I'm a sucker for old horror movies, so I was excited to watch this one. It was even black and white!
It's 1958 and archaeologists are excavating the ruins of Pompeii. While one man is working and brushing through the debris a hand emerges from the ashes. For some strange reason he decides to touch the hand and oops, well now he's dead. The mummified body is brought back to the museum to be examined along with other trinkets and a medallion found during the dig. It turns out that when the mummy is near this particular medallion he comes to life and starts killing people because I guess that's what you do when you are the living dead. Richard Anderson plays a medical researcher named Paul Mallon and he along with his fiancee Tina, played by Elaine Edwards, examine the mummy at the museum in Naples. Tina begins to have strange dreams about what happened in Pompeii on the fateful day that Mount Vesuvius erupted. Then one afternoon when Tina is alone with the mummy, sketching it, the mummy comes to life. It goes after her but unlike the other victims,it does not kill her. It is discovered that the mummy was a slave named Quintillus Aurelius. He had a forbidden love with an aristocrat woman who it turns out, was a past life of our heroine, Tina. Quintillus gains possession of the medallion and with that he finds Tina, takes her from her apartment and begins to relive the nightmare that took place in Pompeii in 79 A.D.
All month long, Nate, Marissa and I have had to watch some absolute crap. We have seen some of the worst movies that horror can offer. This movie however was a complete change of pace. I really liked this movie. I think it's safe to say that so far of all the movies that I've had to watch this one has been my favorite. This is a good old-fashioned monster movie. Okay so the story was a little bit out there. A mummified man that has been buried for almost 2000 years comes back to life due to a medallion to save the woman he loves. But how is that any more far-fetched than a doctor sewing together body parts to conquer death or man that drinks the blood of people to survive? If you like the classics, I recommend this movie. It's got a solid plot, great acting and there's just something about a black and white horror movie that makes me smile. Grab the popcorn and snuggle up… The Curse of the Faceless Man gets 5 “they keep touching it without gloves on” out of 5!
- Jacki