Legend of the Mummy (1998)

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

If ever there was a curse on a project, it was surely cast upon Bram Stoker's 'The Jewel of Seven Stars', for the film adaptions of this story have been ill-fated and, for the most part, disappointing in their execution.This is sadly no exception. A sprawling story anyway, this adaption seems to go to great pains to complicate events further with flashbacks, unclear narrative and characters it is impossible to care about. The production has dated more than many others; it's not obvious that the 1990's had a 'look' (unlike the garish '80's or the flares and collars of the '70's), but 'Legend of the Mummy' proves that it had and possesses that 'look' in spades. It appears the designers took their inspiration from daytime US soap operas.The mummy itself gets scant screen-time and is often filmed in extreme close-up, so we only get a glimpse of a hand or a bandaged jaw. It spends most of the film 'stirring into life' so we spend far too long with bland characters and the running time seems to last a lot longer than 96 minutes, despite the musical score's attempts to convince us exciting things are happening. By the fourth or fifth time the creature seems about to go on a rampage, my enthusiasm has been strained.There are some good set-pieces and some others that don't convince, and there are moments when thing seem at last to be building up some tension. This is always short-lived, though, and the finale, when we get there, is something of a mercy.

This movie reminded me of a lower budget version of the Nicole Kidman film 'The Others'. The performances are good,(sometimes very good) and the spirit of Bram Stoker's tale is well created. The sound mix is excellent and though this is a very different movie from the wonderful Brendan Fraser / The Rock Egyptian tales, set your expectations accordingly and I feel you will not be disappointed. There is a difference between the pace of a stageplay and a twenty-first century movie, and whilst 'Bram Stoker's Legend of The Mummy' could not be described as 'brisk' or 'energetic', it is a well told story worthy of the £1 I got it for at Poundland!

This film is another low budget version of Bram Stoker's Jewel of the Seven Stars previously filmed as Blood From The Mummy's Tomb by Hammer in 1971. Trivia fans will care to note that deranged character actor Aubrey Morris, who appears as the doctor, played exactly the same role in the Hammer version. It's pretty poorly acted and scripted and Amy Locaine can't hold a handle to the wonderful Valerie Leon in terms of physical presence. The ending is extremely confused and very bathetic - just as you are waiting for a climax, it finishes and we fast forward to a limp postscript. Generally, the second half of the film is a mess.

Not to make myself out to be conceited, but I think of myself as a Film Connoisseur. I am also a fan of Louis Gosset Jr. Anyhow I believe this script does not do him any justice. As far as Amy Locane goes. The only movie i found her remotely good in was airheads. I would only recommend this film to anyone who has those Summer Repeat blues and there is nothing else on.