Karry
Best movie of this year hands down!
Cleveronix
A different way of telling a story
Jonah Abbott
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Uriah43
This film begins with an evil Pharaoh named "Amenhotep" (Paul Naschy) who tortures and kills innocent people for his wicked amusement. In addition to that his favorite concubine "Amarna" (Rina Ottolina) takes equal pleasure in his wanton acts of cruelty as well. Eventually, however, this catches up to them as Amarna is stabbed to death while Amenhotep is given a rare poison which doesn't kill him but leaves him in a paralyzed state which--combined with a certain mummification ritual--entombs him for life in his sarcophagus. And then one day a British archaeological expedition led by man named "Professor Nathan Stern" (Jack Taylor) finds his tomb and excavates the sarcophagus to the British Museum of Natural History in London where Amenhotep is revived by a greedy sycophant named "Assad Bey" (also played by Paul Naschy) and his beautiful assistant "Zanufer" (Helga Line). Unfortunately, this isn't enough for Amenhotep as he then offers power and wealth to the two if they agree to do whatever he orders. To that end they are sent out to capture and kill young women so that Amenhotep can drink their blood in order to attain eternal life. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film didn't follow the standard plot for a "Mummy film" in that the mummy was a pharaoh rather than the high priest. Likewise, the mummy didn't follow the orders of whoever revived him but gave them instead. Be that as it may, although it wasn't quite as good as some of the Hammer film it was okay for the most part with Helga Line and Maria Silva (as "Abigail") certainly adding to the scenery with their beauty and charm. Average.
Leofwine_draca
Paul Naschy's take on the story of the mummy is a disappointingly plodding film which rehashes all of the old mummy clichés used to death in the 1940s and adds nothing new to the proceedings apart from extra lashings of gore. Actually, I think this was the goriest mummy movie around until DAWN OF THE MUMMY came along, but don't be fooled into thinking this is some bloody gruesome gore fest - the violence is limited to a few throat-slashings, a head-squashing, a brief impaling and a surprisingly violent interlude when Naschy's mummy mutilates the faces of a number of dead girls by bashing them apart with his powerful fist.The expected Egyptian flashback is used to open the film, where we see Naschy sitting on this throne amid some cheap unconvincing sets while pretty girls are tortured and killed for his amusement. It isn't long before Naschy is bumped off by his scary-looking High Priest and his body mummified. After a brief (and very dark) tomb-opening sequence, the film shifts to London where the mummy is displayed in a museum. Egyptian priest Assad Bey (also played by Naschy, I guess he couldn't bear to be under wraps for a whole movie) uses the blood of three virginal girls to bring the mummy back to life and a string of gore murders commences.The film looks to be very cheaply-made, with lots of poor editing and disconcerting camera angles which don't work. It's also badly dubbed and has really annoying tinny screams for the ladies. Director Carlos Aured displays little professionalism in his work and is a far cry from Leon Klimovsky, who directed some of Naschy's best movies in my opinion. He fails to create much interest in the proceedings and only minimum Gothic atmosphere in the scenes where the mummy prowls around the dark vaults and sewers of London.The film's hero is played by Jack Taylor, a genre regular whose roots go back to three of the bizarre Neutron films in the early '60s, which were Mexican wrestling/superhero combinations. Taylor isn't exactly what I would term a quality actor, but he had enough experience of these sort of things to know what to do, thus making for an adequate heroic lead. However, the focus on the film is Naschy in both of his roles, so as usual he becomes a kind of anti-hero in the film. Maria Silva and Helga Line are familiar faces but fail to add much to their roles of the victimised women.Naschy's performance as priest Assad Bey is a fairly typical suave one from the actor, no better or worse than all this others. He does, however, make for an unusual barrel-chested mummy, one of the most agile I've seen in the movies. Thankfully, the mummy make up is actually pretty good and convincing for the film, which helps it considerably and makes it work watching. The unintentionally funny ending is pretty impressive, as Bey and the mummy are trapped in a building on fire and both go up in flames; the mummy's agonised groans are hilarious to listen to because they're extremely over-the-top! The ending also throws in a hideously burnt corpse and a female corpse shrivelling (due to being kissed by the mummy!) for good gruesome measure. Despite being one of the worst Naschy films I've seen, THE MUMMY'S REVENGE does pass the time painlessly in an uninspiring way, but I was expecting a lot more from the Spanish Master of Horror.
bfan83
Along with THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE DARK and VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES, this is another interesting effort in Paul Naschy's catalog. In the beginning, he plays a homicidal Pharoah during ancient Egypt, who along with his equally sick wife, sacrifice virgins in order to obtain immortality. They are put to death for their heinous crimes. His vows revenge. Several thousand years later, his tomb is disturbed by a husband and wife archaeological team. He is soon revived and convinces his blood relative (also played by Naschy) to kill young virgins in order for his ancestor to return to life, in the flesh. A colleague of Naschy's and his wife soon discover something isn't right and they begin their own investigation, which leads to a pretty neat showdown with the mummy. At times, the violence is very effective, mostly consisting of gruesome throat slashing. The only real "let-downs" are the poorly dubbed growling of the mummy. It sounds like he is in mid-orgasm. Instead of the moments being tense, I found myself laughing at the horrible dubbing. The only other "let-down" is it is quite obvious that all the gore scenes were horribly cut down. Hopefully one day, THE MUMMY'S REVENGE will see an uncut DVD release. This film deserves to be re-discovered. Once again, Paul Naschy turns in a good dual-role performance. He shows that he is quite capable of playing other characters besides Waldemar Daninsky. THE MUMMY'S REVENGE is quite difficult to track down. It's been out-of-print for many years, and seems to have virtually disappeared off the face of the planet. However, horrortheatervideo.com, and sinistercinema.com both carry it in bootleg editions. The quality is far from great, but for any fan of Spanish horror, or any self-respecting fan of Paul Naschy, it's definitely worth the search. Seek it out.
Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic)
This is another highly recommended entry in the series of Gothic Horror movies from Spain made by their premier star, the traditionally lycanthropic Paul Naschy, who wrote the film under his pen name/alter ego, Jacinto Molina. Director Carlos Aured, who had previously worked with Naschy on his epic Eurohorror outing HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB, returned to direct MUMMY'S REVENGE, along with HORROR RISES' female star, the incredibly sexy Helga Liné, with the great Jack Taylor in the heroic lead and wonderful supporting performances by familiar Spanish/cult horror faces like Eduardo Calvo, Fernando Sanchez Polack, Luis Dávila, and Eurobabes María Silva & Celia Cruz.THE PLOT: An evil, despotic and bloodthirsty Egyptian Pharoh Amen Ho-Tep (Naschy in his usual dual role mode) is disrupted from his orgies of torture & human sacrifice by palace intrigue and winds up encased in a sarcophagus for 800 years, his body immobilized by a poison but his evil brain just itching for a distant ancestor (Naschy again, with help from Ms. Liné) to revive his mummified body so he can seek a generalized revenge against basically everything. His tomb is discovered by Taylor & Ms. Silva, and the fun begins when Naschy & Helga start chaining up the virgins and slitting their throats to create some sort of rejuvenate concoction to get the mummy (Naschy again) up and about to roam the sewers of Victorian era London in search of people who's heads need crushing. Between brutal murders they collect virgins to sacrifice in order to perform a blasphemous rite to resurrect the Pharoh's favorite concubine as well (embodied in the film's present time by an actress named Riva Otolina, for whom this film is her only credited performance).Meanwhile, back at the Egyptian artifacts museum, Jack Taylor gets to look thoughtful with a full beard and eventually deciphers an ancient manuscript outlining Amen Ho-Tep's plans to have himself and his concubine restored to eternal existence and decides to do something about it, all of which culminates in another wonderful on screen death by Naschy that is tinged by tragedy and self sacrifice by his modern day self.If all of this sounds rather familiar to folks who have seen a Naschy or three congratulations -- THE MUMMY'S REVENGE is a classic Jack Molina scripted "Soap Opera Horror" installment with a mummy instead of a werewolf, but story elements common to other popular efforts by Naschy/Molina portraying gruesome ceremonial killings that also require the female victims to be tortured, ancestral vengeance from beyond the grave, a love story of some sort or another figuring into the mix, the death of everyone in the film who has sexual relations on screen other than Naschy, a couple of good "Monster in the House" suspense sequences, and LOTS of atmospheric shots of mouldering catacombs, elegantly designed interior sets with altars, chaining racks, manacles & long ceremonial knives for the bloodletting. There is even a hint of potentially lesbian content between Riva Otolina & Helga that sadly goes underdeveloped, last minute oaths from the condemned that they will rise again to seek vengeance, the deaths of caretakers & transient nondescript types who always seem to end up dying horribly in Naschy's films, and other etcetera's that make up what I like to call The Paul Naschy Effect.As such, for those with a taste for The Naschy Effect, THE MUMMY'S REVENGE is a must-see title. Not only to see him garbed up as the mummy (Naschy has played all of the Universal classic monsters in his films, other than maybe the Creature from the BLACK LAGOON movies) but to see how he re-defined the Mummy Movie conventions to fit his own storytelling agenda. The film was shot in gorgeous color and has that certain special something about Spanish 1970's horror that is so unique & hard to put into words. And even casual viewers who may not be devotees of Spanish horror & Naschy's work will find this an enjoyable viewing experience worthy of 2nd, 3rd & 4th looks. And by then, you're officially hooked.But THE MUMMY'S REVENGE is actually a curious entry in Naschyalia for a couple of reasons. Like DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE he never reprised his mummy character in another film of it's own, but unlike that also wonderful movie THE MUMMY'S REVENGE was apparently shot without the "nude" or uncovered takes he usually had made for export from Spain (which did not permit frontal nudity in 1973) where such content would help to ensure a healthier box office showing. There are two surviving versions of THE MUMMY'S REVENGE, a fullframe English version that runs 91 minutes and a widescreen Spanish version amounting to about 97 minutes of screen time: Six additional minutes, most of it dialog or transitional scenes, plus an extra virgin on the racks at the beginning. But no "nude" or uncovered version has ever been described nor even hinted at via the usual film release/promotional accouterments like lobby cards or publicity stills depicting bared breasts. They may simply have not had the budget to make an export version, and for what it's worth I think this is still a fine movie without boobs, and more accessible for first time viewers than the ultra-heavy HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB, which is not for all tastes in the truest use of that expression.THE MUMMY'S REVENGE is more of just a good old fashioned monster movie, flavored by the Spanish atmosphere & tragedy element, with some nice gory head-smushing scenes that will delight fans of that kind of stuff. I prefer the scenes with Helga Liné's "Zennifer" dolled up in a HIGHLY sexalicious Egyptian harlot costume, reserved only for the sacrificial ceremonies & related footage. With a body like hers they could have trotted her out in a garbage bags with holes poked out for her arms & head and it would still be a riveting sight.