THE MUMMY’S CURSE

(director: Leslie Goodwins; screenwriters: Bernard Schubert/story by Leon Abrams & Dwight V. Babcock; cinematographer: Virgil Miller; editor: Fred R. Feitshans Jr.; music: Paul Sawtell; cast: Lon Chaney [Jr] (Kharis), Virginia Christine (Princess Ananka), Peter Coe ( Dr. Ilzor Zandaab), Dennis Moore (Dr James Halsey), Martin Kosleck (Ragheb), Kay Harding (Betty Walsh),Addison Richards (Pat Walsh), Ann Codee (Tante Berthe), Kurt Katch (Cajun Joe), Holmes Herbert (Dr Cooper), Napoleon Simpson (Goobie); Runtime: 60; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Oliver Drake; Universal; 1944)

“Predictable and slow moving chiller.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A below average sequel to The Mummy’s Ghost (1944). It’s the last of Universal’s four mummy films. It also was Lon Chaney’s third and last appearance in the mummy films as Kharis, who terrorizes swamp dwellers, the Cajuns living in the area and the archaeologists in their search for the reincarnation of Princess Ananka (Virginia Christine). Director Leslie Goodwins(“Dragnet”/”One Minute to Zero”/”The Las Vegas Story”) blandly directs this predictable and slow moving chiller. It’s based on the story by Leon Abrams and Dwight V. Babcock. The screenplay is by Bernard Schubert.

It opens in a visually striking manner but weirdly, with Princess Ananka surfacing from her quicksand coffin while engineers drain the Louisiana swamp. Also surfacing is her lover, Kharis. While the excavation takes place, the archaeologist Dr. James Halsey (Dennis Moore) tries to uncover the whereabouts of the mummies. Halsey is unaware his assistant, Dr. Ilzor Zandaab (Peter Coe), is the priest from the cult of Akran. After finding Kharis, Ilzor revives him with tana leaves. Meanwhile Ananka wanders around the swamps with no idea of who she is. Coming for her is Kharis, who kills anyone who gets in his way.

REVIEWED ON 2/1/2016 GRADE: C+