Eternal Punishment for Anyone Who Opens This Casket: The Mummy (1932)

“Eternal punishment… for… anyone… who… opens… this… casket. In the name… of Amon-Ra… the king of the gods.”

I LOVE this film!!!! It is a classic horror/B film that stars the amazing, wonderful, absolutely fabulous Boris Karloff! That man was a genius and can do creepy so well. Just check out Frankenstein. Anyway The Mummy is a member of Universal’s Classic Horror collection; a collection that also houses The Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein,  The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Wolf Man, etc.

I love this movie so much that last year I made my own poster for my cover page on facebook. Here it is, hope you like it.

So The Mummy has become such a huge part of our culture. It has been in so many other films and TV series; such as Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, Get Smart: The Mummy, Laverne & Shirley: The Mummy’s Bride, Transylvania 6-5000, DuckTales: Ducky Horror Picture Show, Supernatural: Monster Movie, Frankenweenie, etc

It also has had countless remakes such as The Mummy’s Hand (1940), The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), The Mummy’s Ghost(1944),  The Mummy’s Curse (1944),  Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, The Mummy (1959), The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964), The Mummy’s Shroud (1966),  Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (1971), The Mummy’s Revenge (1973), The Mummy Lives (1993),  The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), and the animated series The Mummy

What’s funny is that The Mummy started out as something completely different. It was originally going to be called “Cagliostro“, based on a “prophet”/charlatan who claimed that he had lived for several centuries. It was changed with the discovery of King Tut‘s tomb and the controversy over “his curse”.  It is the only one of the Universal Classic Horror Collection that is not based off of legend, myth, or classical fiction; but was created all on its own. Interestingly enough, this film is very similar to Dracula, as the writers and directors who worked on that worked on this as well.

Previous to Frankenstein Karloff was unknown, but by this time Karloff was such a huge name that all they had to do was advertise “KARLOFF is THE MUMMY!”

So the film begins with Sir Joseph Wemple leading an archeological expedition in Egypt. He and his crew strike it rich finding a mummy and all his belongings.

However, this mummy, has a curse placed upon him.

“Sir Joseph Whemple: [translating inscription on box] “Death… eternal punishment… for… anyone… who… opens… this… casket. In the name… of Amon-Ra… the king of the gods.” Good heavens, what a terrible curse!”

Not only that but

“Doctor Muller: Look – the sacred spells which protect the soul in its journey to the underworld have been chipped off the coffin. So Imhotep was sentenced to death not only in this world, but in the next.”

Sir Joseph’s best friend, Doctor Muller, warns him to stay away from the mummy, that only bad things will come of it, but Sir Joseph can’t, he just has to continue to examine the body all in the name of science. Doctor Muller is very much a Van Helsing type character, expressed more so as the film continues.

Sir Joseph manages to find the scroll of Thoth that brings the dead back to life, and his assistant, Ralph Norton, can’t help but read it.

He reads it in front of the Mummy and brings him to life!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn’t Karloff gruesome? What a great costume!

I can’t really blame Norton, as I would do the same thing if I could see Boris Karloff. 😀

This is so me.

We are then fast-forwarded ten years to the present, 1932. Sir Joseph’s son is also an archeologist, but unfortunately his digging crew has come up with nothing so far. Frank Whemple, Sir Joseph’s son, is the only Whemple left in Egypt, as after his father discovered his crazed assistant, Sir Joseph packed up and returned to England, determined to never come to Egypt again. Frank is about to follow his father when he is approached by a modern Egyptian Aderth Bay [they used this name for the leader of the Maji in The Mummy (1999)]. 

Look familiar?

Yep Ardeth Bay is really the Mummy. He gives Frank a map to finding a site “greater than Tutankhamun’s”, his reasons for sharing being that Egyptians are not allowed to dig up their own land but can only do it through foriegners.

Karloff’s makeup was based on the appearance of Ramses III; and had to go through eight hours of makeup application. Karloff speaks in a stilted voice that only adds to his mummy persona, but this was due to the fact that so many layers of cotton were glued to his face to create the wrinkled skin that Karloff was unable to move his facial muscles enough even to speak.

Even though I am referring him to as the Mummy, his real name is Imhotep. Imhotep is the high priest and they named him after the orginal high priest who designed the stepped pryamid of Djoser in 2630–2611 BCE, the first pryamid ever created in ancient times. That Imhotep wasn’t sentenced cruely but actually so honored he was declared a god.

Anyways, back to the film. They dig and find the remains of Ankh-es-en-Amon, the princess.

Later Frank attends a ball in which he spots the beautiful Helen Grosvenor, played by Zita Johann.

Helen is biracial, her mother was Egyptian while her father was British (the Evie character in the 1999 version). Her father is in charge of the Sudan, but Helen didn’t want to go and is staying with Dr. Muller. She is very nostalgic and easily lost in  the mystery and mysticism of ancient Egypt.

Imhotep prepare a ceremony t0 help him discover who his beloved Ankh-es-en-Amon’s reincarnated body is. You see back in the day, Imhotep was mummified after trying to resurrect his forbidden lover, the princess Ankh-es-en-Amon. Ever since he was revived he has been trying to find ways to bring her back. But first he needs her reincarnated form as they are “linked” to put Ankh-es-en-Amon’s full spirit in.

This reincarnated body is Helen Grosvenor who looks just like Ankh-es-en-Amon.

Imhotep calls to her, and she answers. In a zombie like trance she gets a cab and goes to the museum. She tries to get in, but it is locked for the night. Frank finds her and tries to figure out how to help her when she faints. Frank picks her up and takes her to Dr. Muller’s.

Helen wakes up and her and Frank form an Insta-connection. While they are busy oogling each other, Sir Joseph and Dr. Muller are trying to figure out how Ardeth Bay, Imhotep, and Helen are all connected. They also hear of a murder at the museum (Ardeth Bay killed a guard who discovered him) and find the remains of his ceremony.

Hmm…

Sir Joseph and Dr. Muller return and have connected all the dots. They try to bring Frank up to speed but he just thinks they are talking crazy.  Imhotep shows up as he knows that they hold his scroll needed for the ritual. When he arrives he finds Helen. He tries to remind her “who she is”, but she doesn’t remember. She does however have a bond with him, one she cannot explain. Dr. Muller tries to get her out of there, but she doesn’t want to go. However, Frank is able to convince her.

They too hold a bond

Dr. Muller, Sir Joseph, and Imhotep all have a confrontation, everyone letting each other know that they know who each is. They tell Imhotep that they are going to burn the scroll of Thoth that brings people back from the dead. Imhotep warns them to return the scroll to him or die.

That night Imhotep uses his magical pool to see Sir Joseph trying to burn the scroll.

He doesn’t like that one bit and sends Sir Joe a heart attack. He then commands the servant, as he has the power to command all those with Egyptian blood, to burn some other paper and bring him the scroll.

The next day Dr. Miller gives Frank an Isis charm that will protect him. But he warns him not to give the charm to ANYONE ELSE IT WON’T WORK FOR ANYONE ELSE!

That day Imhotep calls to Helen and she goes to him. He shows her the past in his wishing pool.

He was punished for messing with fate that wasn’t his to mess with.

When Helen goes home, Frank is there waiting having been extremely worried about her. Helen goes through a range of emotions as her two sides are fighting with each other. Dr. Muller puts her under house arrest/house care. She acts very much like Mina after Dracula has bit her.

They keep looking for Imhotep but can’t find him. They ask Helen to answer the next time he calls so they can find him and kill him.

Frank waits outside Helen’s door and decides to help her by placing his Isis charm around the doorknob to keep Imhotep out.

DID YOU NOT HEAR THE MAN EARLIER?

HE SAID IT WILL WORK ONLY FOR YOU! YOU KEEP IT! I mean this is such a classic mistake made by these men in these horror films. In Dracula, he just has to give the girl the cross charm that is supposed to protect only him, and then gets knocked out and is unable to keep her from being kidnapped. In The Wolf Man, he gives the girl the charm to protect him, and it doesn’t work for her. Instead he manifests into being a werewolf and almost kills her. MORAL OF THESE STORIES, KEEP THE DANG CHARM!!! DON’T GIVE IT AWAY!!!

Imhotep knocks out Frank and kidnaps Helen, taking her away to the museum to complete the ritual.

However, Ankh-es-en-Amon doesn’t want to die and be transformed, she likes being alive. She also knows that she is someone else and wants to live that life as well.

Just as Frank and Dr. Miller storm in, Ankh-es-en-Amon calls upon Isis for help and protection.

Isis comes to life and turns Imhotep into a pile of dust. Frank calls Helen back from the spirit world and the two live happily ever after.

Click here to watch the full movie.

So I took this quiz to see what classic monster I am. I totally thought I would get The Phantom of the Opera, but instead I got the Mummy.

Go here to see who you are.

I have to say that some of that I agree with. The classic things are spot on as I’m sure any of you who have read my posts have realized that.

To start Horrorfest II from the beginning, go to There Are Many Strange Legends in the Amazon: The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)

For the previous post, go to Say Something Human: Warm Bodies (2013)

 For more Boris Karloff, go to It’s Alive, it’s ALIVE!: Frankenstein (1931)

For more Classic Horror Films, go to Feast Your Eyes On My Accursed Ugliness: The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

For more mummies, go to Grimwood Ghouls’ Gym Teacher: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988)

There Are Many Strange Legends in the Amazon: The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)

There are many strange legends in the Amazon. Even I, Lucas, have heard the legend of a man-fish

I LOVE this movie! ❤ It is one of my favorite B Horror films and Monster movies. It is a member of Universal’s Classic Monster Movie Collection, its buddies being The Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein,  The Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy, Dracula, The Wolfman, etc.

The producer of this film got the idea for the story from a  myth he was told about a half-fish and half-human race in the Amazon River. He wanted to go with a Beauty and the Beast type vibe, but having an ending that was more reminiscent of King Kong. 

Last October I created my own “poster” and changed my cover photo on facebook every day in honor of Halloween. This is it.

Love it! ❤

So the film begins when a fossil of a skeletal hand with webbed fingers is found in the Amazon.

Thinking this is the link between human evolution from sea to land Dr. Carl Maia goes to his former student Dr. David Reed to have him look into it.

From left to right Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson), David’s girfriend and collegue Kay Lawrence (Julie Adams), Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning), & Dr. Edwin Thompson (Whit Bissell)

David persuades his boss Dr. Mark Williams that they should look into it. It could mean fame, fortune, etc, the possibilities are endless for the ones who find out more.

That night we the viewer see a clawed, webbed, hand emerge from the inky black lagoon

Followed by screams of terror. We know what that means. The diggers es muerte.

Meanwhile the scientists are blissfully unaware of what lies before them, they all go aboard the ship the Rita with a silly (comical relief) Captain Lucas.

Now when I went to Universal Studios in May 2012, in the special effects show they had the boat Rita and picked a family to go on it and show how they would make it look as if the ship was moving down a river when it actually wasn’t. I wanted them to pick my family, but they said only families of four and there were only three of us there. 😥

Anyways, so as the group travels down the Amazon, problems arise. It turns out that David isn’t the only one who likes Kay. Mark has a thing for her as well, but Kay only has eyes for David.

Love Triangle!

When they arrive at the camp, they find the rest of Dr. Carl’s team dead, having been utterly clawed up. Everyone assumes that a jaguar did it, but Captain Lucas is pretty sure that something more sinister is afoot.

Meanwhile, Kay is off by herself roaming about. Seriously, in practically every horror film there is always that one character that decides they are going to be stupid and go off somwhere on their own and almost gets or does get killed. In Kay’s case she is pretty lucky. The creature notices her and we see his clawed hand come for her foot when she is called back by the others.

I really love how they don’t show his face right away. That always adds to the effect of the horror film.

The team isn’t able to find any remains that they thought they would, and Mark is very upset that they have nothing. He threatens to cut all funding, but David is able to convince him that they should go downriver and check the Black Lagoon where the river ends. David figures that cliffside where the hand was found probably eroded and went downstream. Lucas doesn’t like the idea of going  down into the Black Lagoon and neither does his crew. They have heard many, many, many stories about that place.

“Lucas: I can tell you something about this place. The boys around here call it ‘The Black Lagoon’; a paradise. Only they say nobody has ever come back to prove it.”

This part of the film always reminds me of King Kong. How all the crew members care for Kay, very similar to how they care for Ann.

Mark and David go diving and collect rocks. There we see that the tension between the two is more than just Kay. Mark is VERY ambitious and tends to take credit for others work. Kay talks David down and decides to go for a swim. Dun-Dun! Dun-Dun! Dun-dun-da-da! Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, da-na-na!

THE CREATURE TRIES TO GRAB HER!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is also the part where we are finally able to see what the creature looks like. He’s pretty creepy. The person who played him, Ricou Browning, was a professional diver and swimmer and played the Creature whenever he was underwater. The director said that since the Creature had gills, air bubbles couldn’t come out from his mouth or nose. Browning was required to hold his breath for up to 4 mins and his costume was designed without an air tank. Eeep! that’s pretty crazy! They things they did back in the day.

The Creature’s design was based on old 17th C woodcuts, the Sea Monk and the Sea Bishop.

That scene when Kay is swimming always makes me think of Jaws as well. I bet Steven Spielberg was influenced by it.

Kay gets called back before the creature can do anything, and everyone prepares to go out, but they are stopped by the monster. In a Finding Nemo-esque way, where he pulls on a net and messes with the ship. When they pull up the net they see a ginormous hole in it, and a claw.

David and Mark decide to go after it, Mark carrying a harpoon gun. David is against this as he wants to capture the monster alive so that they can study it. Mark thinks it is better to just destroy it and live.

Look at these Hunky men! 🙂

The go swimming and see the creature. Mark tries to hit it with his gun, which angers David. When they return to the boat, they can hardly believe what they saw and ran into, trying to describe it to the others. Kay doesn’t find it too far fetched, reminding everyone that some fish can breathe air. Mark goes to print the pics David took with his underwater camera. To their disappointment, nothing can be seen at all. However, they don’t have to be disappointed long as the creature has come on board the ship!

IT’S BEHIND!!!!!

They manage to fight him off, but they know they have to capture him or else he will kill them all. They try and drug the water and fish in hopes that he will eat them and knockout. That day and night they wait for him.

The creature manages to sneak on the ship.

Kay’s screams alert the rest of the crew and they scare the creature away by using light. He is having trouble as the drugs are stating to affect him. David and Mark chase after him and discover his underground grotto. The creature manages to kill one more person before he passes out. They tie him up in a net and take him onto the boat. They lock him up in a cage, but that doesn’t hold him for long. Dr. Edwin tries to save Kay by thrusting himself in front of her as a shield, but the Creature attempts to strangle him. Kay throws a lantern on the creature and sets him on fire. Scaring the monster off.

See fire is the way to go. It scares off Zombies, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, etc.

After this, David convinces everyone that they need to leave. They try, but as they are attempting to exit the lagoon, they discover a ton of felled trees block their way. Mark, being the guy he is, decides to go after the Creature and capture him. Of course now the Creature takes him down.

The Creature then jumps onto the boat and carries Kay away.

David goes after his lady love, taking Mark’s harpoon gun with him.

David and Kay get out, but the creature manages to follow them. They shoot him and he retreats floating in the water, but is he really dead? Or just recuperating?

NEVER SAY DIE!

Actually before the script was finished, plans had already been made to leave the Creature’s fate uncertain at the end of the picture, in order to leave an opening for a sequel. Which it had. Two of them, but neither was as good as the original deal.

The Creature has been such a huge thing in our culture. There was the parody Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961), has a part in The Munsters, makes an apperance in Scooby-Doo & the Ghoul School, makes an apperance in The Nightmare Before Christmas song “Town Meeting”, Lagoona Blue from Monster High is the daughter of the Creature, Gary Larson did a hilarious comic,  and Jenny Clack, from the University of Cambridge, discovered a fossil amphibian named it Eucritta melanolimnetes,  which means (literally) “the creature from the black lagoon”.

Click here to watch it free online.

Hope you enjoyed the first post of Horrorfest. 😀

I just found this pic online and thought you all would love it.

So this artist José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros did a series of disney mash-ups, my favs being the horror films. To see more go to Disnified Horror.

Finally a mate that can live with me in my lagoon.

I Can Be Your Best Friend Or Your Worst Enemy: The Cable Guy (1996)

You know what the trouble about real life is? There’s no danger music

This movie is really creepy! Jim Carrey is awesome as a creepy freak. If you have ever seen Batman Forever, you would know that, but this is the clincher.

The saddest thing about this is though, when I watch this film I see myself. The way he talks about films and TV; I just know that if I was a psychopath I would be Chip Douglas. Or Billy in Scream.

So the film is directed by Ben Stiller and also stars Matthew Broderick. [You know with all those comedians it just has to be good]. And this is considered a black comedy, like Heathers, by most, but to me it definitely is a Horror-Comedy, or just down right horror film with comedic moments.

So Matthew Broderick’s character, Steve, had proposed to is girlfriend, but she turned him down. Steve then moves into his own apartment. He is depressed and about to get cable when his friend, played by Jack Black, tells him to bribe the cable guy and have him hook him up with all the premium channels.

Steve does, but that is his big mistake. Chip hooks him up, making him one of his VIP customers.

Ouch

All of a sudden Chip starts running into Steve, ALL the TIME. And it isn’t pretty.

Chip starts calling him all the time, sabotaging his cable when he doesn’t get a reply.

“Chip Douglas: Hey Steve I’m on a pay phone, so if you’re there pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, well OK, call me back.”

Steve wants to have his cable fixed, so he makes up with Chip.

Chip in turn takes him to Medieval World, we see the psychotic and neurotic side coming out even more.

Things start getting worse. Chip wants to help Steve get back with Robin and ends up beating up her date, Owen Wilson.

He gives Robin free cable “on Steve”, and Robin gets back with Steve.

Steve doesn’t want to be friends with Chip anymore, but Chip doesn’t like that answer.

Chip ends up kidnapping Robin, and he and Steve have an epic fight at the end where Chip says my favorite line:

“Chip Douglas: You know what the trouble about real life is? There’s no danger music”

This something I agree with as I think that life would be so much better if it did. Imagine if the Jaws theme song played when bad stuff was going to happen. Or a love song played when you met the perfect person for you.

You should check this out, although just so you know I saw this film on TV so I’m not quite sure how graphic it is.

That’s today’s post, more to come! 9 Days ‘Till Halloween!

Here’s a little cover photo I made for my facebook page.

To start Horrorfest from the beginning, go to I Don’t Belong in the World

For the previous post, go to You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Potato

For more Horror-Comedy, go to Someone Very Special

For more on psychopaths, go to It’s Alive, It’s ALIVE!

For more on obsessed individuals, go to I Saw Goody Osburn With the Devil

For more in stalkers, go to The Only Thing That Matters is the Ending