The Mummy's Tomb: Reviewing the Kharis Tetralogy

By Joe Gibson

 

“Slasher films typically adhere to a specific formula: a past wrongful action causes severe trauma that is reinforced by a commemoration or anniversary that reactivates or re-inspires the killer.^[8][9] Built around stalk-and-murder sequences, the films draw upon the audience's feelings of catharsis, recreation, and displacement, as related to sexual pleasure.^[10] Paste magazine's definition notes that, "slasher villains are human beings, or were human beings at some point ... Slasher villains are human killers whose actions are objectively evil, because they’re meant to be bound by human morality. That’s part of the fear that the genre is meant to prey upon, the idea that killers walk among us."^[11] Films with similar structures that have non-human antagonists lacking a conscience, such as Alien or The Terminator, are not traditionally considered slasher films (though many slasher antagonists are superhuman, have supernatural traits, or possess slightly warped or abstract anthropomorphic forms both physically and metaphysically).^[12]” - The Wikipedia page for Slasher films.  Link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slasher_film

 

Introduction

 

The history of slasher films is long and storied, and there are a lot of potential influences with more supporting evidence than The Mummy’s Tomb, from Giallo films to Ten Little Indians and Alfred Hitchcock.  Slasher films have a large variety of distinctive tropes, not all of which appear in any given film.  Consequently, classifying slasher films by any given goal or any specific trope I consider unwise; what they really are is an efficient format, or “a very simple formula!”  Because of how they changed between the 70s and now, one has to admit a degree of flexibility, and so, pending better arguments from more knowledgeable people, I have to conclude that The Mummy’s Tomb, a film where former human turned monster Kharis returns to get revenge on the people that previously wronged him, stalking them one by one, with a new generation caught in the crossfire and Kharis’ M.O. receiving great focus in the thrilling fight to survive, is more a slasher film than not.   

Just listen to George Zucco’s Andoheb instructing his successor in the ways of the High Priests of Karnak: “Kharis still lives – Lives for the moment he will carry death and destruction…to all those who dared violate…the tomb of Ananka.  That moment has now arrived.”  Between Kharis’ hunts, Andoheb’s successor Mehemet Bey, played by Turhan Bey, also graces us frequently with sinister monologues about their revenge mission, the motif of Kharis responding to the moon, and the temptation that the girlfriend of John Banning turns out to be for Bey in their atmospheric lair: a cemetery.  Consequently, I feel that the most flattering way to view this film is as a proto slasher, where the film’s strengths generally come from how it uses that formula and where its weaknesses might have been mitigated by little else than sticking closer to it.

Analysis

The film begins with a stock footage segment recapping the previous one through a thirty years older Steve Banning entertaining his son John as well as guests Isobel Evans (Elyse Knox) and Mrs. Evans.  Stock footage is a tool in filmmaking, just like any other, but it can be done well or poorly.  Recently, I’ve mentioned how a couple of the Showa Gamera films use stock footage poorly or very well. Gamera vs Viras uses stock footage for its major action and incidentally to break up the pacing and flow (it does not help that the film, in color, switches to black in white for a few minutes as a result of this), but, more importantly, it’s just there for obligatory destruction and has no greater context added from its original implementation (see my Gamera vs Viras review here: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-best-of-scenes-and-worst-of-scenes.html).  Contrast this with Gamera vs Guiron, which did about the best job one could hope for in smoothing over Gamera’s moral inconsistencies by taking the key scenes from Noriaki Yuasa’s previous three Gamera films and ignoring the one he did not direct to tell a story of Gamera’s increasing heroism, a transformative way to use that previous footage (link to my Jungian analysis of Gamera vs Guiron here: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-jungian-exploration-of-gamera-vs.html).  The Mummy’s Tomb is somewhere in the middle of those two.

 

As you know, in the previous film Steve Banning and Babe, looking for Ananka’s tomb, found a male Mummy controlled by Andoheb that eventually kidnapped Marta.  Babe, surname now Hanson rather than Jenson, killed Andoheb, and Steve destroyed the Mummy.  While it is a rather rough and bare bones “Previously On” segment that still somehow takes up a good deal of the film’s first act, the reveal of Marta’s death saves this from being an empty scene because it is the linchpin for Steve’s character in this film.  Steve had the victory we saw and its natural consequences of a loving family, nice house and good public standing, but he has also lost a lot, as Marta is dead. 

When he reflects on the previous film’s adventure, he regrets that he could not retrieve Kharis too for study, but he finds some solace that at least he destroyed a terrible monster.  When that monster does track him down as its first victim in the film, Steve won’t fight back or at least can’t.  It cuts away to leave much of the strangulation up to the imagination, but a later victim of the same general age puts up a very good fight.  Our dashing hero Steve not only fails to put up a good fight, but he’s lost the love of his life, doesn’t do archaeology anymore and does spend his life comically arguing with his sister while telling that same old story to his son and guests that doesn’t even turn out to be completely true, a strangely pathetic spin on “The Hero” of old.

 

The Evans find the story fantastic but do not immediately voice doubts, and the story would proceed the same whether or not Isobel and her mother believe him.  It is John that contrasts his father, as Steve believes archaeology is different from the medical sciences his son works in.  There is nothing intrinsic to the slasher genre that means a film must contrast the generations and let old heroes die, while the next generation finds different ways to survive.  It does happen a lot, however, mostly due to the fact that slashers cost the cast a slashing, that is to say that major and minor characters have to die for the tension to really hold in the scenes that threaten other major and minor characters, and it makes more sense to kill the old than the new.  In that regard, this is a facet in which the film starts off strong but also could have allotted things differently to better explore these themes.  

 

The stock footage segment works to explore only one character: Steve. The city of Mapleton Mass. may as well be just the confines of his house in the opening scenes, and John may as well just be the reward at the end of a long arc for Steve.  Other slasher movies are more efficient in both the set-up of multiple characters and world building of the setting around them.  Later plot points will logically follow from the idea that this is a small and close knit town, but the film really should have introduced that idea better and sooner.  Scream (1996) is a good example of a slasher that subtly but specifically sets up at the beginning the way the small town setting will enable certain plot points throughout the film. That said, our reintroduction to John following Steve and Bey’s intro scenes is him playing checkers with his father in a way that highlights their differences, so the film was on the right track with parts of this.

From Steve’s death onward, focus is split between John and Bey, which puts us at a greater distance from the former and uncomfortably close to the latter.  After John attends a medical examination of Steve’s body and the weird gray marks on his neck, the film tells us through his Aunt Jane’s dialogue (rather than showing us) that he has been neglecting his practice and girlfriend Isobel trying to play detective.  Isobel pulls up, and they go on a date, but it turns out this only happened so that Bey could see them and develop an infatuation with Isobel that he tries to resist (this being one significant moment where either this is a very small town or this movie is very contrived).  John’s romance and investigation will weave in and out of this film, while Bey struggles with and eventually embraces his attraction to Isobel.  Bey actually contrasts Andoheb interestingly insofar as the night by night murders makes Bey seem more responsible in administering “safe” amounts of tana leaves (not exceeding the 9 per night).

 

As I mentioned earlier, Bey connects Kharis to the moon consistently during his monologues, which helped me to realize that the motif of howling wolves was supposed to pertain to that.  Coming off the previous film, which implied the howls of jackals were announcing it was time to feed Kharis, wolves howl continuously in the movie while Kharis is on the hunt after receiving his tana leaves.  I think this was done to make Kharis seem more monstrous for two reasons.  For one thing, this film was made (and seems to think it is set) in 1942, starring Lon Chaney Jr., so the comparison to The Wolf-Man that also emphasized its bloody killer’s connection to the moon is not only fair but probably something Universal would consider.  Also, it works that way in the film itself.  By the end, Bey, trying to justify a sinful immortal marriage with Isobel Evans to Kharis, goes on about how Kharis is immortal and not really human at all anymore, mainly because of these observed patterns.  Kharis proves him some strange mixture of right and wrong, and we’ll get to that soon.  Any interpretation outside of the moon thing with these wolves becomes strange, because wolves are not exactly jackals and also not exactly dogs, so it doesn’t make sense that wolves and jackals would both be aligned to the Egyptian gods, but Steve’s dogs King and Silver would be hostile to Kharis.

Kharis incidentally attacks the Bannings’ helper Jim on his way to kill Aunt Jane (the film says Kharis mold marks were found on his neck, but all we see happen is that Jim passes out in fear, and Kharis accidentally kicks his head), and Babe Hanson visits John, having heard of Steve’s death.  Babe’s role in this film is very interesting, especially considering how weak of a character Steve is now.  Babe essentially takes on the role of main survivor/mentor for the next generation, similar to other legacy character returns in slasher sequels, such as Nancy Thompson’s return in Nightmare on Elm Street 3, and this is really interesting because Babe wasn’t the final boy of The Mummy’s Hand.  But now, for whatever reason, he is the only one that knows what is going on with some idea of how to stop it.

I wish more of the film was about Babe trying to guide John into surviving this ordeal, because Wallace Ford demonstrated a lot of range in this role, and his dynamic with John Hubbard (John Banning) was unique from his dynamic with Dick Foran.  Unfortunately, John doesn’t take the newly serious Babe seriously (and neither does the Sheriff, who gets a fair bit of screen-time), resulting in Babe spilling his guts in a bar to New York journalist Jake Lovell overheard by Mehemet Bey (again, this has to be a small town otherwise Bey is far too lucky to stumble upon the main characters as often as he does while being a reclusive cemetery caretaker).  Unfortunately, Kharis successfully kills Babe, even though he puts up a good fight, and it is John finding a piece of the Mummy’s wrapping and new character Professor Norman analyzing it that proves Babe right too late.

 

Babe seems to understand that the curse on entering the Mummy’s Tomb doesn’t just affect Petrie but also the survivors and their family, and the film technically agrees with him since John is the only one to survive and wasn’t present for the first film, though Jane dies also innocent of any tomb raiding.  This is another reason I would have liked more time spent on Babe here, not just for unraveling this strange morality, but also because I want to know when he figured that out and if that or his earlier general buffoonery kept him from starting his own family.

 

Bey once again happens to notice John and Isobel’s quickening courtship (at least his obsession gives him a motivation to find them this time) as John is basically being drafted into the military but insists on taking Isobel along as his bride (it’s an interesting parallel that she is thrilled when John decides they are going to be married without her input but is horrified when Bey does the same), so Bey resolves to have kidnap her and turn her immortal.  Bey gives his spiel about Kharis lacking humanity, and I got the sense from Chaney’s performance that Kharis was rather defiant throughout that speech, which becomes obvious when Kharis almost kills Bey because of how this whole situation played out when Andoheb tried it.  Interestingly, Kharis does not strangle Bey and follows his instructions perfectly for the rest of the film.  This moment has created potential momentum for Kharis to become independent though, and we will somewhat return to that thread later in this series.

 

While all of this was happening, John, the Sheriff and a man named Nick Landsford who had been working with the Sheriff, incite a mob against the Mummy, and an old man just so happens to have interacted with Bey well enough to know he fits the profile of the perpetrator (again, this is forgivable in a small town scenario, but the film has not confirmed that it is one).  Then, John learns of Isobel’s kidnapping, and Bey makes two mistakes in rapid succession.  He elects to have Isobel drink the tana fluid first and then puts the fluid down once he hears the mob coming rather than have her drink it anyways and then go to meet them.  Because of this, it is now possible for Isobel to be saved and possible for Bey to be killed, both of which happen.  It comes off as somewhat strange for debatable protagonist Bey to die before the big set piece against Kharis in the flaming house in roughly the same manner as Andoheb in the last film, who had far less focus.  While Kharis’ characterization will receive more focus in later films, I think a more interesting ending would be where Bey gets far enough in the ceremony to turn himself immortal, and Kharis, as alluded to by wanting to strangle Bey earlier, goes rogue, leading to the mob, Kharis and Bey all having a stake in the climax.

In any case, after Bey is shot, Kharis slips off with Isobel, arriving at a house that is implicitly the Banning house since Kharis knows where it is, Kharis is comfortable enough climbing the side (he did so earlier to kill Steve, and it is actually strange with hindsight that he knew Steve would be up there), and John is able to outmaneuver the Mummy in this house.  The mob is carrying torches, and John’s ineffectual fighting against the Mummy sets the staircase and almost John’s own head on fire once he is knocked out.  It is a minor thing, but I do appreciate both Steve in the last film and John here creating the circumstances to burn Kharis mostly accidentally (however John does catch on to the fire’s presence rather than trying to use a torch holder as a bludgeon).  The flaming house is a really interesting setting for this final fight that seems pretty in line with the common slasher trope of killing off the marketable villain in more elaborate and amped up ways, fully intending to somehow bring them back in the following film (slasher sequels as a formula tend to have more logistical errors than just the original in isolation, and I think it is significant that unlike the previous film where the “archaeology” [mal]practice of Steve was the most unrealistic part, from this point on the hardest plot points to swallow will be how Kharis still exists in the time and space he does at any given moment).  John and two other men, presumably the Sheriff and Nick, all help in making sure the innocent escape while Kharis remains in the burning house.

 

The film ends with the entire town celebrating John and Isobel’s marriage (one more evidence point for it being a small town and the film not actually being too contrived in that regard, though again it should have done more to spell that out).  As far as my investment in the marriage, their relationship was fine, but I already mentioned how the split focus between John and Bey allowed me to understand Bey better, so this just seems like an obligatory happy ending (not uncommon for Universal but also not necessarily common for slashers).  The final shot on my DVD at least is an ad for war bonds, confirming that the film at least intends to exist as 1942 media, whether or not it is also set then.  The references in the film to a conflict on the same level of World War 2 (if not World War 2 itself) serves as an interesting time capsule since the attitude of the film where John leaving Mapleton to join the war effort is a good thing definitely represents the preferred attitude then, but if the film is supposed to be set in the 1970s, then it also represents the ideal patriotic attitude even in the far speculative future.

Conclusion

 

This film has more small issues than its predecessor, which had fewer issues but each of larger severity.  Which one is better depends largely on the way your perception and scale for appraising quality.  I said that The Mummy’s Hand works better as a chapter one than the full story, and I regard this film similarly where it pays off Steve and Babe’s characters while teasing the future of the franchise with Kharis’ reticence to obey Bey.  While we are here, I said last time that The Mummy’s Tomb would fit better as a title for the first film, and I also think that The Mummy’s Hand describes this one better since it is that hand that kills our returning heroes, with the tomb nowhere to be seen except as a static image during the credits.  That’s a good encapsulation of how I view this series: very interesting ideas and executions that could have been truly spectacular if just a few things were shuffled around.  Next time will be The Mummy’s Ghost and then finally The Mummy’s Curse.