The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb


The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb is a British horror film produced, written and directed by Michael Carreras, starring Terence Morgan, Ronald Howard, Fred Clark and introducing Jeanne Roland.

Plot

"Egypt in the year 1900". A mummy is discovered by three Egyptologists: Englishmen John Bray and Sir Giles Dalrymple as well as French Professor Eugene Dubois. Assisting in the expedition is Professor Dubois' daughter, and Bray's fiancée, Annette, herself an Egyptology expert. All the artifacts are brought back to London by the project's backer, American showman Alexander King, who plans to recoup his investment by staging luridly sensational public exhibits of the Egyptian treasures. Soon after arrival, however, the mummy revives and starts to kill various members of the expedition, while it becomes evident that sinister Adam Beauchamp, a wealthy arts patron whom members of the expedition meet on the ship returning to England, harbors a crucial revelation of the mummy's past and future.

Cast

Hammer Studios originally offered the project to Universal Pictures in 1963. The film credits Henry Younger as the screenwriter, while the screenplay was written by Michael Carreras and Alvin Rakoff.

Release

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb was released on October 18, 1964 by Columbia Pictures/BLC Films in support of The Gorgon. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures in the United States on February 17, 1965 also in support of The Gorgon.
In North America, the film was released on 14 October 2008 along with three other Hammer horror films on the 2-DVD set Icons of Horror Collection: Hammer Films by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and on a double feature Blu-ray with The Revenge of Frankenstein by Mill Creek Entertainment in September 2016. Its title was misspelled on the Blu-ray spine as “Curese of the Mummy’s Tomb”.

Critical reception

From contemporary reviews, Daily Cinema referred to the film as being "Eerie but routine shocker thrills. But, hand it to Hammer, they've got this kind of scary hokum down to a grisly art." Variety commented on the plot of the film stating that "one needs a crystal ball to sort out the reasons for some of the contrived goings on in the modest and rather slapdash horror pic." The Monthly Film Bulletin noted that "the sewer finale has a moderate grandeur" but stated that "it is some indication of the film's lack of inventiveness that the mummy's first appearance should be so lengthily delayed."
In a retrospective review, AllMovie critic Cavett Binyon called the film a "rather dull mummy muddle".