Legion of the Dead (2013)

Wonderful character development!

the audience applauded

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Legion of the Dead is a disappointing attempt to make a Mummy film which hits the expected plot points but delivers them in a different fashion. An admirable goal, but not one this particular film ever achieves. True, the idea of finding an Egyptian tomb in America is unique and the theory posited for this by one of the characters makes the idea slightly less far-fetched than it sounds, but it doesn't take long to realize Legion of the Dead is neither original nor effective. The promotional art suggests an army of the undead on the loose, but viewers expecting anything approaching epic proportions will be frustrated to discover the "Legion" of the film's title consists of exactly six mummies reanimated to do the bidding of the resurrected Egyptian princess who is their master. These unfortunate souls aren't very impressive monsters, being too clumsy and oafish to convey any level of menace convincingly. The revived princess manifests her sorcerous powers courtesy of some very bad special effects, and while the actress playing the part is extremely beautiful there isn't much she can do to make the character effective given the limitations of script and budget. The rest of the cast is saddled with the same issues, so while there is a lasting impression of some truly bad acting from several of the actors the fact is none of them have much of a chance considering the weakness of the production as a whole. The script is badly written, the few action scenes poorly choreographed, and the direction overall is bland and unexciting. A more intelligent screenplay might have allowed the film to overcome some of its budgetary weaknesses, but as it is most of the movie is simply below par.

"Legion of the Dead" is a rather routine mummy with that's still entertaining.**SPOILERS**Arriving at the site of an important archaeological dig, Dr. Swatek, (Zach Galligan) and his students Molly, (Courtney Clonch) Carter, (Chad Collins) Justin, (Chase Hoyt) Axel, (Aaron David Thompson) Kara, (Amanda Ward) Linda, (Amy Clover) and Santos, (Patrick Thomassie) find that the site is an ancient Egyptian mummy buried in California. As Molly begins to translate the hieroglyphics in the tomb, she accidentally awakens an Egyptian Priestess, Aneh-Tet, (Claudia Lynx) and she sets off to bring her mummified army back to life. Finally catching on to what's going on, Molly and the rest of the students band together to stop her before this happens.The Good News: As far as mummy films go, this wasn't all that bad and was surprisingly decent. The fact that it goes against so many of the preconceived notions of what a mummy film is really about is nice departure. Instead of it being traditionally set in Egypt with the careless group entering the forbidden tomb despite being warned away from it by the superstitious natives, this one refreshing takes place in a really unlikely setting and removes some of the more traditional trappings associated with the genre. Borrowing a page from the original "Mummy," the lead mummy here isn't on-screen as the shambling pile of bandages but as a flesh-and-blood figure which is again a nice additional change from the norm of this genre. The change of sexes doesn't really mean that much, as it's a more male-centered type of story than those usually given to female-centered mummy films. Rather than having the daughter of the finder becoming possessed by the spirit of the mummy and then mayhem ensues, this one carries out as if the male is the gender, and then mayhem ensues. These little features give it a little more originality to it than most mummy films, and are a more than welcome addition. The mayhem carried out is nice and bloody, with some great kills. There's a spines being pulled out, a large selection of face melting, a heart pulled out, a head sliced with an ax and so on. The face-melting's look very impressive, and are a nice sight to see. There's some nice action spread around throughout as well. The best is when the resurrected mummies go on a rather over-the-top killing spree at the local motel and generally cause havoc. Another feature was the gnarly mummies munch flesh in good old zombie fashion with a nice addition of some cool blood licking in the finale. Also not hurting it in the slightest is that the head mummy spends the majority of the time topless or nude, and it's not a very bad thing that happens. It really keeps the interest up during the rather slow middle section.The Bad News: As decent as it is, there is still a few problems with it. It's a bit flat at times, especially in the middle. They waited too long to bring the mummies into the film. Mainly because the story is something you've seen before, you can figure out exactly where it's headed. There's really not a whole lot of new twists and turns and is pretty much played out pretty easily. The low budget eventually catches up with it as the jumbled climactic showdown can't help but give off that "we've run out of money so let's just wrap this up as quickly as possible" feel. It's over way to quickly to really feel completed and needed to be drawn out a little more.The Final Verdict: The fact that it's just a goofy B-movie should be taken into consideration here, and it's to be viewed as such. This isn't for those who want every film to be logical or even a rewarding experience, and is for those that can enjoy the silly nature behind it all.Rated R: Nudity, Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and brief drug use

I saw this movie with friends, and we had good fun. We didn't expect to be scared to the bone but rather wanted something that would make us laugh and give us a couple of surprising moments. This movie hit the mark.I liked seeing Bruce Boxleitner and Zach Galligan after several years. They did a good job as did the females in the three main roles. The Egyptian woman did a good job making the language sound real. I liked having the sisters together and seeing how different they were.I could have done without the gore. Eww. And who names a girl Kevin? I thought she was more likable than the student chick. I would have made her the central character.But overall - it's a fun movie if you don't listen to the director's commentary.

I really do not like being harsh but this movie is awful! I mean sometimes I find at least one good thing to say about a movie but there nothing good to be said about this one. There is a a lot of senseless action in the movie that has no flow, people die needlessly and repeatedly, there is scary music when there is no need for it, importance is placed on certain roles and then they are removed from the movie by being killed off, and the action scenes involving the lead actress is like watching a Barbie doll trying to defend herself. Especially at the end when she plants the ankh in the neck of the woman! It really looks like she does not have the strength to hold the ankh let alone drive it through someone's neck. Also let's not forget how she evades the mummies at the motel. She can play an intellect in front of a camera but someone put this actress in a class that teaches how to act out action scenes. I usually keep a copy of all my movies but not of this one. I am deleting this one just like I deleted Gargoyles by Jim Wynorski.