The Tomb (1986)

Must See Movie...

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This was a film made on the cheap, including actors like Sybil Danning and John Carradine, who most people would be surprised was still alive in 1986. These good actors were brought in for short cameos so that we wouldn't notice the actors who were actually the stars of the film.So a corrupt archaeologist finds some artifacts in a tomb and unleashes a sorceress/vampire/mummy. The rest of the film involves characters who are or are not the protagonists trying to stop her before the final anti-climatic showdown.One of those great signs of cheapness. The aforementioned Ms. Danning firing an Uzi with the muzzle out of frame because they couldn't afford blanks.Not quite in the "So bad it's good" category.

Mid-eighties grade-Z Indiana Jones knockoff starring David O'Hara as beer swilling tomb raider John Banning who unwittingly awakens an Egyptian sorceress Nefratis (Michelle Bauer) and becomes a pawn in her resurrected plans for world conquest, or something to that effect. When looking at the cast of actors one might get the impression that with such B-movie royalty like Sybil Danning, John Carradine, and the always entertaining Cameron Mitchell that this movie might not be as bad as it sounds. You would be very wrong on that assumption. While all aforementioned actors try their best to elevate the "talent" level on screen they are collectively in the film for only about ten minutes with Mitchell making up the bulk of that time. Instead you get to watch the "don't quit your day job waiting at Spago's" performance buy the woefully inept Richard Hench who becomes the central character in the film about halfway in to it. The scenes with Hench and his professor sidekick are the visual equivalent of banging your skull off of a concrete wall. David O'Hara's character John Banning is so unlikeable that it's confusing as to why he wasn't rewritten better as the film clearly wants him to be the hero. Michelle Bauer's nudity free Nefratis sleepwalks throughout the movie. If anyone can tell me what the hell actually killed her at the end I would greatly appreciate it as I rewound it many times and failed to see what exactly happened. My word of advice for wary B-movie fans is if it says Olen Ray stay away!

...And I don't really know if that is saying a lot either. The Tomb tells the story of some stupid robber in Egypt disrupting the sacred tomb of an Egyptian sorceress, dead and yet still alive. The guy sells the artifacts found in the tomb, and the mummy(wearing low-cut outfits, breasts popping out here and there, and speaking as though she was picked up off of Hollywood Boulevard) goes to Los Angelos to get them back so she can perform a ritual sacrifice and stay young. Alright, the story is not too good, but the film is entertaining. For one of Ray's films, the acting is better than usual. Some nice performances by horror veterans Cameron Mitchell(he does a real fine job) and John Carradine in his five minutes of film raise the film from being strictly mundane. Throw in some great music and lots of T & A(a Ray specialty it seems...he even has Kitten Nativadad as a stripper in one scene doing some entertaining back-breaking bouncing) for extra measure. Let's not forget Sybil Danning too. Yep, she is in the film in the first five minutes only in what can be described as nothing more than a throw-away cameo. Her presence seems to be totally unnecessary, although I really am not complaining. Sure this film is a cheap B movie, but what the heck. Fred Olen Ray is living a lifetime dream of creating movies. His affection for the horror genre is obvious when he makes a point of giving cameos and roles to the likes of Mitchell, Carradine, and in other movies Robert Quarry, Carroll Borland, Kirk Allyn, and many more. He is not hiring them for their billing potential. It is nonexistent except to people like me who like to remember those fond memories of another time. He hires them for his love of their work. He gives characters in his movie names like Howard Phillips(named for H. P. Lovecraft) and David Manners(the actor who starred in the original Mummy as the heroic lead). It is easy for me and others to denegrate his work, and I have in other reviews, but like them or not...I applaud the fact that he went out and made them. Kudos Mr. Ray!

This movie was average, but worth checking out! We have a couple of familiar faces like John Carradine and a special appearance by Sybil Danning. But there were alot of virtual unknowns. This marks scream queen Michelle Bauer's first horror film as she portrays a possessed mummy from an ancient Tomb. She's mellodramatic at many times, but she's that way in most films. There's some great music in this movie and it probably did play in theatres in it's time, Unlike the movies you see Bauer in these days that has an awful budget! Someone says that B-movie director Fred Olen Ray's films don't hit theatre's, but what do they know?! This one definetely stood a chance and twice it showed the opening credits saying "The Tomb!" The ending is the best part no doubt about it, even you horror fans will agree! There's also a cameo by cult actress from the film "Surf Nazis Must Die!", Dawn Wildsmith who plays a lesbian and gets eaten alive by Bauer's snakes!