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Ancient Evil: Scream of the Mummy

Ancient Evil: Scream of the Mummy

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Threatened Aztec Apocalypse, but with Cute Stars
Review: "Ancient Evil: Scream of the Mummy" is a moderately successful low-budget thriller. Professor Cyphers (played by Brenda Blondell) and her students have possession, in a small academic museum, of an unprecedented Aztec mummy. The mummy came from a ruined pyramid-temple near Mexicali, a location far to the north of known Aztec territory. According to the writings at the temple, the mummy is to assist the High Priest of the rain god Tlaloc in a virgin's sacrifice that will trigger a catastrophic rain storm sweeping away the opponents of the Aztec gods. The scientists agree everyone knows this can't happen nowadays.

The students are a mixed bag. Don (played by Jeff Peterson) and Arlando (played by Russell Richardson) are the hunky, diligent male students. Norman (played by Trent Latta) is the slender, blonde geek, who loves Mexican archaeology. Morris (played by Michael Lutz) is motivated primarily by Janine (played by Michelle Erickson), a good student willing to dally. Then there is Stacey (played by Ariauna Albright) who likes to mention that she is still a virgin, though she has a jock boyfriend, Scott (played by Christopher Cullen). Now the audience can guess something can and will happen.

Morris starts the ball rolling by stealing an amulet-bracelet off the mummy to give Janine as a love token. She notes that this is wrong and that she will get around to returning it some day. Morris seeks excitement in going after Janine and wants the others to escape the dorm to get in a partying mood, perhaps searching the museum for the professor's liquor cache. Meanwhile, separately, Norman is able to hold his hands over the mummy, causing it to come back to life. It turns out that Norman is the direct descendant of the Aztec High Priest of Tlaloc and wants to sacrifice a virgin to start the Final Cataclysm. The mummy sneaks up on the unsuspecting scientists and uses a neat steel sickle-knife to dispatch them one by one. Of course there is a final confrontation with the virgin tied to the sacrificial table. Does Tlaloc get to show off?

While the premise is unhistoric, the story is straightforward and apocalypticly grand. The costume for the mummy was pretty good, although allowing for a conveniently unwrapped face . The museum sets were not convincing (few exhibits and lit by candles), and the treatment of the mummy (on an open table, often covered and uncovered with a sheet) seemed less than state of the preservationists' art, but was maybe necessary for the movie. Skin fans should enjoy what they get to see of Don, Morris, and Norman; in addition, they and Arlando were the best of the moderate cast. The women stay dressed and performed adequately. There were good aspects to the movie.

There are quibbles too. There is a lengthy lightening storm outside with simultaneous thunder and lightning. The students are a bit too eager to break into the museum, even for distraction. The mummy knows its way around without much instruction. At one point it looked as though Don had punched his fist into the interior of the stout mummy's belly. Don was too fond of a brown towel; Norman of necklaces and black nail polish. The steel sickle-knife never has blood on it, even though some corpses are very red. The mummy-screaming in the title is misleading. Other petty stuff adds annoyance.

Overall, a mid- to low-three star rating.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Threatened Aztec Apocalypse, but with Cute Stars
Review: "Ancient Evil: Scream of the Mummy" is a moderately successful low-budget thriller. Professor Cyphers (played by Brenda Blondell) and her students have possession, in a small academic museum, of an unprecedented Aztec mummy. The mummy came from a ruined pyramid-temple near Mexicali, a location far to the north of known Aztec territory. According to the writings at the temple, the mummy is to assist the High Priest of the rain god Tlaloc in a virgin's sacrifice that will trigger a catastrophic rain storm sweeping away the opponents of the Aztec gods. The scientists agree everyone knows this can't happen nowadays.

The students are a mixed bag. Don (played by Jeff Peterson) and Arlando (played by Russell Richardson) are the hunky, diligent male students. Norman (played by Trent Latta) is the slender, blonde geek, who loves Mexican archaeology. Morris (played by Michael Lutz) is motivated primarily by Janine (played by Michelle Erickson), a good student willing to dally. Then there is Stacey (played by Ariauna Albright) who likes to mention that she is still a virgin, though she has a jock boyfriend, Scott (played by Christopher Cullen). Now the audience can guess something can and will happen.

Morris starts the ball rolling by stealing an amulet-bracelet off the mummy to give Janine as a love token. She notes that this is wrong and that she will get around to returning it some day. Morris seeks excitement in going after Janine and wants the others to escape the dorm to get in a partying mood, perhaps searching the museum for the professor's liquor cache. Meanwhile, separately, Norman is able to hold his hands over the mummy, causing it to come back to life. It turns out that Norman is the direct descendant of the Aztec High Priest of Tlaloc and wants to sacrifice a virgin to start the Final Cataclysm. The mummy sneaks up on the unsuspecting scientists and uses a neat steel sickle-knife to dispatch them one by one. Of course there is a final confrontation with the virgin tied to the sacrificial table. Does Tlaloc get to show off?

While the premise is unhistoric, the story is straightforward and apocalypticly grand. The costume for the mummy was pretty good, although allowing for a conveniently unwrapped face . The museum sets were not convincing (few exhibits and lit by candles), and the treatment of the mummy (on an open table, often covered and uncovered with a sheet) seemed less than state of the preservationists' art, but was maybe necessary for the movie. Skin fans should enjoy what they get to see of Don, Morris, and Norman; in addition, they and Arlando were the best of the moderate cast. The women stay dressed and performed adequately. There were good aspects to the movie.

There are quibbles too. There is a lengthy lightening storm outside with simultaneous thunder and lightning. The students are a bit too eager to break into the museum, even for distraction. The mummy knows its way around without much instruction. At one point it looked as though Don had punched his fist into the interior of the stout mummy's belly. Don was too fond of a brown towel; Norman of necklaces and black nail polish. The steel sickle-knife never has blood on it, even though some corpses are very red. The mummy-screaming in the title is misleading. Other petty stuff adds annoyance.

Overall, a mid- to low-three star rating.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: One star is being generous
Review: I am sooo glad I rented this waste of video tape. Somebody should hit this thing with a big magnet and recycle the video for taping footbal games or something. The acting looked like something out of a film school student project - using classmates as actors. Special effects - none. Costumes - the mummy looked like someone who had been standing outside when the kids TP'ed the house. I've never seen a mummy with such a big gut in front and on the other side - well, Mummy's got back!

Throughout the whole movie I was making up excuses for the holes in the plot. The scariest part of the whole movie was the picture on the box at the video store. Which is all you need these days I guess.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of DeCoteau's Best Flicks
Review: I bought this movie because I am a big fan of director David DeCoteau's B movies, and look forward to the somewhat silly horror he offers in all of his B movies. This movie was better than his average film though; and apart from a few mistakes in the plot about the Aztec culture, (they didn't have wrapped mummys, the characters repeated mispronunciation of the Aztec Rain God Tlaloc's name, its pronounced Tah-Lock not Ta-Lay-Lock) Then there was actor Trent Latta's New Wave looking Aztec High Priest outfit, that may have been a little over the top too, but well, it did help to make it a great mummy flick. I can honestly say that the whole cast did a good job acting as well, particularly Michael Lutz in his first role, playing the obnoxious jock (Morris); Trent Latta who played the lead villian (Norman); and Jeff Peterson who played the hero (Don). They all did a great job. All in all, I give it an 9 maybe 10 out of 10.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Lighten Up
Review: I liked this good cheesy fun horror film. Of course it's supposed to be cheesy. Life aint all drama ya know. I thought it was pretty good but it's not to be taken seriously.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: dreadful
Review: I rent a lot of "B" movies, usually featuring a monster or a giant animal of some sort. Since seeing THE MUMMY with Brendan Fraser I have rented all of the shameful glut of mummy movies that have been released to capitalize on that film's success. Fraser's mummy was no prize winner but it was action packed. ANCIENT EVIL takes the prize as the worst of all the Mummy movies. First, an Aztec mummy? What self respecting mummy is anything but an egyptian mummy? I don't think the Aztecs did any mummification anyway. What was the deal with the sets? I read in one of the other reviews that this was filmed in four days. I have to wonder if they used a script or just ad-libbed. The so-called museum where the research was taking place looked an awful lot like someone's ranch house. People in horror movies are notoriously stupid. The folks in this fiasco spike the curve. One guy actually waits in bed for the Mummy to come and kill him. The mummy is also wildly erratic in its effectiveness. While it kills off all the supporting players, it is unstoppable. When the hero is finally confronted, he just punches it in the stomach and gets away. Also amusingly cast as the last of the Aztec priests is a white kid. The mummy is said to be intended to destroy all human life on earth. That is an interesting prospect for one lone resurrected Aztec warrior. It put me in mind of a possible sequel. A time traveller from the future comes back to stop the mummy's rampage before it single-handedly eliminated all human life one by one, city by city, country by country, continent by continent. Stay away from this flick if at all possible. I was afraid that it might melt the innards of my player. Maybe it could be used as high explosives if you have large rocks in your front yard or need to knock out a wall.....

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The usual claptrap from DeCoteau
Review: I've never been a big fan of David DeCoteau's work, and his new movie ANCIENT EVIL: SCREAM OF THE MUMMY will not change that, for better or worse. It is an extremely average "teens in peril, monster roams spooky house" tale. The acting is decent, but nothing spectacular.

Most laughable of all is the monster itself. First off, it's fitted with what looks like one of the masks DeCoteau used in PRISON OF THE DEAD. Secondly, I can't quite say I've ever seen such a...healthy...mummy. This creature looks like it puts away a couple of six packs a day!

Anyway, to make a long story short, it's no GONE WITH THE WIND, but it's not as bad as DeCoteau's other recent bombs (VOODOO ACADEMY, anyone?)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worth a Razzie? Try 50...
Review: I've seen some pretty horrible movies in my time, but Ancient Evil: Scream Of The Mummy ranks close to a high-school audio-visual class project gone awry.

First-off, I am appauled that this movie got an R-rating by the MPAA. It looks like a made-for-TV Nickelodeon movie, only with teenagers occasionally using the F-word.

Budget-wise, you can pick-up a Shoney's Value Meal for roughly the same ammout of money it took to make Ancient Evil: Scream Of The Mummy. Sure, anyone can get some overweight guy to dress-up in dirty medical bandages and a dollar-store halloween mask to play a scary Aztec mummy (I bet they wont teach you that in film school!), and as for the blood effects, well, I guess there is nothing that a bottle of Heinz 57 cant fix.

Also, a note to aspiring horror-film directors: It is a cardinal sin to produce a horror movie without gore or gratuitous female nudity!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ancient Junk
Review: PLOT: A College has found an Aztec Mummy that was ment to gaurd the king or some supreme ruler. Only that person can bring him back to life. But Aztecs have been dead for hundreds of years so he can never come back...or can he? Someone knows how and they are using the mummy for revenge.
STRAIGHT TALK: O.k. This new mod-horror flick was a waste of my 50 cents. Cool Cover Movie. The nerdy kid who is getting picked on just so happens to be the Aztec prince. He his scrawny and white he looks as much as an Aztec as a frog. He wears some kind of outfit when he does his rituals that looks like it came from the closet of Gary Glitter. The heartbeat of the mummy becomes very annoying and so the movie.
CAST: "Um uhh um oh no um uh a mummy"
KILLS: Mod-Horror you don't see anything
CONCLUSION: This movie put me and my dog to sleep (seriously). Bad Acting,Cast,Kills,Plot= BAD MOVIE!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I really liked this one!
Review: This film was made in only 4 days in Nov 1999. But unlike your typical low-budget horror films, this one has a really professional look: no fuzzy pictures or misplaced dubbing or anything!

Considering the whirlwind filming schedule, the actors were pretty good. I especially liked Trent Latta (Norman) and Michael Lutz (Morris). The monster looked as good as any you'd see in the big-budget films. And unlike those East European films, there aren't any phony special effects. In fact, this film could almost be theater.

Kudos to the screenwriter for staying away from corny humor which tends to ruin lots of horror flicks. I also enjoyed the feature-length commentary that came with the DVD, as well as the terrific soundtrack.


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