The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals

Back in the '80s, Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space" was widely considered to be the worst film ever made. Wrong! "The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals" easily outdistances any Ed Wood or Herschell Gordon Lewis film in the bad movie stakes. The only competition it might have is from some of those wretched Andy Milligan productions. I ran across a copy of "The Mummy..." a few years back and snatched it up eagerly; it starred Anthony Eisley and John Carradine, had a goofy title, and was reputed to be one of the absolute worst movies ever. It had to be fun, right? Not exactly. First of all, the story makes no sense whatsoever, not even by el cheapo monster flick standards. As another reviewer has pointed out, Anthony Eisley commented that the film was unfinished as far as he knew--so it's possible that something more coherent was intended, but never achieved. At any rate, don't get frustrated when you watch it; it's total nonsense. Secondly, Eisley doesn't even look like he's having fun (which is odd for him). He wears a tense, incredulous look throughout the movie, as if he's thinking, "What the hell am I doing here?" Finally, John Carradine's contribution is minimal. I'm guessing that there were supposed to be more scenes with him and the cop...but, again, the film was never finished. There are a few interesting bits: the spooky, enigmatic face of Marliza Pons; the hilarious scenes featuring the Mummy and the "Jackal Man" rampaging through Las Vegas; and, of course, the amazingly catchy theme music. (Was it recorded specifically for the film, or was it just library music? It sounds a bit dated for 1969.) Unfortunately, none of these things makes up for the fact that this is a dull, wearisome film. I pulled "The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals" out again the other night and actually watched the entire thing, but not without difficulty. It's one of those semi-legendary baddies that you go to a lot of trouble to track down...but when it's over you say, "What a waste!" Too bad. (RIP John Carradine and Anthony Eisley.)

Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals, The (1969)

** (out of 4)

Many will call this one of the worst films ever made and its production history is pretty much up in the air. It was certainly shot in Las Vegas and has a scientist learning the whereabouts of an Egyptian Princess who carries with her a curse. Apparently if you spend the night with her dead body on a full moon then a curse will strike and you just know that's what the scientist does and soon enough he's turning into a murderous "were-jackal". Soon the Princess rises from the dead as well as her mummy boyfriend and more terror strikes Vegas. If the title didn't give it away then as soon as you see John Carradine's name you should expect a "Z" grade horror flick and that's exactly what this is. Yes, everything here is pretty bad but I actually thought there were a few good things and the cheapness certainly makes this an entertaining effort. I watch a number of Z-horror titles but what I expect them to do is at least keep me entertained and this one did that. What I loved most was the look of the two monsters because while the effects are cheap they at least look fun. I'm really not sure how to describe the "were-jackal" but I guess he's a mix between a kola bear, an ugly dog, a wolf and his nose looks somewhat like that of a pig. The biggest problem is that the thing is never scary and if you saw him walking down the street you'd probably be more willing to want to shake his hand than run away in terror. The mummy doesn't look at that great but I still got a kick out of his glowing eye and the fact that the actor (Saul Goldsmith) was almost twice the size of Lon Chaney, Jr. in his Universal mummy films from the 40s. I know many people didn't like Chaney's big-sized mummy but the one here is a lot bigger and I thought it added some mild charm. The death scenes are all extremely cheap but I got a kick out of them because the monsters are just so dang fun. One of the many cheap highlights is a scene where the mummy picks up a woman and starts carrying her through the streets of Vegas with the were-jackal following. It's clear the filmmakers didn't have any permits and were just stealing these shots but the funny thing is that the people in the frame aren't ever wondering what's going on. The mummy is just carrying the woman down the street and people just look at the monster and laugh. The same with the were-jackal and it appears at one time a tourist walks up to him to get a better look!!! At 80-minutes the pacing really isn't too bad as long as you can get into the film. Again, those expecting CITIZEN KANE are going to be disappointed but I'm always curious why some people go into a movie like this expecting high art. It's cheap, low-budget junk but it has a certain charm about it. Carradine doesn't appear until after the hour mark but he delivers a decent performance just like you'd expect the pro to do.

Inept! Ridiculous! Vapid! Tedious! These are just a few words that might help explain what sitting through The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackal was like. Now, don't get me wrong - I did not sit down to watch the film expecting to see a masterpiece or even a decent horror film. I did, however, expect to see a mildly entertaining film starring John Carradine. The film is roughly an hour and twenty minutes in length, and John Carradine is not seen till after an hour and five minutes(and then is only in roughly 5 minutes of the total film). People pick on poor Bela Lugosi for making a lot of B pictures, but John Carradine went a step further and appeared in numerous Z pictures, and this is surely one of them. The film tells a story of a professor of Egytology who has "stolen" a couple of mummies. He reads about a curse of the jackals on one of the tombs and decides to try and make it happen. Of course, much to the chagrin of the audience and the amazement of the protagonist, it happens and the professor is turned into one of the most ridiculous-looking creatures ever on film. His jackal looks like a fat rabbit on steroids, and is anything but fearsome. Well the story moves along and soon the mummies awake, one a beautiful bosomy princess and the other a fat mummy with a huge lazy eye. Soon the jackal and fat mummy trek all over the lighted streets of Las Vegas, yes that's right they walk up and down the strip in Las Vegas while drawing really little attention to themselves. But that is not all, we also get to see Isis pop up later, and of course there is the climatic battle between the two creatures. Oliver Drake has certainly done something here. He has created a film with little or no merit. The only good thing I really can say about the film is that it has a totally misplaced soundtrack that has kept me humming the past few days. Carradine is good for his very VERY small part, and the princess is pleasant to look at. Other than that, the direction, writing, lighting, acting, special effects, make-up, etc.... are without a doubt truly incompetent.

I enjoyed the music. John Carradine comes in after an hour. The princess reminded me of Donna Summer. The sets, cheesy. The jackal mask, probably stolen from The Rockafire Explosion. There wasn't even any nudity. An interminable snore fest which I wish Rifftrax would tackle. So our hero turns into a jackal and the princess comes to life unfortunately so does the guy who was buried with her. The mummy just looks dirty, like he'd been working under a car. There's some grainy footage of Vegas and some sets in a cave and a flashback where curtains are hung over a blank wall to evoke an ancient palace. All mummy movies are the same, but I prefer Hammer movies because at least the actors can articulate.

Of course I had never heard about this 1969 horror movie titled "The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals" prior to stumbling upon it by random chance here in 2025. And with it being a horror movie, of course I had to check it out, given my love of all things horror.

But categorizing this movie as a horror movie might be stretching it a bit. There was nothing scary about the movie, unless you consider a slow paced and pointless narrative as being horror.

Writer William Edwards put together a very boring, bland and monotonous storyline, and it was hard to find anything worthwhile throughout the sluggishly paced narrative.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, aside from actor John Carradine. Despite the fact that the script was rubbish, then the acting performances in the movie were fair.

The effects in the movie are old and haven't aged well. Let's just leave it at that.

Would I recommend you to track down director Oliver Drake's 1969 movie "The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals" and give it a go? No, not really. Will I ever return to watch it a second time? No.

My rating of "The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals" lands on a two out of ten stars.