once an associate of her father's — each took
a relic from the tomb back to England with them: Berigan a statute
of a cobra, Dickerson a statue of the Egyptian cat-god, Corbeck
a scroll and Dandridge the skull of a jackal. Fuchs has kept
Tera's lifelike corpse locked away in his basement for over
20 years. The ruby
ring, presented to his daughter as a birthday gift, came from
the severed hand of the queen herself. Dad,
you see, has a sick fascination for the undead Tera. He half-hopes
and half-fears that Margaret, who's been suffering from bizarre
dreams of late, will
become Tera when she turns 21. As the appointed hour
draws near, his daughter's strange behavior escalates —
Tera's astral spirit is gaining
more and more control.
The sinister Corbeck shows up to complete the transmutation,
gaining Margaret's confidence; Fuchs is left bedridden by a
sudden stroke. The three other members of the expedition begin
turning up dead, their throats horribly slashed...
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
will likely prove too leisurely paced for the casual viewer.
Well acted and competently helmed, there's just not much that's
genuinely scary here. For a PG-rated flick it's surprisingly
bloody, with torn throats and Tera's wrist stump spurting plenty
of the red stuff. (There is one supremely cheesy moment to report:
you can clearly see a victim wiping a blood sponge across his
neck at the moment of death.) We're even treated to a nude scene,
shot from the back, involving Leon's body double. Director Seth
Holt (who died one week before the film wrapped) seems keenly
aware that the movie's chief asset is his lead actress. Valerie
Leon is simply drop-dead luscious. Lovingly photographed,
she spends much of the time in sexy nightgowns and there are
slow-mo shots of her with a fan tousling those faux raven locks.
Happily this babe isn't too terrible an actress, which
aids the film in that she at least doesn't sabotage it. (Leon's
voice is dubbed, though.)
Still, the
lack of tension or suspense —
not to mention the non-appearance
of horror icons Cushing and Lee —
leaves this one firmly in
the "for Hammer diehards only" camp. Or for fans of
Ms. Leon, of course. (Note: Stoker's Jewel of the Seven Stars
was filmed again in 1980 as The Awakening,
with Charlton Heston in the Prof. Fuchs role. Its glacial pace
makes the pedestrian Blood from the Mummy's
Tomb come off like a Jackie Chan movie in comparison.)
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Given
the film's relative obscurity, Anchor Bay's treatment of Blood
from the Mummy's Tomb is topnotch.
It's presented in widescreen format (1.85:1)
and enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. While the picture looks soft this
is likely due to the film being shot that way. Sound (in Dolby
Digital Mono) is outstanding considering the movie's age. Extras:
a 9 minute featurette comprised of recent interviews with star
Leon and screenwriter Christopher Wicking; a TV spot; radio spots;
and a considerable still/poster gallery —
to include numerous cheesecake
modeling shots of the delectable Ms. Leon —
set to composer Tristam Carey's
above-average score. There's also a "hidden" Easter
Egg on the disc. In the Extras menu, highlight and select the
jewel in Hugh Burden's hands. This brings up a gallery of photos
taken during the one day Peter Cushing spent on the set in the
role of Professor Fuchs. (When his wife became ill, Cushing left
the production and Kier took the part.)
The best extra
of all is the second DVD; Blood from the
Mummy's Tomb is actually a 2-disc set. Disc # 2, The
Hammer Trailer Collection, is a nifty compilation of 20 Hammer
theatrical trailers, among them The Abominable
Snowman of
the Himalayas, X
the Unknown, Dracula
— Prince of Darkness, The Reptile,
The Vengeance of She, Frankenstein
Created Woman, Plague of
the Zombies,
The Viking Queen, The Lost
Continent, A Challenge for Robin Hood
(which looks like one of the lamest Hammer flicks ever), The
Satanic Rites of Dracula and even Shatter
(a cheesy '70s martial arts clunker, filmed in Hong Kong, with
Cushing and Stuart Whitman). If you already have a few Anchor
Bay Hammers then you've seen some of these trailers before, but
this bonus DVD is very nice to have considering the whole package
is priced like a single disc. All the trailers except one (Enemy
from Space) are in surprisingly good condition. Theme music
from The Devil Rides Out plays over
the main menu. 10/06/01 |
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