Blood from the Mummy's Tomb opens in Egypt. An evil Egyptian sorceress named Queen Tera (Valerie Leon) is lying in a sarcophagus, some Egyptian priests cut her hand off with an axe. They take the severed limb outside & give it to the dogs to chew on, but the hand is still alive & starts crawling around. The priests finish the ceremony and seal Tera's tomb. Outside they are terrorised by what looks like a sandstorm that rips all their throats out. Cut to Margaret Fuchs (Valerie Leon as well) waking up, it was all a nightmare as her Father Professor Julian Fuchs (Andrew Keir) comforts her. The filmmakers make sure we notice that Margaret has a red scar like mark on her wrist. The next morning Professor Fuchs gives his daughter Margaret a beautiful ring for her upcoming birthday, at the centre of which is a large brilliant red ruby. Margaret plans on spending the day with her (lucky) boyfriend Tod Browning (Mark Edwards) who takes an immediate interest in Margaret's new ring. Tod assumes that it is from Professor Fuchs expedition to Egypt many years ago & decides to take it a friend named Geoffrey Dandridge (Hugh Burden) to try & find out more about it. When Geoffrey sees the ring he becomes very nervous & agitated, when he sees Margaret he nearly has a heart attack. They continue to investigate the ring as strange occurrences begin to happen, it turns out that Professor Fuchs, Dandridge along with Corbeck (James Villiers), Professor Berrigan (George Coulouris) & Helen Dickerson (Rosalie Crutchley) were all members of an expedition to the tomb of Queen Tera in Egypt. There, they found the perfectly preserved body of Tera & her severed hand from which Professor Fuchs removed the ring. At the exact same moment they discovered the body of Queen Tera Margaret was born back in London. Margaret looks exactly like Queen Tera & starts to take on the characteristics of Tera as she becomes possessed by the evil Queen's spirit who uses her body to gather an artifact from each team member she needs to revive herself completely!
Initially to be directed by Seth Holt but was finished by Micheal Carreras when Holt died of heart failure before filming was completed. The script by Christopher Wicking based on the Bram Stoker Novel Jewel of the Seven Stars is far too slow & dull, especially the final half of the film. It also ditches the expected Mummy in bandages for a unexciting, awkward & underdeveloped supernatural angle. I was uninterested in anyone or anything on screen & the story just didn't captivate me. I thought Blood from the Mummy's Tomb was a generally poor film throughout except for a few half decent sequences & the undeniable on screen presence & beauty of leading lady Valerie Leon. None of the familiar Hammer stars are present, the sets look extremely cheap & fake with an awful looking English studio bound Egypt during the opening sequence & several flashbacks. Tera's tomb is also severely lacking as the hieroglyphics on the wall look like they were painted by a primary school art class. I'm not sure what sort of look the director & production designer Scott MacGregor had in mind with the look of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, it appears set in 70's London with some of it's fashions & locations especially Tod with his clothes & swanky flat. Yet there are scenes where it looks as if Hammer wanted the film to be set in Victorian times, like their Frankenstein's & Dracula's. Some of the medical equipment used, the mental asylum that looks more like a prison with it's cells for patients, some of the interior shots of Fuchs house plus the clothes Professor Fuchs & Dandridge wear also make me feel that the filmmakers were in two minds about the look of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. Surprisingly there is a fair amount of blood & gore, Tera's severed hand keeps turning up, shots of Tera's stump at the end of her arm pouring with blood & quite a few ripped open throats. One more thing, the film is set in London but Tera was found in Egypt & Professor Fuchs now keeps her in his basement. So how did Fuchs get a sarcophagus with a body that looks like they died yesterday in it & still bleeding through customs? Overall I really didn't think much of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, maybe I was expecting too much but ultimately I found the film as dull as dishwater & nothing during it's 90 plus minute running time particularly stood out as being enjoyable (maybe expect Valerie Leon's brief nude scene!) or entertaining as far as I'm concerned. Hammer have made much better horror films, see one of those instead.
Initially to be directed by Seth Holt but was finished by Micheal Carreras when Holt died of heart failure before filming was completed. The script by Christopher Wicking based on the Bram Stoker Novel Jewel of the Seven Stars is far too slow & dull, especially the final half of the film. It also ditches the expected Mummy in bandages for a unexciting, awkward & underdeveloped supernatural angle. I was uninterested in anyone or anything on screen & the story just didn't captivate me. I thought Blood from the Mummy's Tomb was a generally poor film throughout except for a few half decent sequences & the undeniable on screen presence & beauty of leading lady Valerie Leon. None of the familiar Hammer stars are present, the sets look extremely cheap & fake with an awful looking English studio bound Egypt during the opening sequence & several flashbacks. Tera's tomb is also severely lacking as the hieroglyphics on the wall look like they were painted by a primary school art class. I'm not sure what sort of look the director & production designer Scott MacGregor had in mind with the look of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, it appears set in 70's London with some of it's fashions & locations especially Tod with his clothes & swanky flat. Yet there are scenes where it looks as if Hammer wanted the film to be set in Victorian times, like their Frankenstein's & Dracula's. Some of the medical equipment used, the mental asylum that looks more like a prison with it's cells for patients, some of the interior shots of Fuchs house plus the clothes Professor Fuchs & Dandridge wear also make me feel that the filmmakers were in two minds about the look of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. Surprisingly there is a fair amount of blood & gore, Tera's severed hand keeps turning up, shots of Tera's stump at the end of her arm pouring with blood & quite a few ripped open throats. One more thing, the film is set in London but Tera was found in Egypt & Professor Fuchs now keeps her in his basement. So how did Fuchs get a sarcophagus with a body that looks like they died yesterday in it & still bleeding through customs? Overall I really didn't think much of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, maybe I was expecting too much but ultimately I found the film as dull as dishwater & nothing during it's 90 plus minute running time particularly stood out as being enjoyable (maybe expect Valerie Leon's brief nude scene!) or entertaining as far as I'm concerned. Hammer have made much better horror films, see one of those instead.