REVIEW: Severin preserves 1969’s ‘The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals’
Image courtesy of Severin / Provided by Foundry Comm with permission.
This Halloween season, Severin is ready to dive deep into the celebrated (and sometimes forgotten) history of genre goodness. Recently the company released a restored version of 1969’s The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals, a wonderfully weird period piece set in Las Vegas that almost needs to be seen to be believed. As the title suggests, this one is a mash-up, featuring a typical mummy story, which is then hijacked by a werewolf tale — well, a werejackal tale. All this blood-soaked rampaging plays out on the streets of Vegas, with people donning big outfits and swooping hairstyles.
The special features on Severin’s disc heighten the movie, almost to a stratospheric level, begging the question whether such a forgettable story deserves such red-carpet treatment. Casual viewers will likely answer in the negative, while genre fiends will be delighted by the late-1960s pastiche. The features include The Vega International Story, an interview with Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA. This mini-documentary helps explain how Severin came to release this horror flick, which was part of Vega International Pictures’ library but appeared to be lost forever. (The story of how a surviving print was found is itself worthy of a movie.)
Another featurette tells stories of Oliver Drake, director of The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals. He’s also known for The Mummy’s Curse and a host of cowboy flicks. Film historian C. Courtney Joyner provides the commentary on this one. The final feature is an interesting talk with Garry Gassel, son of the original investors who brought this mummified story to life.
One can experience the 81-minute movie with commentary by Vinegar Syndrome’s Joe Rubin and exploitation film researcher Shawn Langrick, according to press notes. There’s even an additional exploitation movie included in the Blu-ray set.
The actual movie itself, which stars John Carradine and Anthony Eisley, is just OK. Some of the visuals are aided by a catchy soundtrack that screams late-1960s / early-1970s. The fear factor is mostly missing, and the makeup effects for the werejackal transformation are somewhat silly. The main character adds facial hair thanks to a variety of camera edits that morph into one another — nothing fancy, but serviceable. There’s further evidence of a shoestring budget — not much background filler, except some blank walls and darkness behind the talking characters.
Still, there’s a certain charm to this mummy movie, as if a certain era of cinematic horror were closing its doors for good. One could say The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals was released in the waning days of the old-style monster movies, and the film obviously is trying to recapture some of that old magic. On the horizon were more psychological horror movies that relied less on the man in a suit and more on the cerebral fears of society. For that timeline alone, this one is an important historical entry in the annals of horror.
The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals is definitely a time-capsule gift for genre fans.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals, directed by Oliver Drake, is now available on Blu-ray from Severin. Click here for more information.
