Released by Hammer Studios in 1971 Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb is an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Jewel of the Seven Stars.

An expedition lead by Professor Fuchs locates and robs the tomb of an Egyptian sorceress, Tera, condemned by the priests of her time for her evil and her magics. Fuchs, obsessed with Tera’s legend brings her well preserved corpse by to England while the rest of the expedition makes off with sacred artifacts from the tomb. Just before her birthday Fuchs’s gives his daughter Margaret one Tera’s artifacts instigating a chain of events that may lead to the evil sorcerer’s re-birth.

Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb had a quiet troubled production. It’s original star as Fuchs, Peter Cushing, completed only one day of shooting before his wife’s medical emergency forced him to quit the movie. Five weeks into the six weeks of principal photography the film’s director, Seth Holt, died of a sudden heart attack.

The movie has all the elements of a slow-burn horror film, the gradually escalating stakes, likeable characters caught in the morass of doom and destiny, hubris and pride pulling everyone towards what appears to be a grisly end, but ultimately the production failed to hit this target.

The cinematography is bright and clear, too clear, displaying the sets in such detail that their simple nature becomes evident. The acting overall is credible, but it appears that Valerie Leon in the dual role of Tera/Margaret had her voice replaced and the dubbing is quite terrible. Personally, I found the fake eyelashes that make applied to Valerie Leon quite distracting and spoiled every close-up of her and even hampered her performance. I really wish I could have heard her own performance rather than this crudely pasted voice-replacement.

The rest of the cast, including Andrew Keir replacing Cushing, are perfectly fine if sometimes a little on the nose casting wise. All of the expedition actors play both their younger tomb robbing selves and the same characters 18 years later with touches of old age make-up.

While this movie doesn’t lean heavily into the permissive nudity found in other 70s Hammer productions such as The Vampire Lovers and Twins of Evil it does play more towards the heaving bosoms, clearing teasing the male gaze, than earlier films.

Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb is fairly typical of late period Hammer. An interesting idea for a film hampered by budget and scheduling but not entirely a waste of your viewing time.