Tale of the Mummy

Tale of the Mummy (also known as Russell Mulcahy's Tale of the Mummy and Talos – the Mummy) is a 1998 adventure horror thriller film directed by Russell Mulcahy. The film stars Jason Scott Lee, Jack Davenport, Louise Lombard and Christopher Lee.

Tale of the Mummy received a theatrical wide release on August 3, 1998, while it was released direct-to-video in 1999.

Plot
In 1948, Egypt, an archeological dig led by Richard Turkel reaches a tomb identified as belonging to Talos, apparently cursed. The hieroglyphics at the entrance warn that all should avoid the place. Despite this, they open the chamber's door only to be blasted with a cloud of dust, causing the archeologists to crumble apart as if made of fragile stone. Richard manages to blow the tomb shut, killing himself in the process.

In 1999, Richard's granddaughter Sam Turkel continues where he left off. Sam, Brad, Burke, and another member of the team break into Talos' burial chamber and see sarcophagus suspended from the ceiling. Burke falls to his death after he reaches for an amulet, while Brad has a seizure while experiencing Talos' past atrocities.

Nine months later, a power cut occurs before Talos' sarcophagus is going for an exhibition. The container holding the sarcophagus is broken open. Later, a foreigner is killed and his eyes removed. Detective Riley is assigned to the case for investigation and he thinks the killer will undoubtedly strike again. Later, Talos kills several people and removes different organs from different victims.

Riley approach Sam as he think Brad is a prime suspect, while she explains the core of Talos' myth to Riley: Talos directed that his followers remove his body parts, and they believed he would someday be resurrected to reclaim them, gaining physical perfection and immortality.

Later, Brad is arrested and tells Talos' history to Riley: Talos was exiled from Greece for sorcery and came to Egypt, where he fell in love, and in a pagan ceremony, married the Pharaoh's daughter, Nefriama. Neighbouring countries ordered the Pharaoh to kill Talos, as all who opposed him were struck with disease or tortured into believing his theology. To save Nefriama from death, the Pharaoh told her about Talos' upcoming execution, and she, in turn, told Talos. When the Pharaoh's army reached Talos' chamber, they saw Nefriama eating Talos' heart. The followers of Talos were all put to death, including Nefriama. Riley guesses that the murder victims are reincarnations of the Pharaoh's followers. Brad believes Sam is Nefriama's reincarnation and killing her is the only way to stop Talos, who plans to be reborn when the planets align. Brad further explains that part of Talos' curse is that anyone who knows what is going on will be deemed crazy. After Riley steps out of the interrogating cell, Talos appears and kills Detective Bartone and Brad. A reborn Talos tracks down Sam to her apartment, but she manages to get away; however, Talos captures her after posing as a dog.

Riley, now believing whatever Brad told him, takes part in a ritual where Brad's dead body shows them the possible location Sam might be held hostage, an unfinished construction site. Meanwhile, bound with rags, Sam frees herself and stumbles upon a room where a huge nest made of gauze forms a "cocoon" with dead bodies of Talos' victims lying around. As she watches, a horrifying mummy comes out from the cocoon, which quickly evolves into the true form of Talos with only the heart missing.

Riley and his group arrive at the construction site with eighteen minutes remaining before the planets are supposed to align, and Talos would regain his physical immortality. Riley and Claire separate from Butros and Professor Marcus. The latter encounter Talos who manipulates Marcus into killing Butros by strangling her. Meanwhile, Claire falls down and gravely injures her leg, forcing Riley to go forward without her. Somewhere else, Claire comes to Professor Marcus and, after a brief conversation, kills him by stabbing him with a scalpel, suggesting Talos manipulated Claire into killing Professor Marcus.

Riley finds Sam bound hands and foot, and Talos intercepts them. Sam begs Riley to kill her, which he does by shooting her to stop Talos from achieving what he wants. But, Riley himself is the reincarnation of Nefriama, and his heart is what Talos wants, for which he used Sam to lure him to the right place at the right time. Claire appears and takes out Riley's heart which Talos stuffs within himself just as the planets align.

The police arrive and pull out four dead bodies and a hysterical Claire. Elsewhere in London, the newly reborn Talos is shown disguised as Riley.

Cast

 * Jason Scott Lee as Det. Riley
 * Louise Lombard as Samantha Turkel
 * Sean Pertwee as Bradley Cortese
 * Lysette Anthony as Dr. Claire Mulrooney
 * Michael Lerner as Prof. Marcus
 * Jack Davenport as Det. Bartone
 * Honor Blackman as Captain Shea
 * Christopher Lee as Sir Richard Turkel
 * Shelley Duvall as Edith Butros
 * Gerard Butler as Burke
 * Jon Polito as Parsons
 * Ronan Vibert as Young
 * Bill Treacher as Stuart
 * Elizabeth Power as Mary
 * Roger Morrissey as The Mummy
 * Enzo Junior as Prince Talos

Production
The film was devised by Mulcahy and his one-time rock video collaborator Keith Williams as therapy to get over a skiing accident suffered by the director during Christmas 1995 as Williams knew of Mulcahy's affinity for the Hammer Mummy film. Tale of the Mummy was filmed in Luxembourg in the Fall of 1997 under the title of Talos the Mummy. In June 1998, it was announced Miramax's genre label Dimension Films had acquired distribution rights to the film.

Reception
Nicholas Sylvain of DVD Verdict derided the film, saying that while it had an interesting premise, some effects were "merely bad, while others border on the ludicrous", and that the story made no sense. Martin Liebman of Blu-ray.com gave it a 2.5/5 rating, conceding that the film is technically well-done, but calling the plotting unoriginal and characters bland. He recommended viewers only watch Christopher Lee's scenes. Writing for ScreenAnarchy, Sebastian Zavala argued the film "might not work as a serious horror picture —it’s much too cheesy and lacking in suspense for that— or as a lighthearted adventure —it’s too self-serious—, but it’s certainly entertaining." And British Horror Films reviewer Chris Wood praised Tale of the Mummy as an homage to Hammer Films horror movies of mid-20th century, with the token inclusion of Lee.

Tale of the Mummy currently has a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 4.19/10.

Home media
The North American version is only 88 minutes, shorter than the European version of 115 minutes. A Blu-ray of the film was released by Echo Bridge Entertainment on March 20, 2012.