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 The tagline of this film was "beware the beat of the cloth
wrapped feet." Archeologists find hidden tomb of Kah-to-Bey. They get a
warning against messing with Kah-to-Bey from a "wild eyed guardian" named
Hasmid Ali. Kah-to-Bey is taken to Cairo and displayed next to the mummified
remains of his devoted slave, Prem. The shroud covering Kah-To-Bey contains
"mystical hieroglyphics" and when it's read aloud, it restores Prem to life
"resulting in an unstoppable progression of madness, mystery, and murder. 1967, 90 minutes, Widescreen, DVD
Hammer Films figured that they could update what Universal had done in the 30s
and 40s as far as monster movies went and this included a series of mummy
features that were less celebrated than their Frankenstein and Dracula films. The Mummy's Shroud is the third movie of four from them. This is the only one currently
available on DVD and it doesn't appear that any of their mummy movies have much
to do with the others so you shouldn't get lost starting on this one (unlike
that blasted Kharis, whose exploits eventually resembled a season of Dynasty). This film starts out with a flashback. You would think by now that
audiences would be sufficiently aware that some dastardly deeds had been done
in the past and that eventually some mummy or other would rise to wreak a
murderous rampage on the idiots who trampled into whatever tomb the mummy had a
thing for. This film is no different. In ancient Egypt there was this good
king who wanted a son and who finally had one. He named him Kah-to-Bey
presumably after someone, but I don't know any Kah-to-Beys offhand. KTB had a
faithful slave named Prem. The good king had an evil brother, because it was a
policy in the ancient world that if a family was blessed with a good son they
also had to take on an evil son. Kind of an early Americans With Disabilities
Act. Guess what the evil son wanted? The throne, of course so there was a
big hoo-hah and we get to watch a bunch guys in bronzer pretending to stab each
other with spears and swords on some cheesy Egyptian throne room set. Prem and
KTB head off into the desert, I guess to hide or whatever and eventually
everyone croaks. Somehow Prem gets mummified while KTB only gets this ratty
blanket thrown over him. I think they call it a shroud in this film, probably
because The Mummy's Ratty Blanket sounded like a preschool book, instead of a pulse pounding Hammer epic. Flash forward back to the present where Sir Basil Walden is leading an
expedition of three other people in search of the tomb of Kah-to-Bey. The only
problem is that Sir Basil is a washout when it comes to reading the Rand
McNally Atlas of Secret Mummy Tombs because he and his party are lost in the
desert. Things are getting desperate as they figure that they only have enough
water to get them back to that last oasis they came from. Somehow or other Sir
Basil and the others figure they have only two choices: Either turn back to the
oasis or go on and find the tomb. Now to me, the choice is easy. You go back
to the oasis. Let me tell you why. There is water there. You need water to
live. Let's say you decide to go find the tomb. Let's say, you're
as bright as Sir Basil and you manage to stumble upon it, despite the fact
that you've gotten everyone lost. You still need water. Why would you think
finding the tomb would solve that? There isn't going to be a water fountain
next to Kah-to-Bey's carcass. In fact, now you're further away from the oasis
then you ever were and can't possibly make it back there before needing water!
So Sir Basil and the rest decide to go on and locate the tomb. Immediately the
sandstorm clears up and what do you know? Right there in front of their tent a
stone tablet has been uncovered with ancient writing and it says "This way to
hidden, double-secret tomb. Defilers subject to murderous mummy rampage." So
they go charging into the tomb and run into a guy who goes by the handle of
Hasmid Ali. He's very tan and sweaty and has that wild eyed look of someone
who's going to try and get all in your face about desecrating the tomb and that
you'll pay with your lives and blah, blah, blah. He's promptly ignored by
everyone and they see some more writing and ask Claire, a linguistic expert to
translate and she refuses to because it says really bad stuff! Thanks for
nothing skank! Glad we dragged your prissy ass along!  Meanwhile back in Cairo, Sir Stanley Preston is huffing and puffing his way
around about the missing expedition. His son, Paul, is a member of the party,
but his real concern is that his professional rival Sir Basil might find
Kah-to-Bey and get some of the glory that Sir Stanley craves. Stan is a man
who is use to getting what he wants. We know this because he's always shouting
orders at his hapless assistant Longbarrow, who is a little man in glasses with
a bow tie. Those are the kind of underlings bullies always have. Sometimes
in the movies those underlings get revenge on their mean, nasty bosses. In this
movie, the Mummy just kills Longbarrow! Sir Stan is forced into one of the
rescue parties and it is the one that finds Sir Basil. Sir Basil somehow
manages to get himself bit by a snake in the tomb and I was hoping that this
wasn't the extent of the punishment meted out by the gods for having a hoe down
in Kah-to-Bey's tomb. They locate the body of KTB and transport it back to
Cairo. There Sir Stanley holds a press conference to brag all about the find.
Sir Basil manages to faint during it and the next thing we know is that
Sir Basil has been declared insane and is shipped off to the Cario nuthut. Sir
Stan's son Paul looks up to Basil and thinks that just because the old
fuddy-duddy got everyone lost and almost killed in the desert and then got
himself all snakebit, doesn't mean he's got Alzheimer's or anything.
Immediately he accuses his father of bribing people to get Sir Basil put in
lockdown so as to steal the glory for himself. Sir Stan is outraged and this
leads to one of those great scenes where the kid is telling the dad what a
worthless piece of trash he is and how Sir Basil is a worth a thousand Sir
Stans and that he's moving out of his parents' basement and moving in with Sir
Basil who won't care how loud he plays his Pink Floyd albums or who he has over
for all night Dungeons & Dragons sessions! Then he turns on his heels and
stomps out! At this point, you're probably wondering when this Mummy is going to start
settling some scores and thinning out the losers who populate this flick!
Okay, let the meat tally begin! Sir Basil? Escapes from lunatic asylum and
runs into fortune teller who happens to be Hasmid Ali's mom or wife or both
(who knows how they do things out in the desert?). She predicts his death, so
Hasmid hightails it to the museum and holds the shroud that covered Kah-To-Be
and recites the magic spell that will awaken Prem. Prem wakes up, finds Sir
Basil and chucks his senile butt out the window (I think this was Sir Basil, it
might have been Longbarrow, I lost track of how all these dopes bought it, but
somebody got the ole heave ho). Next stop on the Prem Express is Harry. Harry
is the other member of the party who hasn't been mentioned. He's a
photographer. He puts up a little bit of a struggle what with dumping acid on
Prem and trying to drive a tri-pod (he's a photographer, you know) through his
chest. Well,
Prem takes the bottle of acid and smashes it all over Harry and then Harry
somehow gets set on fire. The police are now wondering what is happening and
immediately blame Sir Stan. Stan doesn't help himself out with all his
attempted bribes and his frequent attempts to skip the country once he's put
under the "umbrella of suspicion." He sends Longbarrow out to book passage on
a ship for him in the middle of the night, but the Mummy shows up before
Longbarrow can do this and he gets choked out or something. Stan is impatient
and decides to go on down to the dock to meet up with his escape boat, but this
Prem dude is everywhere by now! He is in the Zone! He pimpslaps Sir Stan
into the great hereafter (say hi to Sir Basil, Harry, and Longbarrow!). Paul
and Claire are now sweating things a bit so they end up at the museum for some
reason. That dang Hasmid Ali is there too! He's got the towel and orders the
Mummy to attack before he gets killed by the Cario PD.  There's a big fight with Paul and the Mummy and the cops and the Mummy takes an
ax to the chest at one point. Eventually Claire grabs the Mummy's blankie and
says the super-duper magic spell of death and the Mummy turns to dust before
our disbelieving (and very relieved) eyes! This is a nasty little film that
certainly doesn't rank with the great Hammer movies, but you can't really fault
a movie that resurrects its Mummy and then marches him off to kill people one
after the other. I think by now that these mummy movies have degenerated into
proto-slasher movies. Egypt just happened to be the setting for a series of
grisly murders. There really wasn't any reason for them. Prem is suppose to
be protecting KTB, but from what? People looking at him in a museum? What is
Hasmid Ali's connection to all this? Is he the only guy who still cares about
Prem and KTB and whether people violate the tomb? No one seemed to mind when
Prem's tomb was violated. And why have this towel control the mummy when it
was with KTB? What happens if KTB was found before Prem? Would Prem have had
to dig himself out of the tomb and find his way back to where ever KTB was taken
to? In the Universal series, Im-Ho-Tep and Kharis were both still around
because they wanted to be reunited with their lost love. Here you've just got
a mummy with a chip on his shoulder. Everyone you expect to die does, and
everyone you don't doesn't. The movie looks okay enough and it's nice to see a
mummy that actually looks threatening as opposed to one who lumbers around like
Andre the Giant. The acting and the actors here are completely unremarkable
and one wishes for the presence of a Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee to lend a
little class to an otherwise unmemorable movie. Characters like Harry the
photographer seemed to exist solely for the purpose of being killed later.
Since this was a Hammer Film, I assumed that Claire would be appearing in some
low-cut nightgowns or something to liven things up, but all she did was wear
too much make up and have these eyebrows that look like they were drawn on with
magic marker. I suppose if you are some kind of Mummy fanatic and are in the
mood to watch some snooty Brits get slaughtered (and when aren't we?) you
could do worse.
Reviews © 2004
MonsterHunter
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