The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals

Of course I had never heard about this 1969 horror movie titled "The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals" prior to stumbling upon it by random chance here in 2025. And with it being a horror movie, of course I had to check it out, given my love of all things horror.

But categorizing this movie as a horror movie might be stretching it a bit. There was nothing scary about the movie, unless you consider a slow paced and pointless narrative as being horror.

Writer William Edwards put together a very boring, bland and monotonous storyline, and it was hard to find anything worthwhile throughout the sluggishly paced narrative.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, aside from actor John Carradine. Despite the fact that the script was rubbish, then the acting performances in the movie were fair.

The effects in the movie are old and haven't aged well. Let's just leave it at that.

Would I recommend you to track down director Oliver Drake's 1969 movie "The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals" and give it a go? No, not really. Will I ever return to watch it a second time? No.

My rating of "The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals" lands on a two out of ten stars.

Inept! Ridiculous! Vapid! Tedious! These are just a few words that might help explain what sitting through The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackal was like. Now, don't get me wrong - I did not sit down to watch the film expecting to see a masterpiece or even a decent horror film. I did, however, expect to see a mildly entertaining film starring John Carradine. The film is roughly an hour and twenty minutes in length, and John Carradine is not seen till after an hour and five minutes(and then is only in roughly 5 minutes of the total film). People pick on poor Bela Lugosi for making a lot of B pictures, but John Carradine went a step further and appeared in numerous Z pictures, and this is surely one of them. The film tells a story of a professor of Egytology who has "stolen" a couple of mummies. He reads about a curse of the jackals on one of the tombs and decides to try and make it happen. Of course, much to the chagrin of the audience and the amazement of the protagonist, it happens and the professor is turned into one of the most ridiculous-looking creatures ever on film. His jackal looks like a fat rabbit on steroids, and is anything but fearsome. Well the story moves along and soon the mummies awake, one a beautiful bosomy princess and the other a fat mummy with a huge lazy eye. Soon the jackal and fat mummy trek all over the lighted streets of Las Vegas, yes that's right they walk up and down the strip in Las Vegas while drawing really little attention to themselves. But that is not all, we also get to see Isis pop up later, and of course there is the climatic battle between the two creatures. Oliver Drake has certainly done something here. He has created a film with little or no merit. The only good thing I really can say about the film is that it has a totally misplaced soundtrack that has kept me humming the past few days. Carradine is good for his very VERY small part, and the princess is pleasant to look at. Other than that, the direction, writing, lighting, acting, special effects, make-up, etc.... are without a doubt truly incompetent.

Star Anthony Eisley once said the director of this film was "quite old and a little bit senile at the time"; yeah but you signed the contract anyway, didn't you Anthony! The story goes that the film was unfinished and sat on a shelf for quite sometime before someone scotch taped the scenes together into something that bore a resemblance to a feature film. That could explain why it begins in the middle with Anthony Eisley as an archaeologist renting a tumbledown house outside Las Vegas with two sarcophagii in his living room. We are told that he saved them both from a plane that was on its way back from Egypt but crashed nearby. The centuries old boxes contain Princess Akanna, a woman put into a deep sleep in ancient Egypt so that she might someday revive and bring the glorious message of the Goddess Isis to a modern world. Along for the ride is her guardian Sirakh, who looks considerably worse than she does after 3,000 years. (Has anyone besides me noticed their names are "Ananka" and "Kharis" re-arranged?) Akanna revives and turns Eisley into a "jackalman" so he can better be her slave. The mask and three fingered paw/hands had been used earlier that year in the Adults Only movie DRACULA THE DIRTY OLD MAN. (Way back in 1960 Boris Karloff said the old monsters were no longer scary. This movie proves him right. There is the inevitable scene of the Mummy and the Jackalman fighting and this scene was shot on location in Las Vegas. Eisley, or his stunt double, and the Mummy do their best to be fierce but people on the street stare at them and laugh!) John Carradine shows up for two scenes to (A.) pick up some quick pocket money and (B.) explain what is going on for everyone who is confused. You will probably stay confused though until the end of the picture where events come to their predictable conclusion even though everything happens with little or no explanation. John Carradine and Anthony Eisley went on to top themselves in modern Poverty Row pictures. Long John starred as THE WIZARD OF MARS and Anthony fought half a giant gorilla (it's a long story!) in THE MIGHTY GORGA.

It was 1969 and the movie THE MUMMY AND THE CURSE OF THE JACKAL was about to premiere in Los Angeles Ca with a hope and a prayer that they could find completion funds to be able to finish the movie. Using a Super 8 camera, the staff and crew as extras, you name it, they were forced to stop filming. The film has sentimental value to me as my dad was one of the extras. It was a real treat to see the movie, since it was the first time I've seen it after all the stories my dad told me about it! That was 38 years ago, and who even knows if any of these people are still alive? I give the movie 5 stars for trying, and God bless all the people that were involved.

Take a moment to examine the primary cast of this film, and consider the quality of their bodies of work. Now, understand that this film is far worse than everything accredited to all of them, as extreme and unlikely a possibility as that may seem. Next, be aware that the story concerns a were-dog who muscles-up to a moldering, overweight mummy in a rivalry for the affection of a three-thousand year old Egyptian queen, ressurected by Isis to reinstate the worship of the ancient Gods. Imagine, if you will, all this nonsense taking place amidst the bustle and bright lights of Las Vegas, and you'll begin to have an idea of what you're in for with THE MUMMY AND THE CURSE OF THE JACKALS. Finally, be prepared to pee yourself in an unintended fit of laughter when you watch it

***Oh...and be forewarned...this film might prove injurous or fatal to no-nonsense viewers expecting a straightforward horror picture.

Rates both a one and a ten for different reasons.