Mumie - Tal des Todes

Because first impressions aren't doing this film any favours.

Completely ignoring the cheesily bad acting...I'm not sure what I should be more concerned about: the fact that they are worshiping Anubis as Zeus in Egypt; that they are pronouncing Zeus, Zoss?... Zoth, perhaps?; or Tony Curtis'; attempt to channel his inner William Shatner.

Cause all of the above is cringeworthy.

But there is just something about it...that makes you WANT to like it.

The concept is pretty cool, for example.

After a divorce, a woman is drawn to Egypt- particularly Luxor- where she links up with a psychiatrist and oddly informative Egyptologist- who is actually her reincarnated lover, in the body of Tony Curtis.

She has come to watch his tomb being unearthed.

An event which marks the 3300th year the two lovers have been apart...since being murdered by the ruling class.

In doing so, they find his mummy, and awaken it's curse.

So, obviously they all start to die...while the mummy tunnels on the young divorcee as the love he died to honour all those years ago.

Now, the only thing that can save her from falling an existence based on this alternate reality is the psychiatrist that has been trying to woo her.

The whole thing paints the mummy with the allure of a vampire.

Which is cool.

The settings, scenery, locations, props, costumes and mise-en-scene are all awesome.

That is certainly what draws you into the film the most.

But despite that- and having a solid concept at it's base- the lacking execution simply hinders the whole experience.

The acting department is mostly to blame.

As I noted earlier, it honestly seems like they told Curtis to do it as Shatner?!

Personally, I don't think it is as bad as the rating here reflects.

But it's not quite cheesy enough to be good cheesy, either.

4.5 out of 10.

THE MUMMY LIVES is -very loosely- based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe. It opens with an interminably long lesson in astrology that really has nothing to do with the actual movie. Next, we join an archaeological dig in Egypt, where an ancient tomb is uncovered.

Meanwhile, in Cairo, we are introduced to Sandra Barnes (Leslie Hardy). Annoying voiveover narration tells us her every thought. When she falls asleep, we're taken into her dreams of Ancient Egypt, where we're subjected to Tony Curtis as a Pharaoh (!!).

Meanwhile, back at the tomb, imbeciles -including a British zillionaire who says "By Jove!" a lot- break in, and the horror begins. Sort of.

If you've seen any of the mummy movies starting from the original 1932 classic, then you'll pretty much know the entire plot of this one from the beginning:

Forbidden love leads to death and a curse, which comes to fruition in modern times.

The only thing added to this basic outline is absurdity, bad acting, and ultra-melodramatic dialogue. Luckily for us, Mr. Curtis' character gets a central role, and gets to pontificate and spout tons of mumbo jumbo. Sometimes, he even slips into his glorious "Cary Grant" voice from SOME LIKE IT HOT! His death scene is beyond hilarious!

Extra Points For: The bonkers voice of the angry Egyptian deity!

A true gut-buster from start to finish! Prepare the intoxicants, gather your fellow cheeeze-lovers, and get ready to laugh yourself sick!...

Evidently thanks to Israeli model turned starlet turned casting director Cheli Goldenberg, a team of some of Israel's top character actors turns up for the minor, otherwise uninteresting roles in this movie. Unfortunately, the movie was abandoned by its originally intended star and director and its budget seems to have disappeared along with them. There seems to have been insufficient shooting time, to judge from the long, cheap, unnecessary opening and the abrupt conclusion. The plot is a fairly standard creaker that could have come out of H. Rider Haggard, but with one interesting twist behind Tony Curtis's character: He is tried and convicted for disrespect of the gods, but he takes his medicine and emerges thousands of years later as their defender.

"The Mummy Lives" is an American direct-to-video flick from 1993 starring Tony Curtis in the titular role when he was 67 years-old. The plot's typical to older mummy movies: Forbidden love in the ancient Egyptian world results in the guilty guy getting entombed alive, usually with the object of his desire. In the modern day the tomb is desecrated by archaeologists and the mummy seeks vengeance. The refreshing twist here is that when Curtis' character is resurrected he looks like his normal self, at least his face anyway; his hands look like death itself. Leslie Hardy plays a woman interested in Egyptology and she may be the mummy's beloved, Kia, reincarnated. Greg Wrangler plays a psychologist who takes interest in her.

This is a drama/mystery with light horror elements so don't expect heavy gore and scares. While it's clearly low-budget, it has numerous strengths, particularly the basic fish-out-of-water plot with the ancient mummy becoming a pretty interesting character in the modern world. I'm not sure how he knows how to speak English though, but I assume the god he prays to gives him the knowledge/power.

In any case, the Mummy's offended by the desecrations of Egyptian crypts and points out the obvious: How can archaeologists justify desecrating burial sites? How much time has to go by for such activity to be deemed acceptable in the name of research and science? The Mummy also makes a great point to the woman: The modern world is science-oriented, but passionless; and without passion there is no life. While the Mummy is a somewhat fascinating character and you find yourself rooting for him, the ending drops the ball. I don't want to say too much, but the Mummy essentially becomes the hero in the film and the filmmakers contradict this by insisting on tacking-on a more conventional horror ending. The film was unique as it was so they should've just gone all the way, if you know what I mean. I wish they had the courage to do this because it could've been a great or near-great independent movie.

Still, there's enough good here to recommend it to fans of unique independent movies (however, if you're addicted to a strict Hollywood "blockbuster" diet, flee as fast as you can). For one, the three main characters are effective and, like I said, the Mummy is an interesting character and you'll find yourself rooting for his cause. Although Hardy is too thin for my tastes, she's a likable and worthy protagonist; and Wrangler is an excellent masculine co-star. Secondly, you can't beat the authentic Egyptian locations. Compare this with Hammer's "The Mummy" (1959), which was shot entirely in England with lame "Egyptian" sets. Speaking of which, people criticize Tony Curtis for being miscast in this movie and yet Christopher Lee played the same character in the Hammer film and no one seems to criticize him as being miscast, not to mention that film is regarded fairly well while this one is typically lambasted, which is odd because -- low-budget or not -- this is the better film. Thirdly, the score is diversified and all-around excellent.

The film runs 97 minutes and was shot in Egypt and Israel.

GRADE: C+ or B- (keeping in mind that it's a low-budget direct-to-video flick)

It's definitely lacking, with the costumes, lighting and acting. Nediocre direction, and Tony Curtis is definitely miscast.

However, had they been given a better script, and bigger budget, it could have actually been something really good.

Since I'm only familiar with the first Boris Karloff movie, as well as the newer series of course, I'm not quite sure how the Mummy movies work.

But I found it really interesting that the girl who the Mummy's after keeps getting these dreams and hallucinations as if she were mad.

It's a horrible film. It has plenty of potential. However, the fact that it's untapped makes it seem worse than it really is.