Horrorfest 2020: Hammerfest - The Mummy

Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Yvonne Furneaux

Written by Jimmy Sangster and directed by Terence Fisher

All right, now we kick Hammerfest into high gear with the kind of monster movie they were most famous for -- of course the MUMMY series is not as famed as the DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN series, and for good reason (it's not as good) but the first entry is right up there with Hammer's greatest classics.

In this way, it's sort of like Universal's MUMMY series. The first one was great, the sequels were not so great, it's not as well remembered as Dracula or Frankenstein, but damn if there weren't a ton of sequels.

The problem with the mummy in general is that a bandaged up dead guy (or girl) doesn't have much personality. Of course this first Hammer Mummy movie gets around that in two ways: first, like the Universal MUMMY, it features the mummy outside of his wraps a bunch -- in this one, via flashbacks. Second, both movies wisely cast an electric star as the mummy -- in Universal's case, Boris Karloff. Here it's... you guessed it... Christopher Lee!

Now, you might think a great like Christopher Lee is wasted in a role where he's made up beyond recognition for most of the run time, is mostly mute, and just lumbers around murdering people. Normally you'd be right. But Christopher Lee doesn't get enough credit for what an imposing physical presence he has. Usually you're fixated on his face and his voice, but here you can't fixate on either and instead are astounded by just how big, broad and tall he is. This mummy actually looks lethal and frightening, not frail and slow.

Another thing this MUMMY has going for it is that he's pitted against Peter Cushing, reuniting Hammer's two biggest stars, who also go at it as Frankenstein and his monster, and Dracula and Van Helsing.

I guess I've said so much without getting into the plot or story or anything like that, but you don't really need to know that stuff -- just know that this one is definitely worth checking out and is quintessential Hammer horror.