After you see this Frankenstein vs. The Mummy, then you can say you have seen it all or maybe a bad case of déjà vu. The producers spent most of their budget on make-up and it actually is a good reason to see the film. It movie looks like prosthesis and mold making gone wild with a very cool Mummy head and Frankenstein’s face and body’s not bad either. If you are a student of film, you may want to check this DVD out for some good hints on making blood run backwards, face reconstruction and other special make-up effects. It would have been extra cool if they had a making of for just the make-up alone.
The film tells the story of two professors who went to college together and find themselves teaching at the same University. Naihla Kahalil (Ashton Leigh) prides herself as a noted Egyptologist and has been working alongside the famous Professor Walton (Boomer Tibbs) who has just received Userkara a mummy from Northeastern Africa. The two have the opportunity to explore the body of one of the most vicious Pharaohs of Egypt. The scroll that comes with the mummy says it’s under a curse put there by the Queen.
The other professor, Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Max Rhyser) has been telling his class that reanimation of humans is possible. He has taken over an abandoned mental hospital and is close to proving his theory. Well you know where this is going and director Damien Leone makes very few changes in the John L. Balderston stories except to bring it to modern day and have the two monsters fight over the very desirable Kaihla.
Of note however, even though Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in 1818, John L. Bladerston screen wrote the brute for the screen along with other famous monsters, Dracula and The Mummy. Between actors Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff most all the famous fiends during the horror heyday came to life on the big screen.
While this is just another take on two of the famous horror fiends, it’s not a bad one. I rather like the way Leone sets up the audience with the showing of a draped body in Frankenstein’s lab knowing full well that he’s going to somehow shoot electricity through this guy’s body and make him come alive. It is typical Frankenstein monster lore and the only way to say the line “It’s Alive” on screen. However, here it’s more subtle and eerie not up in your face ghoulish reanimation (well maybe a little ghoulish).
We all know from The Mummy films that the fiend will not come alive until it has blood and without exception there’s always a young beauty walking around campus. It’s perfect that the evil Professor Walton gets in on the idea even though predictable, especially because he has this very weird face. Thank goodness we are spared from losing the pretty Nahlia for the time being, and that’s only because of the romance between her and Victor.
Frankenstein vs. The Mummy has not been rated by the MPAA, but contains, violence, gore, sex, crude language and partial nudity. After all it is a horror movie and if it doesn’t have at least six of the eight warnings then it becomes more of just a fear flick. Be cautious when deciding to allow immature children see the DVD as it does have some scenes that are inappropriate for adolescents.
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Ashton Leigh, Brandon DeSpain, Constantin Tripes, Max Rhyser, Robert MacNaughton
Director: Damien Leone
MPAA Rating: Unrated, contains violence, sex, gore, language
Genre: Horror
Running Time: 1 hr. 54 min
Video Release Date: January 10, 2015
Language: English
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Widescreen letterbox Aspect Ratio of 2.40:1
Subtitles: Closed Caption only
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RLJ Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
