Hammer Horror’s interpretation of “The Mummy” was released in 1959 (same year Green Lantern/Hal Jordan made his comic book debut) earning positive reviews from critics and was a financial hit. I got some awesome news, Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Oded Fehr & Arnold Vosloo will reprise their roles in a direct sequel to Stephen Soommers’ first two Mummy movies. The untitled installment will be released on October 15, 2027. One more thing, it’s Halloween Month. I’ll be watching and reviewing spooky stuff throughout October.
It doesn’t matter if SPOILERS are listed. This movie didn’t aged well.
Alive & Dead Qualities
Alive: Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee booth did a good job for their respective performances.
Set Pieces and Costume Designs were manually crafted by decorators.
Cinematography’s shot in stable condition.
Dead: Terrence Fisher didn’t do a good job directing.
Jimmy Sangster failed to write a cohesive story.
Scare Factor lacks bone chilling terror. I didn’t get scared. For example, whenever Kharis walks slowly, sinister music plays in the background. It’s awkward. The clickers from “The Last of Us” are more intimating.
Kharis is not on the same level as Imhotep. Why? Because he’s weak and lacks spell casting knowledge. All he does is follow a guy’s dirty work.
Another downside, Kharis doesn’t talk. I know his tongue got severed in a flashback, but he lacks the ability to regenerate a new one. The 1999 remake managed to retain Imhotep’s spell casting and provide dialogue.
Characters are forgettable. I couldn’t remember a single name other than Kharis. That’s a cardinal sin. Not caring about a single character. Peter Cushing lacks charisma.
Due to a lack of well-written characters, I was miserably bored.
I know Kharis can’t talk due to his severed tongue, but it doesn’t regenerate.
After Kharis gets shot and drowns in quicksand, the movie abruptly ends. Not a single bit of following the aftermath. Can you imagine if “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” ended with The One Ring followed by the End Credits? After everything the characters we cared about went through all that trouble the screen fades to black. An aftermath of characters like Frodo Baggins matter.
Random Thought: According to BloggedByEric, he stated old horror like The Mummy 1959 scares the hell out of him, but he doesn’t he scared of modern horror like “Saw.” In other words, he socially degraded himself. Why? Because I watched The Mummy 1959 and some horror movies from the 1930s-1950s. I rolled my eyes judging by the fact they lacked real terror. Same guy who praises crappy animated Disney Princess movies like “Cinderella” and “The Little Mermaid” gets scared of unscary Hammer Horror movies. Sorry, Eric. Had to get this outta of my chest.
The Final Verdict: F, FOR FAKER!
Like “The Curse of Frankenstein, Hammer Horror’s interpretation of The Mummy sucks. The second worst movie of 1959. “Sleeping Beauty” takes the crowd as worst film of the aforementioned year. Don’t waste your spare time on this piece of crud. Do me a favor, watch Brendan Fraser’s Mummy movie instead. If you wanna watch a real good horror remake, try Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu.” I cannot wait for Rick O’Connell back on the big screen. Good thing “The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” is not canon.
