The Aztec Mummy!

I found a wonderful cache of old films yesterday at a new store in town, a Half-Price Books. They had lots of used movies, but tucked among them were cheapo older flicks that appealed to me. I found a few great things, but the focus today is The Aztec Mummy Collection.


Apparently 1957 marks the beginning of a horror revival from Mexico. There's some debate about which movie clicked it off, but an argument can be made that the Aztec Mummy movies are the first of this wave. There are three of them in this first wave, The Attack of the Aztec Mummy, The Curse of the Aztec Mummy, and The Robot Versus The Aztec Mummy. All were made at the same time, but they are very different movie experiences. I watched the trilogy in the original Spanish with subtitles. Later I'll try out the latter two in the AIP translations, as that's a whole other kind of fun.


The Attack of the Aztec Mummy is a pretty straightforward horror movie, though a slow-moving one. Dr.Almada has a theory that hypnosis can reveal past lives but he is scoffed at by his colleagues. His fiance Flor agrees to help him and he puts her under and discovers that she once was an Aztec princess sacrificed along with her lover Pocopo. The discovery is traumatic for Flor and Almada and Flor's father who is also a scientist. To make this more complicated there's a goofy assistant named Pinacate and a couple of kids. Almada gets the notion that they can search the Aztec ruins (which seem to be just outside of town) and prove the sacrifice happened and that his theory works. After much wandering around a pretty impressive location they find a tomb and a golden breastplate that will help them locate Aztec treasure. All this time a villain named "The Bat" has been shadowing them and he orders his men to keep an eye on them. But when they were in the tomb they awakened the Aztec Mummy (Pocopo) and he wants the breastplate and bracelet he's been ordained to watch back. And that starts the mayhem.

This is a neatly atmospheric movie, but very slow moving as if they knew they didn't quite have enough plot to see it through. Unfortunately the print on this collection is pretty weak, so it's often hard to see some of the action in the tomb. But don't worry you'll get to see it again later.


The Curse of the Aztec Mummy picks up where the first one left off, and we get a lot of flashback activity to explain what's going on. The Bat has been revealed but he escapes and he and his men fight Almada who this time is helped by a masked wrestler named "The Angel". I won't say much here to preserve some mystery, but this is far from a horror movie, having more of a pure action-crime feel to it. But be warned, the action is sort of lame and when they pretend to be firing machine guns it gets pretty laughable.


The Robot Versus The Aztec Mummy finishes off the trilogy and gives us more mummy action. But before that, we get at least half the time of this flick told to us in flashback, using extensive footage from the first movie. This time the villain builds himself a robot constructed around a human being to steal the golden breastplate and bracelet. It's a pretty weak creation all around, but nonetheless the story rumbles along and eventually the Robot and the Mummy face off with some complicated if not terribly exciting action sequences.

These movies should be seen in order if possible; they make a smidge more sense that way. But really the flashbacks insure that any can be seen minus the other two. I haven't picked a favorite, but I rather I'll just think of them together, like an old-fashioned serial. These are very very talky movies with tons of exposition delivered almost nonstop in places. This is a vivid old movie experience, from a time when expectations were not all that high. Given that, these movies can be enjoyed for what they are.


This is a fun package too. There's a very interesting booklet filled with background information on the movies included. It's one of the best of these I've seen. The slipcase for the movies (seen above) isn't all that interesting, but the cases for the movies themselves feature the poster art to great effect. Good solid package, and I got hold of them all for a little over five bucks. Good value for sure for these "classics".

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