Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1972)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Absolutely Fantastic

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

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.

...This film should be essential viewing, for one reason only. It has the best cinematography I have Ever seen, and I am a big Bladrunner fan. the scene comes half way through the movie, when the Tera-force has killed the guy to reclaim the wolf sculpture, and her fiancé is walking through an alleyway, about to discover the body.The camera tracks him slowly moving forward, toward a high street with a phone booth, and then tracks back with him to a junk yard where he sees the shadow of a wolf scurry away. 1) everything is in Vivid, Precise focus - the foreground, the subject, the far background - picking out every greasy smear and rough texture in that alley, and 2) its all in Heightened Saturated colour - a Gloomy rainbow of muted blues and invading greens, all created from scratch, in broad daylight in a pokey little British studio - lovingly crafted and set-dressed over what must've taken hours to get that outside look. But consider that the camera is moving a large distance as well - there's none of this shaky steadicam or abrasive cutting that used to plague budget old films like this - the whole scene is smooth, fluid and graceful, like only an Enormous Budget and the Best Crew could produce these days. And finally, and most importantly, 3) throughout the entire shot there is an isolated, hanging Miasma of Mist, slowly morphing and twisting in space, just in front of the Character, almost as if they have caught the apparition of a ghost live on film - it provides a shifting, sinister focus and, even today, I'm not sure most filmmakers would know how to begin creating such an effect, more less actually film a prolonged, kinetic sequence of acting around it. truly remarkable.Hammer Studio's was always about Control like this - the loving care and attention to the sets and scenery and photography and staging of the scenes to be shot - and this film is the antithesis. Of course, it was also the studio's downfall, because tastes in the 70s then progressed to raw, rough and real-looking filmmaking, as in the Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw ... But for old school Mastery and Expertise, this film showcases some wondrous talent

Hammer's fourth and final outing into Egyptian territory is a hit-and miss-affair which is still worthwhile for the wonderful atmosphere it casts in places. The reason for the film's disjointed feel is that the production was beset by tragedy - almost as if a real life curse was at work. First off, star Peter Cushing's wife died and the actor had to be replaced by Andrew Keir. Secondly, the director of the film, Seth Holt, who had made the wonderful TASTE OF FEAR some ten years before this, suffered a heart attack, leaving Hammer regular Michael Carreras to take over the directorial duties. Thus the film seems to jump from scene to scene sometimes without any warning and there are definite issues with the pacing and general cohesion despite what should be a relatively simple plot. On the plus side, it's a lot different to the typical mummy film which involves a bandage-wrapped corpse seeking revenge, and it deserves kudos for trying something different. The film is based on Bram Stoker's novel THE JEWEL OF THE SEVEN STARS, as was 1980s horror 'epic' THE AWAKENING and the low budget '90s feature BRAM STOKER'S LEGEND OF THE MUMMY.The actors certainly aren't at fault. Andrew Keir makes the most of his bed-ridden role although he doesn't have a great deal to work with here, while James Villiers is a memorable villain. Valerie Leon, a stunning actress familiar from her roles in numerous CARRY ON films is easy on the eye and equips herself well with the dual personae. Really, I think she's one of the most beautiful of all British actresses alongside Hazel Court and the film is almost a love letter to her sheer physical perfection. It helps that she's often dressed in little more than jewels or a negligee (depending on whether she's playing the mummy or her reincarnate victim) that ably show off her quite stunning figure.The special effects budget is obviously low, with set-bound locales, but the gore is quite plentiful with lots of torn throats dripping blood. The budget, or lack thereof, is a sore remainder of the constrained budgets that Hammer faced at this time. There is a memorable scene involving a patient in an asylum who is attacked by mysterious forces (the best scene of the film actually) but the film suffers from an abrupt downbeat ending; it feels like this could have been expanded upon while some of the early scenes could have been excised. BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB isn't one of Hammer's best, but if you are looking for an Egyptian curse story that's a little different then I would recommend it as it's quite unusual compared to the rest of the company's work.

Of all the 'classic' movie monsters, the mummy is my least favourite: shambling along like a lone zombie on Prozac, the vengeful ancient Egyptian just doesn't have what it takes to give me the chills. Which is why I thought I'd give 'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb a watch.Hammer's final stab at the genre dispenses with the traditional, crumbly, bandage-clad creature of legend, replacing it with a voluptuous vixen, played by buxom beauty Valerie Leon. Surely a good old-fashioned dose of gratuitous eye-candy (plus a bit of equally gratuitous gore) would make this effort enjoyable.Well.... no, actually. Leon's spectacular body is certainly a magnificent sight, but even her sexy curves cannot detract one from the fact that this movie is one helluva muddled mess.Based on the Bram Stoker story 'The Jewel of Seven Stars', Blood From The Mummy's Tomb sees Leon as Margaret, a young woman whose (hot, hot, hot) body is destined to become the vessel for the spirit of Tera, an ancient and evil Egyptian queen. Her boyfriend Tod (Mark Edwards) and archaeologist father (Andrew Keir) do their best to save her from this dreadful fate, but with the villainous power-hungry Corbeck (James Villiers) orchestrating Tera's return, will their efforts be in vain?To be honest, who cares?Suffering from a noticeable lack of star-power (none of Hammer's more familiar faces are present), and cursed with a dreadfully constructed script, hackneyed direction, and very cheap-looking sets and props, this is one of the (if not THE) poorest Hammer movies I have seen.