This film begins with an evil Pharaoh named "Amenhotep" (Paul Naschy) who tortures and kills innocent people for his wicked amusement. In addition to that his favorite concubine "Amarna" (Rina Ottolina) takes equal pleasure in his wanton acts of cruelty as well. Eventually, however, this catches up to them as Amarna is stabbed to death while Amenhotep is given a rare poison which doesn't kill him but leaves him in a paralyzed state which--combined with a certain mummification ritual--entombs him for life in his sarcophagus. And then one day a British archaeological expedition led by man named "Professor Nathan Stern" (Jack Taylor) finds his tomb and excavates the sarcophagus to the British Museum of Natural History in London where Amenhotep is revived by a greedy sycophant named "Assad Bey" (also played by Paul Naschy) and his beautiful assistant "Zanufer" (Helga Line). Unfortunately, this isn't enough for Amenhotep as he then offers power and wealth to the two if they agree to do whatever he orders. To that end they are sent out to capture and kill young women so that Amenhotep can drink their blood in order to attain eternal life. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film didn't follow the standard plot for a "Mummy film" in that the mummy was a pharaoh rather than the high priest. Likewise, the mummy didn't follow the orders of whoever revived him but gave them instead. Be that as it may, although it wasn't quite as good as some of the Hammer films it was okay for the most part with Helga Line and Maria Silva (as "Abigail") certainly adding to the scenery with their beauty and charm. Average.

The uncommonly prolific genre film-maker Paul Naschy digs a little deeper into his seemingly inexhaustible terror tomb and eerily exhumes another ancient horror relic, nastily revivified by Paul Naschy's inimitable Iberian intensity, and his fright-making collaboration with talented director Carlos Aured mines macabre Egyptian Gold as the increasingly anxious viewer is unflinchingly exposed to the unholy underworld of the uncommonly unwholesome diabolically despotic people slaying Pharaoh Amonhotep and his celestially beautiful, no less cruel concubine Amarna and their blood-thirsty reign of terror is brought to an equally gruesome end by conspiring high priest Am-sha, but this is merely the unearthly evil beginning of the immortally vengeful Pharaoh, with his putrescent flesh, inhuman strength, quenchless hunger for vengeance, and his profane lust to find a new body for the fleshly imprisoned soul of his beloved Amarna makes Paul Naschy's malevolent mummy not one you would ever talk back to!

Paul Naschy's great passion for historical horror figures is beautifully expressed in Carlos Aured's colourful depiction of the dark mysticism of ancient Egyptian mythology. 'La Venganza De La Momia' is a horrifically entertaining, full-blooded Hammer House of Horror-style shocker with a majestically menacing performance from the muscular character actor Naschy. This fine horror film has the additional lustre of luminous euro-cult starlet Helga Line whose jaw-dropping beauty makes a sublime counterbalance to Naschy's brawny malevolence. In addition to the staggeringly grisly kills, one of the more remarkable aspects to Carlos Aured's Mummy rampage is the fabulously evocative score by talented composer Alfonso Santisteban.

I've never been a huge fan of mummy movies, finding the dusty, bandage-clad monster rather boring instead of spine-chilling. I hoped that director Carlos Aured's attempt, featuring Spanish horror legend Paul Naschy and Euro-babe Helga Line, would convince me otherwise: at the very least, I expected lashings of bright red gore, and some nudity from the film's tasty totty. Sadly, I came away disappointed. Admittedly, there is a modicum of splatter - the grisly highlight being the mummy smashing the heads of two women with his hands, reducing their faces to a pulp - but most of the deaths are relatively tame, and the women remain clothed throughout.

Perhaps if the plot had offered up something other than by-the-numbers mummy shenanigans, I might have been a tad more entertained, but it's business as usual for the crumbly creature (despite Naschy's mummy having a little more spring in his step than usual, leading a couple of cops on a merry chase into the sewers): in Ancient Egypt, pharaoh Amenhotep (Naschy) is entombed alive for being a very naughty boy; centuries later, his sarcophagus is discovered by British archaeologists, led by Prof. Nathan Stern (Jack Taylor),and transported to the UK. In London, Amenhotep's disciples Assad Bey (also Naschy) and Zanufer (Line) revive the mummy using the blood of three young virgins, but need seven more victims for their master to attain immortality.

The potential was definitely there for a gory, exploitative take on the classic Universal monster - both Naschy and Aured have delivered bloodier and sexier movies - but at the end of the day, Revenge of the Mummy is a wasted opportunity that is almost as dreary as those that have shambled before it.