THE MUMMY AND THE CURSE OF THE JACKALS: Come For The Camp, Stay For The Backstory

THE MUMMY AND THE CURSE OF THE JACKALS (Blu-ray)

1969 / 81 min

FROM SEVERIN FILMS

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Beastie😼

This is another one of those releases where the bonus features are far more interesting and entertaining than the movie itself.

Not that the bar was set too high, because The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals is a forgotten, jaw-droppingly bad horror quickie from the 1960s. It’s about archaeologist David Eisley, who’s not only obsessed with resurrecting a dead Egyptian princess, Akana, he’s cursed with becoming a vicious werewolf every night (but looking more like the winner of an ugly dog contest).

Akana reawakens, as does her fat mummified pharaoh, sporting oven mitts for hands. While she takes in the Las Vegas nightlife, both the mummy and werewolf wreak havoc on the strip as bemused tourists look on…obviously unaware they’ve just become extras in a B-movie. Aside from the monsters fighting each other in servitude to Akana, there’s not much else to the plot, which seems to have been created on-the-fly. Elsewhere, good ol’ John Carradine shows up to collect a paycheck and easily outperform the rest of the dull cast (which probably wasn’t all that difficult).

"You're supposed to do that outside!"

Obviously, The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals is comedy gold for bad movie aficionados, who’ll get a kick out of its shipshod production values, Munsters-like music and overall goofiness. However, the story behind it is genuinely fascinating. Though it arguably doesn’t even qualify as a cult film, Severin Films has provided a bounty of wonderful supplements with the same care as a Criterion release. It turns out that director Oliver Drake had a long, prolific B-movie career dating back to the silent era, despite not being all that good at his job. He mostly did westerns, but also some horror and soft core flicks (with a example of the latter included here). 

Additionally, the short-lived production company that released the film, Vega International, is showcased in a featurette that explores its entire history and everything they ever produced. So while The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals is hardly a lost classic - even by B-movie standards - the backstory behind it is well worth checking out.

EXTRA KIBBLES

THE VEGA INTERNATIONAL STORY - Author Stephen Thrower discusses the history of this short-lived B-movie production company.

COWBOYS, MUMMIES AND OLIVER DRAKE - Film historian C. Courtney Joyner discusses the long career of director Oliver Drake.

INVESTING IN THE JACKAL - A brief segment in which Gerry Gassel talks about his parents’ involvement in the film.

ANGELICA, THE YOUNG VIXEN - From 1974, this is an hour-long soft core sex film. Old, poor quality image, but plenty of boobs & bumping of uglies.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - This is actually a commentary for Angelica, the Young Vixen by Joe Rubin (of Vinegar Syndrome) and exploitation researcher Shawn Langrick.