The Mummy's Shroud

Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine2.5

RESEÑA EN ESPAÑOLSPOOKTOBER VI: THE HAMMER OF HORROROk, by now I probably don’t need to say how impressive the technical work is—arguably the film’s strongest aspect—especially the lighting, which masterfully uses the color red in key scenes, like that intense kill in the third act.The film itself feels quite uneven. There’s a campy vibe—whether intentional or not, I’m not sure—that occasionally makes for an entertaining watch. The Mummy design leans more goofy than terrifying, though director John Gilling and cinematographer Arthur Grant do their best to inject fear through clever camerawork and shadow play; yet, something about the face just ends up looking funny. Maybe it’s just me and my warped sense of humor. The performances are decent, though some of the reactions unintentionally made me chuckle. The decomposition effects, however, were genuinely cool.All in all, it’s not terrible, but by this point, it’s fair to say no one will ever top the original Lee/Cushing film. Maybe I’m spoiled by Brendan Fraser’s adventures, but I wished for a stronger sense of excitement. And if the goal was horror, the scares or dread were sadly lacking—this film just doesn’t deliver.SPOOKTOBER VI: THE HAMMER OF HORRORTODAY SCHEDULEThe Mummy's ShroudBring Her Back

Slig0013.0

The Mummy's Shroud is the third film in Hammer's Mummy series and it basically tells the same story as the other two, only this time the major plot beats are rearranged. We begin with the obligatory flashback which tells the story of the antagonistic Mummy. The film spends much longer on the actual opening of the tomb, before we move on to the usual curse of the Mummy plot which sees the desecrators picked off one by one. The inevitability of the plot undermines the suspense as its never really hard to guess what is going to happen. The cast of characters provide some interesting drama - most notably John Phillips as the expedition funder and "Big I Am" of the piece, with his nonchalant wife, disapproving son and poor trodden on assistant played by Hammer regular Michael Ripper. The film is well produced as usual with Hammer - the few sets that appear are lavish and colourful. The Mummy itself looks a little silly, but the film finds its creepy villain in the form of a clairvoyant, complete with working crystal ball. It's a bit too slow on the whole, but there's some decent kill scenes and the big finale with the destruction of the Mummy is very well done. The Mummy's Shroud is hardly the best of Hammer's output....but it's entertaining enough in a straightforward kind of a way.

Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti"3.0

"The Mummy's Shroud" is a 1967 horror film directed by John Gilling. The film is part of the infamous Hammer Horror cannon, who released four features on the creature that is "The Mummy" itself between 1959 to 1971. "The Mummy's Shroud is the third release out of the four, coming along easily when Hammer had a placement set on the character. Like many of the features, "The Mummy's Shroud" can easily be viewed as a standalone, without a plot that hinges off of scenarios of the prior film. Conventionally, the plot is fairly standard fair for anyone who is accustomed to the plot of the original Universal "The Mummy" (1932) or the character in within the generality of things. We get a quick narrative background of Ancient Egypt, with the upheaval of a Pharoh who is betrayed due to uprising. The Pharoh's son is exiled to the desert with his servant protector, never being able to rule Egypt as intended. Years later, British archeologists come across the remains of the servant who has vowed to remain a protector of the Pharoh's son, really setting the build of a conventional Mummy movie. Laughably there really isn't any deep resolved need to go into here as one comes across Mummy and gets cursed, the Mummy then takes care of business, rinse and repeat. There is also a creepy old fortune teller woman who adds a bit of ambiance to the whole set up. She pulls characters in and relays and ominous factor that they will soon die, and soon enough the deed is done. Monster wise, as a common thing that every over review is mentioning, the Mummy is pretty gigantic to be menacing. I did like the humorous notion that during the fight scenes with the creature, the Mummy seemed unaffected by certain things like acid but flinched while being shot, marking for hilarity in the consistency. At the end of the day, there is not a whole lot of new energy here but it's a good old healthy schlocky time of novelty.