Universal brewed up the tana leaves one last time to revive the mummy, Kharis. I think it's significant that both this final mummy film of the era, The Mummy's Curse, and its predecessor, The Mummy's Ghost, were both released in 1944. Almost as if Universal decided, "Let's get this over with and put him to rest."
The Mummy's Curse, however, is not a bad movie. Certainly a step above, or perhaps several steps above, the two previous mummy films. This improvement in quality isn't entirely obvious at the beginning of the film, which resembles a rollicking musical comedy. But soon, the music stops and the horror begins. Sort of.
Decades have passed. Kharis and Princess Ananka are still buried in the swamp, where they have remained for the past 25 years. But you can't stop progress. And now developers are planning to drain the swamp to build . . . something.
Coincidentally, archaeologists from the Smithsonian have also arrived to search for Kharis and Ananka. Accompanying them is a quiet, unassuming scientist from Egypt. Or perhaps not so unassuming. Not surprisingly, he turns out to be another in the long line of Egyptian priests sworn to protect Kharis through the centuries. Start brewing the tana leaves.
The locals are agitated. They've heard the legend. But they aren't taken seriously until someone discovers one of those rotting pieces of mummy wrapping that Kharis keeps dropping. But by then, the bodies have started to pile up.
Kharis is determined to track down Ananka. No matter who gets in his way. I started to feel sorry for poor Kharis. He's so plodding. And Ananka. She seemed a little confused and unsure. Must be the side-effects of that soul transfer.
Everyone came together at the abandoned monastery on the hill which no one had really noticed throughout the film. There . . . it all ended rather quickly. There was no real sense of closure. But can there ever be closure for someone who's been alive for centuries? And with that thought, so ends my Universal classic horror viewing for another season.
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