Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)

An archaeological expedition brings back to London the coffin of an Egyptian queen known for her magical powers. Her spirit returns in the form of a young girl and strange things start to happen.

Directors:

Seth Holt, Michael Carreras (uncredited)

Writers:

Christopher Wicking (screenplay), Bram Stoker (novel)

Stars:

Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon, James Villiers

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andrew Keir	...	Professor Julian Fuchs
Valerie Leon	...	Margaret Fuchs / Queen Tera
James Villiers	...	Corbeck
Hugh Burden	...	Geoffrey Dandridge
George Coulouris	...	Professor Berrigan
Mark Edwards	...	Tod Browning
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Helen Dickerson
Aubrey Morris	...	Doctor Putnum
David Markham	...	Doctor Burgess
Joan Young	...	Mrs. Caporal
James Cossins	...	Older Male Nurse
David Jackson	...	Young Male Nurse
Jonathan Burn	...	Saturnine Young Man
Graham James	...	Youth in Museum
Tamara Ustinov	...	Veronica

Storyline

On the night before her anniversary, Margaret Fuchs receives an ancient Egyptian ring with a red stone as a birthday gift from her father, Prof. Julian Fuchs. Margaret has frequent nightmares about an expedition in Egypt with five members, including her father, finding the tomb of Queen Tera, an evil sorcerer with a severed hand. The members collect the sarcophagus with a totally preserved mummy, the severed hand with the ring with a red stone, and three relics. Margaret is possessed by the spirit of Tera and chases the expedition members to retrieve the objects and gives life back to Tera.

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Plot Keywords:

sarcophagus | nightmare | relic | death in childbirth | insanity | 

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Taglines:

A severed hand beckons from an open grave!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 May 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blod från mumiens grav

Filming Locations:

Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

EMI Films, Hammer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The UK cinema version was cut by the BBFC to remove a shot of George Coulouris being struck across the face by male nurse James Cossins as there was public concern about the treatment of mental patients at the time.

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Goofs

In the beginning of the movie when the priest starts to put the funnel type instrument into the nostril of the dead or unconscious queen's nose, you can see her eyelids twitch when it makes contact with her skin.

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Quotes

Corbeck: The meek shall NOT inherit the earth. They can't be trusted with it.

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Crazy Credits

Sunbronze Danny Boy as Tod's Cat

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Connections

Follows The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)

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Soundtracks

The Temple
(uncredited)
Music by Monia Liter (uncredited)
Boosey & Hawkes Ltd

User Reviews

One Yummy Mummy!

"Blood From The Mummy's Tomb" is a film that has its qualities - the doubtlessly most convincing one being the incredibly beautiful Valerie Leon in a double role. Yet I have to say that this film ranks among the lesser ones from my beloved Hammer Studios, as it is not very suspenseful and lacks the intense atmosphere that we all love about the films from this brilliant British production company. Based on the almighty Bram Stoker's novel "The Jewel of Seven the Stars", "Blood From the Mummy's Tomb" is one out of three Hammer films directed by Seth Holt, the others being the very good "The Nanny" (1965) and the presumably great "Taste of Fear" (1961) which I haven't yet seen. Sadly, Holt died in while he was working on this film in 1971, at only 48, and the film was completed by Michael Carreras, who must be seen as a pioneer for directing one of the earliest Eurowestern, "Tierra Brutal" in 1961. Being a huge fan of the Hammer Studios I tend to love their later films, such as "Vampire Circus", "The Vampire Lovers" or "Frankenstein and The Monster From Hell", from the early 70s especially, because they usually mix the elegant Hammer-typical Gothic atmosphere with 70s-typical sleaze and gore. This is also the case here - "Blood From The Mummy's Tomb" has some of Hammer's goriest moments - but the suspense was obviously not sufficiently focused on here. It does have some highly atmospheric scenes, but then, there are hardly any outdoor shots and typical Hammer style elements such as foggy grounds etc. appear only a few times in the film.

The film tells a very classic Horror story, of a young beauty who happens to bear a stunning resemblance to a vicious she-demon - in this case a blood-thirsty Egyptian Queen... I love classic Horror material like this, but, sadly, it isn't delivered too well here. The film isn't too suspenseful, as one simply doesn't care about the characters. Valerie Leon ("Never Say Never Again") is stunningly beautiful (and shows some flesh) in her double leading role as the Egyptian Queen Tera and the archaeologist's's daughter Margaret Fuchs. Miss Leon is truly ravishing and her presence alone easily is reason enough to watch the film. The great Andrew Keir ("Quatermass and the Pit", "Dracula, Prince of Darkness") plays her father Prof. Fuchs. Funnily, Margaret's boyfriend's name is 'Tod Browning' - a tribute to the genius director of such gems as "Dracula" (1931), "Freaks" (1932) or "The Devi-Doll" (1936), the immortal Tod Browning. "Blood From The Mummy's Tomb" has its moments - as said, Valerie Leon is by far the most convincing reason to watch it, and the film has some stylish moments as well as some very well done gory ones. However, it does get boring in-between, and that is something extremely rare with a Hammer film.

Overall it must be said that, while Egyptian Mummies are generally fascinating creatures, their representations in cinema are often quite weak. The only true Mummy-Masterpiece I've seen is Karl Freund's brilliant "The Mummy" of 1932 with the immortal Boris Karloff in the lead. My second-favorite is Hammer's 1959 remake "The Mummy" with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. "Blood From The Mummy's Tomb" is still 100 times better than these crappy new Mummy films which consist of CGI only, but it's definitely one of Hammer's weaker films and mostly interesting for the gorgeous Valerie Leon.