LOVES BRIDES OF THE BLOOD MUMMY (1973)
Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: (Extended Cut) 93 Minutes, (Horror Cut) 87 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Audio: French and English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Ken Ruder
Cast: George Rigaud, Frank Brana, Michael Flynn, Catherine Franck, Martin Trevieres, Teresa Gimpera
Set in 19th century Cornawall, England the Spanish/French co-production Love Brides of the Blood Mummy (1973) - which honestly sounds a bit like a mad libs using Hammer Films movie titles - an Egyptologist named James Barton (Frank Braña, Slugs) arrives at Dartmoor Castle because it's rumored that Count Dartmoor (George Rigaud, Eyeball) has an impressive collection of Egyptian antiquities imported from the Valley of the Kings. On his way there on horseback he is warned by an old crone to stay away from the place, she tells him that a lot of folks have gone missing near the castle and are never seen again. Arriving at the castle he walks in on Dartmoor whipping a mummified hand that he has chained to the wall. It's a bizarre encounter with the Count, who immediately accuses Barton of not being who he says he is, as well as stating that he has powers that could turn him into a statue, and then he demonstrates his claim of extortionary powers by turning a piece of wood into a live cobra snake (stop-motion
animation, actually), and then sits him down to tell him a bizarre story that transpired there just two weeks prior.
The count then narrates a series of flashbacks to when he received an intact sarcophagus from the Valley of the Kings some weeks earlier and the terror that emerged. We see he and his loyal manservant John (Martin Trévières) open the sarcophagus, inside they do not find the usual cloth-bandaged wrapped mummified remains, but a perfectly preserved man (Michael Flynn). Dartmoor reads hieroglyphics contained in a scroll found inside of the sarcophagus, they tell the story of how the man in the sarcophagus was the son of a high priest who was sentenced to cataleptic death for the murder and mutilation of young women, and it's through these writing that Dartmoor also figures out that with a combination of electricity, zinc and copper could revive the ancient mummy-man. After following the instructions the mummy does spring to life, they attempt to nourish him with fresh milk, which he refuses, but after the John accidentally cuts his finger they discover the ancient man craves human blood. In the name of science Dartmoor orders his servant to abduct a young woman from the nearby moors, which he does. They tie her up and drain some of her blood into a bowl which they feed to the Egyptian, which fully revives him. Once revived the Egyptian seems to be up to his old tricks, killing the woman, and then entrancing John and with telepathic powers, then imprisoning the Count in a iron-barred prison in the castle's dungeon.
From here the Egyptian makes himself at home at castle and the film settles into a routine of the mind-controlled servant hunting women on the moors and nearby coastal area for stray young women, giving chasing to them, kidnapping and chaining them to a wall inside a castle dungeon. There he statistically tortures and rapes them, and eventually drains them of their blood, and it's a repeat of that for a large swath of the film. It's fun in an exploitative blood and boobs sort of way but it goes on a bit too long with little variation, and it doesn't help that Flynn is quite wooden in his wordless performance as the blood-drinking mummy-man.
That said it's not without it's Gothic castle charms and attractive shooting locations, it's got plenty of both, as well as some rough hewn atmosphere, but it settles too long into the henchman hunting victims/victims tortured and dispatched, over and over again. Eventually the Dartmoor's daughter Lucy (Catherine Franck) and her friend Anna (Teresa Gimpera, Night of the Devils) return to the castle and there's a turn of events, with the Count determined to free himself and save his daughter. The finale has some spark to it with the dismembered arm of the Egyptian crawling around the castle with some rudimentary stop-motion animation bringing it to life, which is cool. It's a cool idea, an ancient vampiric Egyptian let loose in 19th century England is a pretty wild idea, and the scenes of nudity, gore and torture was certainly not common place in '73, so it's got some (un)savory exploitative elements for sure, but the sluggish pace and plotless story don't do it any favors.
Audio/Video: Love Brides of the Blood Mummy (1973) makes it's worldwide home video debut courtesy of Mondo Macabro on region-free Blu-ray presenting the film uncut in 1080p HD widescreen (1.66:1) restored in 4K from the negative. The print bares the alternate Lips of Blood titling on both cuts of the film, and the source is in quite nice shape, grain is intact and colors look accurate with warm flesh tones and good depth and clarity throughout. Audio comes by way of French or English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles, Both are solid choices that are relatively clean sounding. The English dub does revert to French a few times for a brief moment, I am assuming there was no English track for these brief instances.
Onto the extras, we start off with an Audio Commentary from Film Critic David Flint on the Extended Cut of the film who digs deep into this obscure and mysterious cult flick, and he does good work ironing out a lot of the detail in respect to the cast, the locations, who actually directed it, alternate titles and versions that were distributed in various territories. We also get the 9-min Super 8mm Cut Down Version with a three page text blurb about the films distribution and the history of the Derran Film Services label who released this, and was one of the few ways you could actually see the film for many years. We get three Trailers for the film under as many titles; the English version Lips of Blood, and two French versions under the titles Le Sang des Autres and Perversions Sexuelles , that run about two-minutes each. We also get 20-min of Alternate Scenes filmed for releases in various territories, some of it with clothed alternate scenes sans nudity (blasphemy), plus the French Opening and Closing Credits, and six-minutes of Publicity Parade of stills and posters, and finishing up with the usual eye-popping Mondo Macabro Previews which clock in at about 13-minutes.
Special Features:
- Brand new 4k transfer form film negative, digitally restored.
- Disc includes two version of the film, the Extended Cut (93 in) and Horror cut (87 min)
- Audio Commentary from Film Critic David Flint on the Extended Cut of the film.
- Super 8mm Cut Down Version (9 min)
- Trailers: Lips of Blood (2 min), Le Sang des Autres (2 min), Perversions Sexuelles (2 min)
- Alternate Scenes (20 min)
- French Opening Credits (1 min)
- French Closing Credits (1 min)
- Publicity Parade of Stills and Posters (6 min)
- Mondo Macabro Previews (13 min)
Love Brides of the Blood Mummy (1973) is quite a 70's Euro-cult curio, glad to see this true obscurity get a proper dust-off from Mondo Macabro in glorious HD with some excellent extras. If you're a fan of the bizarre, the weird, and the lurid cinema of the 70's I think you need to check this out, it's not everyday we get a vampire-mummy terrorizing 19th century England, the novelty of it alone makes this a must-see.
Screenshots from the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray:
