Rish Outfield's reviews
Growing up watching "Thriller Theater" on Channel 20, this was a Saturday afternoon staple. In it, archaeologists (including Peter Cushing) desecrate the tomb of the Egyptian Princess Ananka, despite a brightly lit, neon-lettered curse not to. They return to England and face the wrath of Ananka's mummified lover, played by the great Christopher Lee.
Some say this is a direct remake of The Mummy's Hand, the sequel to 1932's The Mummy.
It bears similarity to Universal's version, but only marginally. Kharis was actually the name of the mummy in the later Universal films and Ananka was his beloved, Banning was the name of the hero. I wondered if it was based on a legend or actual history. Nubians!* The Egyptians creep me out. The villains and Kharis, the living mummy, are worshipers of the (invented) pagan god Karnac. As far as cliches go, in this film, one crazy man AND one drunk man know about the mummy but are not believed. You know, it's more a fanatical follower of the Egyptian god than a curse that's at fault. The mummy has a nice face--expressive, but dead and wrapped. The poor de-tongued dude is another sad monster, with really pitiable eyes. The image of the mummy's hand sinking into the filthy-looking bog ("Parts of the bog are close to bottomless.") will always be with me.
Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are a great pair. In the film, Cushing has a hot English wife. It is hard, though, to imagine Cushing as a young man, even if he is one in this. It's all very English, including a nice civilized confrontation between the evil dude and Cushing, which of course, uses the word "shan't." There was nice music by Franz Reizenstein, VERY similar to John Williams' "Map Room" from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The antiquated dialogue works because it's a period piece ("There's something evil in there, Uncle Joe, I've felt it."), something that helps the Hammer films feel much less dated than most horror flicks. Not everything is great, though. There's an extended replay of scenes from earlier in the film. It's all rather slow-moving, like the mummy himself. But it has a certain amount of class to it that horror films lack nowadays.
Line To Remember: An orderly says to the old guy who is sure Death is coming for him tonight: "There's no good shouting or banging on the door--we won't hear you."
I'd Recommend It To: Bandaged dude fans (I came really close to saying ‘mummy's boys,' but a sense of decency won out).
*The great thing about having your own website is that you can write things like that, with no fear of a teacher, boss, or editor telling you (the obvious) that it makes no sense.

Total Skulls: 12

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood hits camera
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?