The Mummy’s Hand (1940)
Directed by Christy Cabanne
I usually do 80s movies on this blog, or at least it seems. I recently got Peacock TV and theres a butt load of Universal Monster movies on there, so I figured I’d do at least one. I’ve seen the classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the The Mummy, so I figured I would do a Mummy sequel. This might be the oldest movie I’ve ever reviewed on this blog, let’s do it.
The Mummy’s Hand is about an ancient mummy that is revived to destroy the invaders of the 3,000 year-old tomb of an Egyptian princess. The mummy this time is named Kharis and he’s the slow-moving bandage wrapped mummy that you would expect. The makeup effects are rather impressive for 1940. The mummy shuffles around and kills people one by one. Not gonna lie, this is what I wanted from a mummy movie. Isn’t that the point? A mummy that just kills people? I think so.
The acting is fairly decent, I mean for the era. Yeah there is some over acting, which is common in these early films. There are two guys that are really like Abbott and Costello, which cracks me up, because there was a Mummy crossover with those two later on. The overall tone of the movie borders on comedy at times, with the two guys and the magician adding some cheap pops. Tom Tyler plays Kharis and does a good job at being a somewhat scary presence. He’s physically imposing and seems unstoppable. The movie is rather short, but somehow the longest of the Mummy Kharis series, it is only 1 hour and 7 minutes in length! So it wont take much of your day to watch this.
The special effects are really solid for the 40s. The make up is awesome on the mummy for sure. There isn’t much in the way of other effects, but the mummy makeup kind of makes up for it, man what a terrible line. The music and atmosphere really give a spooky presence and really adds to movie. The sets are cool as well, especially the scenes in Egypt. The crypt the mummy is in is rather cool, all the statues and torches.
If you’re in to old movies and Universal Monster Movies then you should watch this. It is somewhat of a slasher movie surprisingly, with the mummy on a murderous rampage. Like mentioned earlier, it isn’t very long so it doesn’t take much of your day to watch it. I give the Mummy’s Hand a B. It was fun but these old movies can be slow even when only an hour, you have to be in the right state of mind to watch them.
