Mummies

100 Years of Horror (1996)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

While watching this entry in the series one will be reminded that there really haven't been too many movies that featured a mummy. We start off, of course, with the 1932 version with Boris Karloff before moving to THE MUMMY'S HAND and then the three Lon Chaney, Jr. pictures. From here we learn a few stories about Hammer's remake with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as well as the Mexican picture where Chaney returned to the role (and Jerry Warren edited the footage into FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF). After seeing clips from a couple other Hammer attempts we get to the eventually teaming with Abbott and Costello.

This episode features more clips than anything else but we're still treated to some nice interviews. Some of the most interesting talk comes from Lon Chaney, Jr. and his hatred of the role plus the fact that many fans would make fun of him for being too big for the part. Michael Blake adds a few nice comments on the matter and we also hear from Peggy Moran. Host Lee gets to tell a couple good stories about the Hammer remake and it's somewhat of a shame that he didn't get to tell a few more stories. Once again, those with knowledge of the genre aren't going to learn too much from this thing but it's still fun to see the interviews and the clips will certainly make you want to check out the films again.