In addition to screening THE WOLF MAN, BEYOND FEST also screened a 35 mm print of another of Universal’s classics, THE MUMMY. Despite perhaps being its most profitable overall, thanks to the Hammer sequels and the Brendan Fraser franchise that followed it in the 90′s/00′s, THE MUMMY might be one of the more overlooked tenets of horror, as DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, WOLF MAN, and CREATURE normally supersede it in discussions of everyone’s favorites.
I tend to agree with that sentiment, as the cheesy love-at-first-kidnapping romance between David Whemple and Helen Grosvener (Zita Johann) is more than a little distracting. But the opening scenes, with Bramwell Fletcher’s Ralph Norton going crazy at the sight of the Mummy reborn… is ALMOST as manic and crazy as Colin Clive’s “It’s Alive!” moment in FRANKENSTEIN. The film is still as wonderful and inspiring as the first time you watched it, as timeless as ever. I particularly love whenever the vague term of “science” is used as a blanket catch-all statement to commit atrocities against invaluable relics. I can’t help but wince every time they handle the Scroll of Thoth with their bare hands, let alone without Purell.
If not for Boris Karloff’s indelible performance as the accursed Imhotep and his conniving alter ego, Ardeth Bey, as well as Jack Pierce’s transformative makeup, I’m willing to bet there’s no way we’d still be watching this movie today. But thankfully for us, the formidable duo lent their considerable wares to the Karl Freund (DRACULA) film. Karloff gets more of a chance to talk and to display his range here than as the Monster in FRANKENSTEIN, inhabiting the misunderstood, love-struck Imhotep who merely wants to bring back his true love from the death. Why is that so hard to understand? Ankh-es-en-amon is likely more exciting than Helen, anyhow.
When I went to the screening, the THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR segment of the night’s festivities was an afterthought. While the show comes from the wonderful folks at the Nerdist, I was unfamiliar with the podcast. After watching a live taping of the show, its segment entitled SARCOPHAGUS NOW with its subject matter clearly tailored to Egyptian Gods and fans of THE MUMMY, I was hooked. Fashioned as a staged production with an old-timey radio style, and always accompanied by a wide range of talented guest stars and comics, the podcast has been going strong since 2005, thanks to creators Ben Acker and Ben Blacker (former writers on SUPERNATURAL).
This time around, the group featured mainstays Paul F. Tompkins and Paget Brewster as an alcohol-swilling, upper class couple, Frank and Sadie Doyle, who constantly deal with the occult. This time they deal with the finnicky Egyptian Goddess Bast and her unrequited lover. Guests included PSYCH’s Timothy Omundson and narrator Hal Lublin. Lublin was easily the highlight of the show, rolling his R’s like Boris Karloff x20, and inhabiting that old-fashioned, pulpy narrator perfectly, bringing all the other ingredients in place. It was a ton of fun and well worth tuning into their next show.
To download or listen to their other hour long shows, visit Nerdist.
