#22 - The Mummy's Hand (1940)
(dir. Christy Cabanne)
Two American archaeologists discover the location of the lost tomb of an Egyptian princess, and attempt to put together an expedition to go dig it up. Unfortunately, the tomb is protected by an order of priests who have guarded its secrets for thousands of years, and who have a pet mummy that will stop any intruders. This is the second of the Universal mummy films, but it isn't really connected to the 1932 film at all, other than the fact that it, you know, also has a mummy in it.
Even though I love the look of the mummy here, mummies in general just aren't very scary. All they can really do is shamble around and moan - kind of like a slow but highly flammable zombie. This film is more of an adventure story than straight horror, with a lot of lame attempts at comic relief thrown in. The main characters are second-rate versions of Abbot and Costello, and not very convincing as archaeologists. As an adventure film, this is kind of fun, but it mostly fails at being either scary or funny.
If you like the style of the Universal monster movies, you'd probably like this one as well, just don't expect too much. Fun but pretty forgettable.
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