Vingança Eterna

I can only agree with most of the negative reviews on many levels, however I found it strangely compelling for all the wrong reasons.

There were elements I enjoyed, but after reading one reviewer state with apparent seriousness, that this film is superior to the Hammer Classic in 1959, that in itself is probably one of the greatest pieces of comedy I have read in years.

Tony Curtis was totally miscast, comparing his casting to the casting of Christopher Lee is plainly ludicrous.

Christopher Lee was often cast as Foreigners due to his imposing height and darker looks, especially in Swashbuckling roles before he achieved fame in the Hammer Horror films.

Tony Curtis looks like an Italian Restaurant owner at a fancy dress party, but don't get me wrong because I normally like him in most films.

In the Hammer Classic, Christopher Lee was able to add pathos to the character with astonishing effectiveness, just with skilfull use of his eyes.

He was able to project the eternal sadness of a man who died for his love, he wasn't just some lumbering soulless monster.

The only advantage this movie has over the Hammer Classic are the location shots, but describing the sets of the Hammer film as 'lame' shows no appreciation for the Excellent job done by the Hammer team or Art direction.

With low budgets, Hammer did wonders with set design, cinematography atmosphere , music and a stable of actors that The Mummy Lives could have benefited from.

The Mummy Lives can't even hold a candle to the Hammer Mummy sequels, let alone the Universal movies.

However I found it strangely watchable and enjoyable in a B-Movie way.

It has its moments and with better casting, direction and music, could have actually been quite memorable.

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.

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 utterly worthless horror film that is so bad that I almost turned it off after 20 minutes of its projection time.Usually remarkable actor Tony Curtis is completely wasted as Aziru,an Egyptian high priest of the god Zoth,who come back to life as the mummy.He is looking for his long-lost love named Kia and swearing vengeance on the archaeologists,who excavated his tomb."The Mummy Lives" is a total waste of time.The plot is hackneyed and highly unoriginal and the acting is painfully bad.This is also one of the most annoyingly dull horror films I have suffered through.The action moves at snail's pace and there is absolutely no tension.Avoid this crappy howler like the plague.2 out of 10.

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.