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Yes, if someone were to feed the mummy with a certain leave juice, he would kill and kill and kill. Fortunately, if that happens at 40+ minutes in a 67 minutes, the time to kill and kill and kill is not that much; which is a good thing for most of the characters, but a bad thing for a "horror" film about a killing mummy.
Following the success of several sequels to their Universal Monsters, the studio released The Mummy's Hand to capitalize on the first film. This one follows archaeologist Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and his partner Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) as they set out to find the tomb of Princess Ananka. However, they stumble upon the mummy of Kharis, who was buried alive for trying to bring Ananka back to life.
Going back to what I said in the first paragraph, the truth is that this film is less of a "horror" film and more of a comedy, that actually kinda vibes more with 1999's The Mummy than with 1932's original. And that is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's good to know what you're getting into if you decide to watch it.
Unfortunately, the film takes too long to get things going. The first half hour is devoted to Banning and Babe's shenanigans in Egypt, trying to get the expedition going. Once they get out, it takes around 10-15 minutes more until they find the mummy and it's brought back to life, and that's when it kinda picks up a bit. At least, the banter between the lead characters is solid, and I think Tom Tyler was menacing enough as the mummy, at least looks-wise.
But as far as uncontrollable, he isn't; and as far as how good the film is, ehh, it isn't very good. There's not enough of the mummy in it, the comic element didn't fully jive with me, and the overall pacing and flow was too dull and lifeless, and there's no fluid to revitalize it.
Grade:
THE MUMMY'S HAND
(1940, Cabanne)
A film set in Egypt
(1940, Cabanne)
A film set in Egypt
"Should Kharis obtain a large amount of the fluid, he would become an uncontrollable *monster*, a soulless demon with the desire to kill and kill."
Yes, if someone were to feed the mummy with a certain leave juice, he would kill and kill and kill. Fortunately, if that happens at 40+ minutes in a 67 minutes, the time to kill and kill and kill is not that much; which is a good thing for most of the characters, but a bad thing for a "horror" film about a killing mummy.
Following the success of several sequels to their Universal Monsters, the studio released The Mummy's Hand to capitalize on the first film. This one follows archaeologist Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and his partner Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) as they set out to find the tomb of Princess Ananka. However, they stumble upon the mummy of Kharis, who was buried alive for trying to bring Ananka back to life.
Going back to what I said in the first paragraph, the truth is that this film is less of a "horror" film and more of a comedy, that actually kinda vibes more with 1999's The Mummy than with 1932's original. And that is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's good to know what you're getting into if you decide to watch it.
Unfortunately, the film takes too long to get things going. The first half hour is devoted to Banning and Babe's shenanigans in Egypt, trying to get the expedition going. Once they get out, it takes around 10-15 minutes more until they find the mummy and it's brought back to life, and that's when it kinda picks up a bit. At least, the banter between the lead characters is solid, and I think Tom Tyler was menacing enough as the mummy, at least looks-wise.
But as far as uncontrollable, he isn't; and as far as how good the film is, ehh, it isn't very good. There's not enough of the mummy in it, the comic element didn't fully jive with me, and the overall pacing and flow was too dull and lifeless, and there's no fluid to revitalize it.
Grade: