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.)

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.

Star Anthony Eisley once said the director of this film was "quite old and a little bit senile at the time"; yeah but you signed the contract anyway, didn't you Anthony! The story goes that the film was unfinished and sat on a shelf for quite sometime before someone scotch taped the scenes together into something that bore a resemblance to a feature film. That could explain why it begins in the middle with Anthony Eisley as an archaeologist renting a tumbledown house outside Las Vegas with two sarcophagii in his living room. We are told that he saved them both from a plane that was on its way back from Egypt but crashed nearby. The centuries old boxes contain Princess Akanna, a woman put into a deep sleep in ancient Egypt so that she might someday revive and bring the glorious message of the Goddess Isis to a modern world. Along for the ride is her guardian Sirakh, who looks considerably worse than she does after 3,000 years. (Has anyone besides me noticed their names are "Ananka" and "Kharis" re-arranged?) Akanna revives and turns Eisley into a "jackalman" so he can better be her slave. The mask and three fingered paw/hands had been used earlier that year in the Adults Only movie DRACULA THE DIRTY OLD MAN. (Way back in 1960 Boris Karloff said the old monsters were no longer scary. This movie proves him right. There is the inevitable scene of the Mummy and the Jackalman fighting and this scene was shot on location in Las Vegas. Eisley, or his stunt double, and the Mummy do their best to be fierce but people on the street stare at them and laugh!) John Carradine shows up for two scenes to (A.) pick up some quick pocket money and (B.) explain what is going on for everyone who is confused. You will probably stay confused though until the end of the picture where events come to their predictable conclusion even though everything happens with little or no explanation. John Carradine and Anthony Eisley went on to top themselves in modern Poverty Row pictures. Long John starred as THE WIZARD OF MARS and Anthony fought half a giant gorilla (it's a long story!) in THE MIGHTY GORGA.

It was 1969 and the movie THE MUMMY AND THE CURSE OF THE JACKAL was about to premiere in Los Angeles Ca with a hope and a prayer that they could find completion funds to be able to finish the movie. Using a Super 8 camera, the staff and crew as extras, you name it, they were forced to stop filming. The film has sentimental value to me as my dad was one of the extras. It was a real treat to see the movie, since it was the first time I've seen it after all the stories my dad told me about it! That was 38 years ago, and who even knows if any of these people are still alive? I give the movie 5 stars for trying, and God bless all the people that were involved.

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.