Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb is technically the fourth and final film in the Hammer mummy series, though in this case it’s a significant shift away from the usual MO of the three prior films. Instead of featuring the tried-and-true bandage-wrapped monster, this one from director Seth Holt (and then Michael Carreras after Holt died during production) goes much more unwrapped with the busty Valerie Leon portraying both the evil slumbering mummy Tera and her contemporary human counterpart Margaret. The story’s all over the place, but the gist is that Margaret is sort of a spiritual successor Tera and the evil Corbeck (James Villiers) wants to assemble Tera’s three Egyptian artifacts in order to unleash her wickedness.
The main… ahem, attraction here is certainly Leon, who goes through a variety of costume changes that reveal her cleavage in all sorts of unique ways. Not only does she get to play an Egyptian goddess, she also gets to wear boob-hugging nighties, a red choker blouse, and other kinds of things that only large-chested women could pull off. Unfortunately, pull them off she does not – that’s relegated to a body double. However, Leon is also putting in the work with a lot of emotional acting, both early on as the innocent Margaret and then later acting as Corbeck’s henchwoman attempting to usher Tera back from the dead.
Villiers himself is also expertly villainous, with a lot of piss and vinegar in him. He gets to play the smarmy rich white guy well, and throughout he makes a good foe despite Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb never making clear exactly what Corbeck wants out of the whole deal. Andrew Kier’s here too as Margaret’s father Fuchs – that’s pronounced “fyooks” – who started the whole mummy obsession thing, since he keeps Tera’s preserved body in his basement with the rest of the artifacts.
The film’s fine enough, though its slow pacing is often its downfall throughout the middle portion of the film. But the most affecting flaw is the lack of context within the plotting; the story is nonsensical and nothing makes much sense, from the dual Leon roles to the motivations of any of the characters, particularly Margaret herself. Ultimately this leaves Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb a decrepit experience, buoyed only by Leon’s bosoms alone.
Blu-ray
Scream Factory has released Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb on Blu-ray with a nearly identical release compared to StudioCanal’s previous 2017 version, except here Scream have added two new extras and included both the 1.85:1 and 1.66:1 aspect ratios, utilizing the 1.85 as the main presentation. A lot of people question the decision to limit the space on Scream Factory’s discs with both aspect ratios, but in the scheme of things this is really not crushing the bitrate too much (seriously, sometimes the menus themselves take up more space than the films) and it’s nice to have both versions to choose from. Ultimately both of the two aspect ratios share the same transfer, and they are also from the same master as StudioCanal’s Blu-ray. That release was quite good and this one is too – good depth and quality, a minimal grain presence, and nice color preservation and black levels. The one thing to note is occasional fogginess in atmospheric scenes.
Audio is presented with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track with no flaws, pops, skips, and minimal volume variation. The 1.66:1 feature gets only a Dolby Digital 2.0 track.
Extras are mostly ported over from the StudioCanal release, including a featurette on the entire production called “The Pharaoh’s Curse” which reveals some interesting information about the making of the film including the Leon nude body double; there’s also an older interview featurette with Leon and Christopher Wicking. Two new interviews are also included lasting five minutes apiece with Tony Dawe and Neil Binney. A new audio commentary from film historian Steve Haberman adds a little more depth to this release as well.
Theatrical trailers, TV and radio spots, and a still gallery round out this release, along with alternative reversible artwork.
Extra Features
- NEW Interview with Tony Dawe (HD; 5:34)
- NEW Interview with Neil Binney (HD; 5:03)
- NEW Audio commentary with Steve Haberman
- 1.66:1 version
- The Pharaoh’s Curse: Inside Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb featurette (HD; 18:03)
- Curse of Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb: Interviews with Valerie Leon and Christopher Wicking (HD; 9:30)
- Theatrical trailer #1 (Unrestored HD; 0:54)
- Theatrical trailer #2 (Unrestored HD; 2:29)
- TV spot (Urestored HD; 0:23)
- Radio spots (1:52)
- Still gallery (No chapter breaks; 9:21)
BD Info
Packaging Details
