The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb (1964)

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... Written by Jeff Hole - IMDB


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.

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.

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.

Kevin Booker

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