The Mummy's Curse

"The Curse of the Mummy" (English: "The Mummy's Curse") is a classic horror film by Universal Pictures, released in 1944. The film is a direct sequel to the film "The Ghost of the Mummy", also released in 1944.

The Universal Studio's series of films about the Mummy boasts a kind of alternative history of the world. The time of the action of the film "The Mummy's Hand" is 1940; the events of "The Mummy's Tomb" take place 30 years later, that is, in 1970; "The Mummy's Ghost" is also attributed to 1970, and the events of "The Mummy's Curse" unfold twenty-five years after that. Thus, the time of action of this film is 1995.

Pat Walsh's company, commissioned by the US government, is draining the swamp in which Haris and Ananka drowned. While Walsh is trying to persuade his people who claim that the swamp is cursed to return to work, Dr. James Halsey and Dr. Ilzor Zandaab from the Scripps Museum come to him and ask for help to find those mummies. Their conversation is interrupted by a message about the discovery of a worker's corpse on the edge of the swamp. A worker was stabbed in the back, and a body-shaped pit and a piece of bandage were found nearby.

Zandaab, who is a secret priest of Arkam, meets with his assistant, Ragheb, who has arranged a shelter in the ruins of the monastery near the swamp. It was Ragheb who dug up the mummy of Haris, and then, after killing the worker who helped him, moved it to the ruins. Zandaab awakens the mummy with a decoction of tana leaves.

The next day cajun Joe meets a beautiful girl in the swamp, but she is not herself. Joe brings her to Aunt Bertha's room, the owner of the local bar, and he goes to get the doctor. At this time, Haris bursts into the room, sent in search of Princess Ananka, kills Bertha, and then tries to catch up with the runaway girl, but Dr. Halsey finds her and takes her to the archaeologists' camp.

The next morning, the girl wakes up, but she has amnesia. In the camp, Zandaab notices her and, realizing that she is Ananka, sends a mummy for her that night. Haris kills Dr. Cooper, but the girl manages to escape again. The next night, archaeologists and locals organize a search in the swamp, and at this time Haris kidnaps Ananka, who has returned to the archaeologists' camp, which Betty Walsh and Ragheb see. Ragheb undertakes to take Betty to Dr. Halsey, but instead takes her to the ruins, where Haris has already returned with Ananka.

Zandaab threatens Ragheb and Betty with death because the secret of the mummy could not be kept secret. Ragheb kills the priest and tries to kill Dr. Halsey, who came after Haris, but he prevails. Haris appears and wants to kill Ragheb. He locks himself away from the mummy in a cell, Haris breaks through the wall and the ruins collapse, filling them both with stones.

In the next room, they find Princess Ananka, who has turned into a mummy again.

The living dead are Haris and the reborn Ananka, who have been lying in a swamp for 25 years. Time and moisture had no effect on their bodies. In previous films, it was said that Haris is alive thanks to a decoction of tana leaves, which the priests prepare for him every full moon. In the same film, the priest of Amon Ra mentions that, as punishment for crimes, the gods made Haris immortal, and the prolonged absence of the decoction does not prevent him from rebelling after a new portion of the drug.

The reason why Harisa's friend is coming back to life is not explained at all. The woman who turned into a mummy at the end of the previous film turns out to be covered with a thick layer of dirt, under which a young body hides. She doesn't remember anything, and sometimes (mostly in the presence or approach of Haris) loses his own will. The rest of the time she behaves like a normal person, except that she shows an unknown deep knowledge of the history of Egypt. After the priest puts the unconscious girl in a sarcophagus and gives her a decoction of tana leaves, she turns into a mummy again.