A publicity shot from ANCIENT EVIL: SCREAM OF THE MUMMY
© 2000 Rapid Heart Pictures
The Mummy's Wrap-sody Part Two
By: John ThonenDate: Sunday, June 02, 2002
Stephen Sommers' hugely popular THE MUMMY and THE MUMMY RETURNS have meant the return of the wrapped-one to the pop culture consciousness, so what better time to take a look back at some of the other mummy movies out there? You all know about Karloff and Hammer and Abbott and Costello, but what about Paul Naschy, Michelle Bauer and Tony Curtis? Didn't think so. So sit back and learn, my good students...
1987 saw the mummy making a rare appearance in a decent budgeted movie, director Fred Dekker's enjoyable, light-hearted THE MONSTER CLUB. However, the juvenile-aimed creature-fest placed its emphasis on Dracula and the Frankenstein monster, relegating the mummy a first rate rendition from Stan Winston to mere background status and little menace to the film's youthful protagonists.
The monster [IMG3R]of the moment was wrapped up in his work again in 1990's TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE, an anthology collection feature spun-off from the syndicated TV series of the same name. One episode was adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle's short story, "Lot no. 249" and featured Christian Slater and Steve Buscemi as college students trying to deal with the mummy Buscemi's character has revived to gain revenge for the wrongs perpetrated against him by his fellow students. While fairly brief, this was one of the most effective appearances the mummy had made over the almost 60 years that had preceded it.
1992 saw a 16mm B&W semi-pro effort that reused the title of 1962's I WAS A TEENAGE MUMMY and, while details on the film are scant, is one of the few examples of a female mummy. Rare as such distaff mummies may be, that same year saw another in one of Charles Band's best productions, BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES 2, which offered a delightfully over-the-top Pamela Gordon (actress wife of horror auteur Stuart-RE-ANIMATOR-Gordon) as the mummified mater of the film's vampire master, Radu.
1993 saw [IMG2L]one time superstar Tony Curtis grabbing an apparently badly needed paycheck by appearing in the little known THE MUMMY LIVES. This British/Israeli production claims to be based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story entitled "Some Words With A Mummy." However, the nude shower scene would seem likely to be an addition from schlock impresario producers Yoram Globus and Harry Alan Towers rather than a moment from Poe's tale.
"Leatherface" himself, Gunnar Hansen, presided over 1995's FREAKSHOW, a regionally produced anthology from out of South Carolina. Hansen relates four horror tales to a pair of teen visitors to his carnival sideshow, the third of which offers Hammer starlet Veronica Carlson and a less well-preserved mummy.
The Stooge's short, I WANT MY MUMMY, had featured a midget mummy in one scene, and hard as it is to imagine, 1998 saw another diminutive wrapper. Charles Band produced THE CREEPS on the proverbial shoestring, in 3-D no less, and presented us with a loony scientist who has developed a device that can bring the characters of books to physical life. Personally, I would have tried the machine out on some erotic tome, but our nutty professor decides to use books about the classic monsters. However, his experiment is interrupted midway through and the results are a vampire, werewolf, Frankenstein monster and yes, a mummy, standing about three foot tall. The film saw "flat" release on home video, but Band hopes a new demand for 3-D films will follow the advent of high-definition TV, so we may yet get a chance to see a three-dimensional mummy in our living room.
Before wrapping [IMG4R]up our look at non-Universal/Hammer produced mummy movies, I would be remiss to leave out 1997's under wraps, a Disney Channel production starring towering Bill Fagerbakke (Dawber from the COACH TV series) as a mummy named Harold who is protected from criminals by three kids. 1999 brought us THE ETERNAL, a dreadfully dull and pretentious tale featuring Christopher Walken, which was originally made as THE ETERNAL KISS OF THE MUMMY. The reason for the change was fear of confusion with Russell Mulcahy's TALOS THE MUMMY, a reasonably effective tale, boasting an interesting twist on the mummy's powers which is well realized by some imaginative effects. The film eventually reached video in 1999 as TALE OF THE MUMMY. Last, and decidedly least, is this year's soft-core romp, MUMMY RAIDER, which offers T&A starlet Misty Mundae as a Lara Croft wanna-be facing off against a very cheesy-looking mummy.
Space, and my attention span, limits any thorough recap of mummy appearances on TV, but the creature has been seen on THE MUNSTERS, GET SMART, THE MONKEES, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER, BIGFOOT AND WILDBOY, ROUTE 66, AMAZING STORIES, GOOSEBUMPS, BONECHILLERS, HERCULES, and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. In addition, animated versions of the mummy can be found on JONNY QUEST and the short-lived cartoon series MUMMIES ALIVE.
While large-scale recognition on a level with contemporaries like Dracula, the Wolfman and the Frankenstein monster wouldn't come the mummy's way until nearly sixty years after his initial unveiling, the mummy has managed to maintain a cinematic life that seems nearly as eternal as the character itself. And I'll be amazed if we've unwrapped our last present from mummy quite yet.
