Director: Edward L. Kahn
Year: 1958
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Mummy
Plot:
Excavated from an expedition at Pompeii, a professor and his assistant find that the recovered mummy of an ancient guardian believes that she is the princess he loved reincarnated and sets out to reclaim her, forcing them to protect her while trying to find a way to stop him.
Review:
This here wasn't all that bad of a drive-in feature. One of the film's better features is the fact that there's quite a lot of work here on the build-up to the reveal of the mummy and its condition. The connection to ancient Roman history, setting the whole affair around the eruption of Vesuvius, which is carried out rather nicely through the discovery of the mummy, and its contents from the dig site, which leads rather well into the dreams she has about the mummy coming for her, which comes off as the vast majority of the first half here. When it gets to the point about him being alive and coming after the medallion, this one gets even more fun as these are where the film really offers its best scenes as the first resurrection in the museum in front of her is quite the impressive offering, while the main attack in her apartment after it chases them out after it's chamber and goes on stalking her throughout the building which is a really fun and exciting sequence which remains a nice highlight. Even the finale is rather nice, from the final abduction out of the museum and the trip through the countryside, where they arrive at the beach when the police arrive and engage in the final confrontation with the creature, which is a rather nice and unexpected finish that ends this on a rather fun note. Along with the great look and imposing features of the mummy, these are what make this one fun enough to hold over the flaws.
The issue here is the fact that a vast majority of the film has an annoying and utterly irritating voice-over narration that is completely unnecessary as a whole. The voice-over tells us absolutely nothing important about what's going on since it merely describes the action playing out on-screen or shoots off a quick blurb following up on what was just learned, which renders the exercise quite comical as well as irritating. Since it's carried on throughout the whole film, oftentimes just for a line or two, it's pointless needling on the story really gets old, and becomes a hindrance due to its continuation. If it had stayed only for the beginning, this wouldn't be an issue. Likewise, the only other problematic issue is the overall cheap and quickie feeling to it, as there's just not a whole lot here that denotes too much went into this, from the cheap look and cramped sets to the flimsy look of everything, which makes this look incredibly cheap. That does tend to lower this one, although there's still plenty to like overall here.
Overview: ***/5
A rather engaging and enjoyable adaptation, this was a likable enough entry in the style, while being let down by a few drawbacks present that are enough to lower it just slightly. Those with an appreciation for this era or style of genre fare will have the most to like with this one, while most others out there should heed caution.
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