Blood from the Mummy's Tomb | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Seth Holt Michael Carreras (uncredited) |
Written by | Christopher Wicking |
Based on | The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker |
Produced by | Howard Brandy |
Starring | Valerie Leon Andrew Keir Mark Edwards James Villiers Hugh Burden Aubrey Morris |
Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
Edited by | Peter Weatherley |
Music by | Tristram Cary |
Production company | |
Distributed by | MGM-EMI Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £200,000 [1] |
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb is a 1971 British horror film starring Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon and James Villiers. It was director Seth Holt's final film, and was loosely adapted from Bram Stoker's 1903 novel The Jewel of Seven Stars . [2] The film was released as the support feature to Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde .
Besides providing a rare leading role for Valerie Leon, the film is notable for its troubled production.
An expedition led by Professor Fuchs (Keir) locates the unmarked tomb of Tera (Leon) an evil Egyptian queen. A cabal of priests drugged her into a state of suspended animation and buried all of her evil relics with her. Fuchs is obsessed with Tera and takes her mummy and sarcophagus back to England, where he secretly recreates her tomb under his house. Four days "before her birthday", his daughter Margaret (also Leon) - who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tera and was born at the instant they recited her name - has recurring nightmares. Fuchs gives her the old queen's ring and tells her to "wear it always". Of course, this only makes matters worse. Queen Tera's evil power begins to tempt Margaret, as she learns how she's feared by her father's former colleagues.
Margaret notices a man lurking in the vacant building across the street. He is Corbeck (Villiers), an expedition member who's now her father's rival. Corbeck wants to restore Tera to life and he persuades Margaret to help him gather the missing relics. The problem is, each time one is given up the person who'd held it dies. When they have all the relics, Corbeck, Margaret and Fuchs begin the ancient ritual to reawaken Tera. At the last moment Fuchs learns that the queen's revival will mean Margaret's death. Together Fuchs and Margaret overpower and kill Corbeck, as the house quakes above them. Queen Tera awakens and kills Fuchs, but not before Margaret stabs her. Margaret and Tera are grappling over an ancient dagger when the house finally collapses on them.
Later in the hospital, a woman's face is wrapped in bandages. She's the sole survivor, and that all the others in the Professor's basement were "crushed beyond recognition". The bandaged woman slowly opens her eyes and struggles to speak, leaving the film scene ambiguous as to whether she is Margaret Fuchs or Queen Tera.
Writer Chris Wicking said the film was one of the last projects that James Carreras brought to Hammer. Wicking wanted to use the title of the book but Carreras did not. They brainstormed titles and came up with Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, which Wicking thought they would never use, but they did. [3]
The job of directing went to Seth Holt, whose films were admired by producer Howard Brandy. Holt had a strong critical reputation for making such films as The Nanny , but had not made a movie in two years. As Holt said in 1971: "I haven't been directing because I haven't been offered anything to direct". [4]
Wicking worked with Seth Holt on the script. The film had to go into production early because there was a gap in the production schedule. Wicking said he had a falling out with producer Howard Brandy and was barred from the set but he continued to work with Holt in the evenings. [3]
Brandy later claimed Wicking's script was "unshootable" and that Holt constantly rewrote it. He also says he and Holt wanted to cast Amy Grant in the lead but Sir James Carreras insited on Valerie Leon. [1]
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. [5] The R1 DVD of the film released in the United States 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 asked Don Sharp to take over but the director was unable to as he had signed to direct a film in Israel for the producer of Puppet on a Chain (this film was ultimately not made). [6]
Michael Carreras directed the final week's filming. He said Holt's footage did not cut together. [7]
According to the book Hammer, House of Horror: Behind the Screams by Howard Maxford, the budget for the film was £200,000. [8] The film was shot at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire.[ citation needed ]
In January 1972, AIP bought the US distribution rights. [9]
AllMovie's review of the film was favourable, commending its "glamorous style" and "creepy atmosphere". [10] Empire magazine gave it three out of five. [11]
The New York Times called it "tremendous fun, skilful and wonderfully energetic". [12] Variety called it "polished and well-acted but rather tame". [13]
Peter Wilton Cushing was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. He achieved recognition for his leading performances in the Hammer Productions horror films from the 1950s to 1970s, and as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977).
Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies, as well as, in later years, television series.
The Mummy is a 1959 British horror film, directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It was written by Jimmy Sangster and produced by Michael Carreras and Anthony Nelson Keys for Hammer Film Productions. The film was distributed in the U.S. in 1959 on a double bill with either the Vincent Price film The Bat or the Universal film Curse of the Undead.
Andrew Keir was a Scottish actor who appeared in a number of films made by Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and especially in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s.
The Jewel of Seven Stars is a horror novel by Irish writer Bram Stoker, first published by Heinemann in 1903. The story is a first-person narrative of a young man pulled into an archaeologist's plot to revive Queen Tera, an ancient Egyptian mummy. It explores common fin de siècle themes such as imperialism, the rise of the New Woman and feminism, and societal progress.
Terence Fisher was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films.
Seth Holt was a Palestinian-born British film director, producer and editor. His films are characterized by their tense atmosphere and suspense, as well as their striking visual style. In the 1960s, Movie magazine championed Holt as one of the finest talents working in the British film industry, although his output was notably sparse.
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Bray Film Studios is a British film and television facility in Water Oakley near Bray, Berkshire. It is best known for its association with Hammer Film Productions.
Valerie Therese Leon is an English actress and model who has had roles in many film and television productions, including six of the Carry On film series and two James Bond films, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Never Say Never Again (1983) alongside Roger Moore and Sean Connery, respectively. She also had roles in high-profile films such as The Italian Job (1969), The Wild Geese (1978) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) and had a starring role in the Hammer horror film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971).
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Lust for a Vampire, also known as Love for a Vampire or To Love a Vampire, is a 1971 British Hammer Horror film directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Ralph Bates, Barbara Jefford, Suzanna Leigh, Michael Johnson, and Yutte Stensgaard. It was given an R rating in the United States for some violence, gore, strong adult content and nudity. It is the second film in the Karnstein Trilogy, loosely based on the 1872 Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla. It was preceded by The Vampire Lovers (1970) and followed by Twins of Evil (1971). The three films do not form a chronological development, but use the Karnstein family as the source of the vampiric threat and were somewhat daring for the time in explicitly depicting lesbian themes.
Taste of Fear is a 1961 British thriller film directed by Seth Holt. The film stars Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, and Christopher Lee in a supporting role. It was released in the United States as Scream of Fear.
Michael Henry Carreras was a British film producer and director. He was known for his association with Hammer Films, being the son of founder James Carreras, and taking an executive role in the company during its most successful years.
The Awakening is a 1980 British horror film directed by Mike Newell in his directorial debut and starring Charlton Heston, Susannah York, and Stephanie Zimbalist. It is the third film version of Bram Stoker's 1903 novel The Jewel of Seven Stars, following the 1970 television adaptation as The Curse of the Mummy for the TV series Mystery and Imagination, and the 1971 theatrical film by Hammer, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. It was released by Warner Bros.
Bram Stoker's Legend of the Mummy, or simply Bram Stoker's The Mummy, is a 1998 American fantasy horror film based on Bram Stoker's 1903 novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. Directed by Jeffrey Obrow, who is one of the writers that adapted the novel for the film, it features an ensemble cast that includes Louis Gossett Jr., Eric Lutes, Amy Locane, Lloyd Bochner, Victoria Tennant, Mary Jo Catlett, Aubrey Morris, and Richard Karn. Morris previously appeared in Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, a 1971 Hammer Films adaptation of the same novel.
Vampirella is a 1996 American direct-to-video superhero film which was part of the Roger Corman Presents series. It was based on the Vampirella comic book.
The World of Hammer is a British television documentary series created and written by Robert Sidaway and Ashley Sidaway, and produced by Robert Sidaway.
Director Seth Holt died suddenly a few days before shooting was completed.