Blood from the Mummy's Tomb

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
DVD cover
Directed by	Seth Holt
Produced by	Howard Brandy
Written by	Christopher Wicking
Starring	Valerie Leon Andrew Keir Mark Edwards James Villiers Hugh Burden Aubrey Morris
Music by	Tristram Cary
Cinematography	Arthur Grant
Editing by	Peter Weatherly
Distributed by	Anglo-EMI Film Distributors Ltd. MGM-EMI
Release date(s)	14 October 1971
Running time	94 min
Country	UK
Language	English
Budget	£200,000

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb is a 1971 British film starring Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon, and James Villiers. This was director Seth Holt's final film, and was adapted from Bram Stoker's novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. The film was released as the support feature to Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde.

Plot

The movie involves the evil legacy of an expedition led by Professor Fuchs (Keir) to find the cursed tomb of an evil Egyptian princess, whose body is found to be perfectly, unaturally preserved after two millenia. Fuchs becomes obsessed by Princess Tera's beauty and takes the body and sarcophagus home to London, building a secret shrine in his basement. Not long after, his daughter Margeret (Leon), who bears an uncanny resemblance to the princess, starts to experience strange dreams. A sinister man, who only she seems to notice, watches her from the derelict house across the road. Margaret begins to wonder if she's going mad, and starts experiencing wild personality changes. Soon the evil will of Tera, reaching up through the house, begins to periodically take over Margaret's mind and body. The strange man is revealed as Corbeck (Villiers), one of the expedition members, who is working to restore to Tera to life and a new reign of terror, and with his help Margaret kills the other desecrators of Tera's tomb one by one. Corbeck, Margeret and her increasingly unhinged father start the ritual to waken the princess. Professor Fuchs finally sees sense and convinces her to stop the ritual; together they overpower and kill Corbeck. Tera awakes, and in the attempt to stop Tera, the Professor is killed. After a long struggle, Margaret stabs Tera in the heart and she dies. In the end, Magaret wakes up from unconsciousness and finds herself in the hospital. Her whole body is wrapped in bandages and she is trying to say something.

Production

Besides providing a rare leading role for Valerie Leon, the film is particularly notable for its troubled production. Peter Cushing was cast in the film and completed one day's filming before leaving the production after his wife was diagnosed with emphysema. Cushing was replaced by Andrew Keir. The R1 DVD of the film released in America by Anchor Bay Entertainment contains still photographs of Cushing's day on the production. Director Seth Holt died of a heart attack five weeks into the six week shoot, collapsing into cast member Aubrey Morris's arms and dying on set. Michael Carreras directed the final week's filming.

According to the book Hammer, House of Horror: Behind the Screams by Howard Maxford, the budget for the film was £200,000.

The film was shot at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire.

Cast

• Andrew Keir as Julian Fuchs
• Valerie Leon as Margaret Fuchs/Queen Tera
• James Villiers as Corbeck
• Hugh Burden as Geoffrey Dandridge
• George Coulouris as Berigan
• Mark Edwards as Tod Browning
• Rosalie Crutchley as Helen Dickerson
• Aubrey Morris as Doctor Putnam
• David Markham as Doctor Burgess
• Joan Young as Mrs. Caporal
• James Cossins as Older Male Nurse

External links

• Blood From the Mummy's Tomb at the TCM Movie Database
• Blood from the Mummy's Tomb at the Internet Movie Database
• Blood from the Mummy's Tomb at AllRovi
• Britmovie