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Released by: Scorpion Releasing
Released on: July 22nd, 2019.
Director: Carlos Aured
Cast: Paul Naschy, Jack Taylor, Helga Liné, María Silva, Luis Davila, Rina Ottolina
Year: 1975
Purchase From Ronin Flix
The Mummy's Revenge - Movie Review:
In the opening of Carlos Aured's 1975 picture The Mummy's Revenge, we learn of pharaoh Amenhotep (Paul Naschy) and his penchant for cruelty, typically doled out to anyone who chooses, much to the delight of his companion Amarna (Rina Ottolina), who seems to enjoy Amenhotep's torturous ways as much as the man himself. Realizing that something most be done, a priest named Anchaff (Fernando Sí¡nchez Polack) drugs Amenhotep's drink and burying him alive. if Amenhotep is not given mummification rites, he won't be able to cross over and both his soul and his corpse will die. Amarna, meanwhile, is also put to death.
That's the theory, at least.
Centuries later, an archaeologist named Nathan Stark (Jack Taylor) discovers Amenhotep's tomb. He and his lovely wife, Abigail (Maria Silva), take Amenhotep's sarcophagus to their base of operations in London where their friend and fellow archeologist Sir Douglas Carter (Eduardo Calvo) tells them the story of Amenhotep's curse. Returning to London with Stark are Egyptians Assad Bey (Naschy again) and Senofed (Helga Liné), where they learn from Carter that before he was murdered, Amenhotep left instructions on how to resurrect him. Bey, who is a descendent of Amenhotep himself, decides to gather what is needed to pull this off - mainly the blood of a few virgins - and bring Amenhotep back. It works, and Amenhotep offers Bey riches and immortality if only he'll bring a few more virgin sacrifices his way and help him coerce Carter's daughter Helen (Rina Ottolina again) into becoming a host for Amarna resurrected soul.
As beautiful young women start disappearing from the streets of London, Scotland Yard's Taylor (Luis Dí¡vila) starts to investigate the crimes…
While Naschy's mummy picture isn't as well-known as his more popular werewolf films, this movie is nevertheless a really entertaining picture. Clearly influenced by the Universal and, especially, the Hammer mummy movies that came before it, The Mummy's Revenge offers up interesting characters, beautiful woman, some solid makeup effects, neat period costume and Naschy strutting about with that odd charisma that was so uniquely his own. As is typical with the actor's work in projects he was clearly passionate about, Naschy throws himself into the role, appearing in and out of makeup throughout the movie and bringing his inimitable screen presence to the movie in a big way.
Supporting work is also pretty decent here. Rina Ottolina is quite good as Amenhotep's lovely, and equally sinister, companion. She looks the part and makes quite an impression here. Jack Taylor is pretty fun in his role, while beautiful Helga Liné also turns in a solid performance.
The production values here are decent. The attention to detail to the costuming and set design in the Egyptian sequences is pretty impressive for a film made on a modest budget, and the score, while pilfered from various sources, works quite well. Aured's direction is assured, the film is well-paced and the cinematography is very good.
The Mummy's Revenge - Blu-ray Review:
The Mummy's Revenge comes to Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing framed properly at 2.35.1 widescreen in AVC encoded 1080p high definition in two versions - the "English theatrical cut" (89:19) and the “Extended Cut†(91:35). The difference between the two versions amounts to a two-and-a-half-minute scene that takes place just after the forty-one-minute mark where the mummy kills a man and steals away his wife - otherwise, the transfers appear to be identical. Quality of the transfer is pretty solid. Darker scenes tend to be very dark indeed, likely the way that the movie was shot, while scenes shot outside in the daylight or indoors with proper lighting look considerably better. Detail handily rises above what DVD would have been able to provide here, and color reproduction is generally strong across the board. We get decent black levels as well, and there are no noticeable problems with compression artifacts.
Note that while it was common for Spanish genre pictures of this time to be shot in both 'clothed' and export market intended 'unclothed' versions (many Naschy pictures were), an 'unclothed' version of this one doesn't appear to have ever surfaced.
Spanish and English language options are provided for the longer cut of the film in DTS-HD 2.0 Mono with removable subtitles provided in English only, translating the Spanish dialogue. The shorter cut gets only an English DTS-HD track. Quality between the two tracks is noticeably different. The Spanish track is cleaner and more consistent sounding while the English track is a bit wobbly in spots. On top of that, the English dubbing on this one is pretty awful - but hey, it's here for those who want it and that can only be a good thing.
Extras start out with a commentary track from Troy Howarth, who has written plenty of genre-centric books over the last few years included Human Beasts: The Films Of Paul Naschy. He offers up the expected facts and figures about the cast and crew involved in the shoot and also talks about how this era in Naschy's career really was insanely busy. He notes some of the details in the script and its portrayal of Egyptian practices as well as the way that the film's female characters are portrayed. There's info and some valid speculation in here about the clothed/unclothed versions, some discussion of why certain musical cues in the picture might sound familiar to Eurocult enthusiasts, the film's dubbing and a fair bit more.
Rounding out the extras on the disc are a trailer for the feature, bonus trailers for Naschy vehicles Fury Of The Wolfman and The Hanging Woman, menus and chapter selection. On the reverse of the cover sleeve insert we also get some liner notes from Naschy expert Mirek Lipinski that give an interesting overview of the financing behind the film, Naschy's being a stickler for detail, and some interesting notes about the cast and crew involved in the production.
The Mummy's Revenge - The Final Word:
Scorpion Releasing's Blu-ray release of The Mummy's Revenge finally gets a proper home video release in what would see to be the most complete version possible and in quite a nice presentation. The movie itself is pretty entertaining stuff, a nice mix of classic horror tropes and Naschy's own unique style. Recommended!
Click on the images below for full sized The Mummy's Revenge Blu-ray screen caps!
It was AWOL on the DVD, AWOL here.
Licencor either has it or not, possibly does not know they have it,
can't be bothered to take the time to really look.
This happens with the uncovered scenes all the time,
and this sequence appears to have been a ripe candidate for an uncovered take.
It was part of the English version that ran on US TV, and in the trailer, but as for a solid answer,
no got one.