Blood from the Mummy's Tomb

This is by a long way the best of the three adaptations so far of Bram Stoker's complex and disturbing novel of an Egyptologist's obsessive desire to revive an evil ancient Egyptian queen. (The novel was so worrying in 1903 that the ending was changed for the second edition: this movie keeps mainly to the original ending.) The cast ranges from competent to quite good, with the Queen/daughter suitably seductive but unreadable. The appearance is handsomely and oppressively Edwardian - the ancient Egyptian is rather silly - and the direction firm. Try this as a better taste of Stoker's obsessive psychological horror than any of the versions of "Dracula" except the long British TV adaptation.

It never crossed my mind that archeology could get so sexy. The findings usually tend to have a much drier and dustier appearance. Valerie Leon has really showed new aspects to Egyptology here. In her double role as remarkably well ministered mummy of Queen Tera and Margharet Fuchs she is widely let use the two most expressive features of her physique and to steal the scenes totally without really doing anything. Her lovely eyes.

After countless variations of Count Dracula it was nice to see Hammer studios make good use of another story from Bram Stoker for a change. Mind you, the original novel 'Jewel of the Seven Stars', which this film is based on, does seem to use many of the same kind of story elements; a living dead with a curse and otherworldly powers, bringing the evil to London to be unleashed, a lunatic asylum patient closely connected to proceedings, a beauty with meaningful nightmares and so on. But it doesn't really matter, nobody here gets bitten too badly, anyway.

The film is occasionally rather slow moving and maybe a little too carelessly scripted, but it looks fantastic with the sets and props of Egyptian theme. And the loose hand of the mummy saying hi here and there brings joy every time. For the general mood the whole film seems to have a certain peculiar halo with heavily bright lighting, specially those scenes taking place towards the end. The shine of the curse coming true perhaps. Or good natured fun of silliness.

At the exact moment that Egyptologist Professor Fuchs (Andrew Keir) and party are opening the tomb of the Egyptian Queen of the Darkness, Tara, Fuchs' daughter is born dead in a London hospital. The two events are connected as Tara's spirit enters young Margaret Fuchs (Valerie Leon) and bring her back to life. Unaware of their connection, Margaret grows up to be the spitting image of Tara. Nearing her 21st (?) birthday, Margaret begins having unsettling dreams of Tara. Thus begins Tara's resurrection. To complete the transformation, Margaret/Tara must collect the artifacts from her tomb that are now in the possession of Professor Fuchs' colleagues who assisted in the original expedition. Collecting the objects will lead to a trail of bloody bodies, each with its throat ripped out.

Writing that poorly worded plot synopsis was much more difficult that it should have been. The problem is that the plot in Blood from the Mummy's Tomb is a mess of ideas going in several different directions. It's entertaining, but it is admittedly a mess. I quite enjoy the story, but as I've written before, I'm a sucker for Egyptian mumbo- jumbo. Throw in some hokum about an evil queen, possessed artifacts, stars aligning in just the right way, and a traveling, disembodied hand and I'll eat it up. So, despite the many flaws in the plot, none of it really matters to me as I always have great fun watching Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.

Watching the film last night for the first time in about 10 years, I realized I had forgotten much about the plot and really most everything else. One thing I hadn't forgotten was Valerie Leon. I defy anyone to watch this movie and not remember Ms Leon. I realize she wasn't hired for her acting ability, but she isn't all that bad. She may be a bit wooden in some scenes, but at worst, she's always watchable. I know Hammer used young women like Ms Leon, but at least Hammer provided her and others the opportunity to star in film. Hammer gave actresses like Ms Leon, Yutte Stensgaard, and Jennifer Daniel a chance for a role with some meat to it. None will be remembered as award caliber actresses, but all are memorable to fans in the various Hammer films/roles.

Beyond Ms Leon, the rest of the cast is surprisingly strong. Andrew Keir was a real pro and is quite good as Professor Fuchs. James Villers, as the scheming Corbeck, is a scene-stealer. He's one part smarmy and one part evil. An entertaining combination. The rest of the cast is solid with Aubrey Morris, George Coulouris, and Mark Edwards giving memorable performances.

To summarize, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb features a messy but very fun story, the memorable Valerie Leon, and a solid supporting cast. I'm keeping the 7/10 rating I gave it 10 years ago.

As almost always was the case with Hammer, this is a rather studiobound, but still lavish-looking movie (shot by the always reliable Arthur Grant who had almost a midas-touch when it came to cinematography), despite it's low budget. You also get a long list of old pros like Andrew Keir and Rosalie Crutchley in important parts plus the sultry charms of Valerie Leon, former model and star of british sex-comedys. She is not the greatest actress in the world but does a very competent job with her part, managing the sudden moodswings convincingly. The story is based on a lesser-known Bram 'Dracula' Stoker novel, filmed two more times ('The Awakening' is big-budget but does nothing with all those bucks, just manages to be mostly boring even in the murder-scenes). It does not feature the usual, gauze-wrapped, mummy but it is instead a tale of possession. It is maybe a bit talky in places, but the atmosphere is always right and menacing. Main director Seth Holt died during the last days of shooting so producer Michael Carreras had to do the scenes in the asylum and they are among the most impressive. Horrormovie-fans today will probably find this movie incredibly old-fashioned, but if you are tired of the hundreth film about Jason, Freddy or your average neighborhood slasher, give this a second glance.

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb is the 4th and final movie from Hammer Horrors "The Mummy" franchise and stands out from the rest due to the distinct lack of erm....a mummy!

The plot is a bit of a mess but the creators do a competent enough job of making the best of it and to their credit it comes off passable.

Starring the alarmingly beautiful Valerie Leon it barely feels like a mummy movie at all.

With the questionable storyline, the baffling ending and some seriously hokey performances it's sad to see a franchise end on such a note.

It however is not bad, it's just unusual, unexpected and an odd choice.

Passable Hammer Horror effort, but more of a standalone film than the rest of The Mummy franchise.

The Good:

Valerie Leon

The Bad:

Muddled story

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I get the impression Valerie Leon would be a big big star right now if she were this age