(Review originally written at 18 January 2008)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is a definitely better movie than the previous Unviversal movie entry "The Mummy's Tomb", from 2 years earlier.

The story and characters are better again this time. Although this doesn't mean that the actual story is really that much special but at least they definitely put some effort in it. It's of course a quite silly story and it gets sort of tiresome how they keep bringing back the mummy back to life time after the time, no matter how often they have killed him off already in the previous movies. Same goes for the Andoheb role played by George Zucco. But oh well, at least the story keeps the movie enjoyable to watch. There aren't really any slow or dull moments ever in this movie.

The movie features both John Carradine and Lon Chaney Jr. again in the role of the mummy. They were both like THE Universal horror movies stars at the time. It's not that they roles are that interesting within this movie but nevertheless their presence is enough to uplifts the movie and makes it all the more enjoyable to watch for the genre fans of the Universal '40's movies.

Unlike the previous Universal mummy-entries, this movie does not feature an happy end, in which our hero kills the mummy and gets back the back. This was quite surprising and also a reason why this movie is better than just the average and typical Universal '40's horror attempt.

The movie has some good typical Unverisal '40's horror moments. Of course it's nothing too scary, at least not by today's standards but it's very classy and good looking all, with the use of shadows and some handy camera-work.

A perfectly watchable mummy-entry.

7/10

(Review originally written at 16 January 2008)

The beginning of the movie almost entirely consists out of archive footage from the previous Universal Mummy movie, "The Mummy's Hand", from 1940. What a cheap way of film-making and it also makes it petty redundant to watch "The Mummy's Hand", even though it's a far better movie. It makes the actual movie of course also even shorter. The movie already is only a mere 60 minutes short but with the archive footage this movie consists maybe only out of 50 minutes of original new material.

It's a pretty dull movie that moves along slowly and in which just not much interesting is ever happening. It isn't until halve way through that something happens in the movie but then it gets pretty slow and dull again soon after, until the ending.

So it's mainly due to the simple and dull story that this movie is by no means a great one, especially when compared to the other previous Universal mummy movies. The story is also quite ridicules which makes this a bit of a silly movie to watch, even for normal '40's horror standards.

This time the role of the mummy is being played by none other than Lon Chaney Jr. Lon Chaney Jr. of course never has been the greatest actor and he was especially not as good as his father but he's always a great presence in any horror film. And then again, how much acting skill does it actually require to play a mummy? All of the other actors within this movie surely aren't among the greatest of their time. Dick Foran and Wallace Ford (though his name for what every reason changed from 'Babe' Jenson to 'Babe' Hanson reprise their role again from the previous movie "The Mummy's Tomb".

The movie does feature a couple of good typical '40's horror moments, so fans of this shall still somewhat enjoy watching this. Also the make-up for the mummy is quite good looking ago. The movie is mostly made in the same style as the previous movie "The Mummy's Tomb" but it unfortunately is no way nearly as good.

Only still really truly watchable and recommendable if you're a die-hard Universal horror fan.

5/10

(Review originally written at 28 November 2007)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This movie has basically very little to nothing to do with the 1932 movie "The Mummy", starring Boris Karloff in the title role, to which this movie is an official sequel. "The Mummy" was a more dark, atmospheric, serious movie, while this one is mostly just simple and amusing, which makes this a very pleasant movie to watch.

The movie is more comical and adventurous than horror-like. It isn't even until late in the movie that the mummy makes his first appearance. But once the horror kicks in, it's great! The horror in this movie is perhaps even better then in the first movie "The Mummy", that never really was a great horror movie in terms of scares. This is a great monster movie!

The extensive makeup effects for the mummy are good looking and great in a horror kind of way. As an extra touch, the eyes and mouth of the actor playing the movie were later blackened out frame-by-frame in post-production. It truly enhances the horror effect and impact of the character and makes him also more mysterious as well.

Like most '40's movies, the movie isn't too impressive looking, with simple cheap looking sets and camera-work but it still all serves its purpose well enough. The same can be said about the acting. None of the actors in this movie were or became any real stars, though most had their moments throughout their careers.

The story is kept incredible simple and is of course more silly than a credible one. I mean, isn't it crazy that they decide to hang around at camp and get some sleep after some people already had been killed and the mummy has disappeared from his tomb? But that's OK, since the movie more lies its emphasis on the more comical and adventurous aspects of the movie. This movie is one of the very first examples that mixes horror with adventurous and more light aspects. Horror movies before this in the '20's and '30's were still a very serious thing and made entirely with the purpose to scare its audience.

It's surprising how good and enjoyable this movie is!

8/10

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