A British archaeologist and his team bring an embalmed Egyptian royal and relics back from their latest expedition… but years later strange events unfold from his secret recreated tomb under his house when he gives his daughter Margaret, Queen Tera’s ring.
Overlooked due to its troubled rushed production, mainly Peter Cushing having to leave due to his wife’s illness and the death of director Seth Holt (and finished by Michael Carrera). Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb is one of the better Mummy Entries thanks to a great performance from underrated Valerie Leon who plays both Margaret and Tera. Mark Edwards is notable along with the leads who are solid enough with some good character moments. It’s all you’d expect from a Hammer Film production. The limited location production has an eerie atmosphere and is alluring viewing thanks to Leon’s screen presence and Tristram Cary’s score . Arthur Grant’s cinematography gets to sine in the outdoor scenes.
Credit to Holt and Carrera’s staging there’s never a dull moment, even if the editing at times is a little ropey and jarring possibly due to the material editor Peter Weatherley had to work with. Christopher Wicking’s screenplay based on Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars is engaging, even if familiar with many of mummy tropes; you’d be disappointed not to have. Interestingly there’s no wrapped mummy action on screen, unless you count the ambiguous ending. That’s said, you get a severed hand, a cabal of priests, a tomb, sarcophagus, ancient rituals, a dagger, relics and there’s plenty of bloody deaths (even if the end results are unimaginatively similar).
Overall, worth viewing for Valerie Leon’s dual performance and costumes alone, it’s a pity she didn’t headline more horrors.
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