Horrorfest 2012: The Mummy's Hand

So far this month I’ve been counting down the top 31 highest rated horror flicks on Netflix Watch Instantly that I haven’t seen yet, and I’ve been going in order. Today I’m going to skip ahead a little – two movies in the Universal MUMMY series are on my list, and I wanted to watch them in order of production.

It wouldn’t be Horrorfest without at least a little Universal horror. Unfortunately, THE MUMMY’S HAND, the second in Universal’s MUMMY series, isn’t an example of their best work. Still, it isn’t an example of the studio’s worst work, either.

As a follow up to the original Boris Karloff chiller, THE MUMMY, THE MUMMY’S HAND pales in comparison. Not only does the story have nothing to do with the original, but the film lacks all of the creepy atmosphere and deliberate, suspenseful pacing that put the original right on par with more famous monster flicks like DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN.

Of course, Karloff was one major element that made the first MUMMY work. He’s absent here, with the exception of a couple of flashback scenes, and cowboy actor Tom Tyler takes the role instead. It’s not much of a role, in this flick, as the mummy just lumbers around, silently stalking his prey. In the original, the Mummy was able to regenerate into a Dracula-esque gentleman to go under cover with the rest of human society in order to carry out his dastardly plans.

THE MUMMY’S HAND concerns two bumbling archaeologists, one less dumb (Steve Banning) than the other (Wallace Ford), who stumble onto some clues leading them to the secret location of an ancient Egyptian princess’ tomb. In order to fund their expedition, they recruit a drunk stage magician (Cecil Kellaway) and his skeptical daughter (Peggy Moran).

Meanwhile, a dying Egyptian high priest (Eduardo Ciannelli) tasks his successor (George Zucco) with keeping this princess’ tomb undisturbed. In order to do so, they enlist the undead mummy (Tom Tyler) as a bodyguard/hitman. See, back in the day, when the mummy was alive, he was in love with the princess. After she died, he stole secret magical leaves to help bring her back to life, but was caught in the act and buried alive for his efforts. Now, he’s doomed to protect her tomb for eternity as a member of the walking dead, a slave to whoever controls the magic leaves that bring him life.

Anyway, the archaeologists look for the tomb and the mummy limps around the hillsides killing people off. A lot of time is wasted on the comic duo of Ford and Kellaway, but the comedy is not as funny as they probably want it to be. The scares aren’t as scary as they could be, either, although there is a legitimately chilling effect used on the Mummy to render his eyes and mouth as creepy black holes.

So, we’re left with a rather bland adventure film, though it does have its moments and is far from outright bad. The flashbacks re-used from the original MUMMY film made me want to watch the original again, and made it clear just how much this sequel lacks compared to its predecessor.