Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb Review: Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb returns to the big screen for one day only at this years Frightfest.
Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb Review
2017 is an interesting year to revisit the Hammer horror classic, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb. This summer the property was of course revisited by Universal, in an attempt to kick-start a brand new franchise of films. The result was a poorly constructed Tom Cruise action vehicle, which failed to capture the terrifying roots of the original stories. Now, we take a look back at this eerily suspenseful thriller over 45 years later.
The plot revolves around a young woman named Margaret (Valerie Leon), who is haunted by the nightmares of an Egyptian queen brought back to London from an expedition by her father, Professor Fuchs. It is soon discovered that Margaret is in fact a magical vessel, created with the intention of resurrecting Queen Tera from the dead. Things quickly take a turn for the worst, as mysterious, violent deaths then begin occurring around her.
This simplistic and cliched story is inherently dated in this modern age of shared universes, and convoluted prequels. But, this is where the films true strength lies. It was reportedly produced on a minuscule budget of £200,000, which was still stringent even in the 1970’s, yet still looks visually beautiful. The sets used for the Egyptian flashback sequences are carefully constructed to accommodate the small budget, and look all the better for it.
This allows the film to employ the ‘less is more’ technique all too easily forgotten in modern horror productions. This helps to build some magnificent tension, which creates an incredibly creepy sense of dread throughout the narrative. Thankfully, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb also lives up to its name, with some delightfully gory death sequences sprinkled across its hour and half run time.
Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb Review
Valerie Leon delivers a convincing dual performance as both Margaret and Queen Tera. The two-time Bond extra was reportedly overjoyed to receive a rare leading role. This is undoubtedly an achievement for its time, but is also undercut by the obvious, and frequent, exploitation of her body. Andrew Keir also gives a suitably over-the-top performance in his supporting role Margaret’s father. However, while entertaining, it’s difficult not to imagine what Peter Cushing would have done with the role if he had taken it as originally intended.
Overall, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb is an ideal viewing for any Hammer fan or horror enthusiast. The film is apologetically cliched and cheesy, but it’s also tense, suspenseful, and well written. If more modern horror productions can aspire to be this simple and effective, then there might be hope for the genre yet.
Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb review by Ben Read, August 2017.
Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb is currently playing as part of the Horror Channel Frighfest 2017 programme.
