THE MUMMY'S CURSE (1944)

 Rushed out the same year as the previous installment (THE MUMMY'S GHOST) in the Kharis The Mummy saga this one manages to wrap things up pretty well by giving us a reincarnated Mummy's bride as well. They throw in a pretty standard plot about the monster being reincarnated because some land developers are draining the swamp where he last met his demise except now it's in a Louisiana bayou instead of Massachusetts. Oh and also some stock footage from THE MUMMY'S HAND. They do leave it open for a sequel at the end but that didn't really happen although we did get ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE THE MUMMY 11 years later but that's a totally different Mummy-man named Klaris.

THE MUMMY'S GHOST (1944)

 I've been working my way through the classic Universal Mummy boxset and figured this would be pretty much the same as the last one, and while it is in many ways they at least spice things up a bit with the inclusion of John Carradine as our main villain here who controls Lon Chaney Jr. as the titular Mummy named Kharis who isn't really a ghost but just your standard reincarnated mummy-man. and a pretty wonky ending that I don't mean to spoil but it involves the mummy kinda winning in the end which is pretty rare in these. Of course the story deals with the mummy's quest for his soulmate, as it often does, which in this case is reincarnated into an Egyptian lady(Ramsay Ames) who doesn't really look very Egyptian to me but what do I know?. Things take a pretty nihilistic turn by the end which is pretty shocking for 1944 and makes this entry stand out. Chaney would be back for the next and final film in the Kharis saga, THE MUMMY'S CURSE, rushed out the same year.

THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942)

 This is the 3rd mummy movie in the Universal studios series following THE MUMMY'S HAND. If you have not seen that one there's a lot of recapping going on here with a bunch of reused footage to start things out. When things finally get underway our  Mummy, this time played by Lon Chaney Jr., is revived and brought to America for his revenge on those who messed with his tomb. Chaney is pretty much wasted under all the makeup and this one is pretty by-the-numbers and never quite as entertaining as the last entry.
 I'm working my way through the whole Mummy box-set and I assume the next couple will be more of the same but I will keep my hopes up.

SPIDER BABY OR, THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD (1967)

 This is one of my favorite weirdo 60s horror flicks so it's hard to write anything about it that is not gushing with love. It's the most classic of director Jack Hill's output, it's the last great role Lon Chaney Jr.(who gets to reference THE WOLF MAN here) got to play before his excessive alcoholism did him in and it's just a strange enough plot that it lingers in your brain for a long time after watching it. It also seems to me to be very influential on stuff like THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and other insane-family-type horror flicks that would explode in the coming decades. The message of this movie always baffled me a bit. I mean I assume we aren't meant to sympathize with a family of retarded murderers but, mainly due to the way Chaney plays his role, they are portrayed in a pretty sad light. The whole cast is pretty amazing in this which includes a young Sid Haig as a mute wack-a-doo and Mantan Moreland from the old Charlie Chan movies as an unfortunate mailman. I think more than anything else it's the opening of the film with the fate of Mantan, who we are so used to seeing in goofy light-hearted horror stuff from earlier times, that lets the viewer know that this is going to be a darker ride than what you might expect. A must watch for real horror fanatics. AKA THE LIVER EATERS and ATTACK OF THE LIVER EATERS

EDGAR ALLAN POE'S THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963)

  Even though they put Poe's name in the title this movie is actually sort-of based on an H.P. Lovecraft story(THE STRANGE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD). And even though it stars Vincent Price and has Lon Chaney, Jr. in a big role, it's probably one of my least favorite in the Roger Corman Poe series. Price is great as usual as a guy who gets burned at the stake for feeding girls to a demon that he keeps in his castle/"haunted palace"-pit and then gets revenge a hundred years later through his descendant. It's all pretty basic from horror films of this era and there isn't really anything all that unique about this one except for, of course, seeing Chaney and Price together in their only team-up so at least that's something for old horror star fans. If that doesn't seem exciting to you then skipping this one is probably a good idea.  

INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN (1956)

One of the coolest Lon Chaney Jr. roles.  Chaney plays a criminal known as "The Butcher" who gets executed and then accidentally brought back to life.  Except now he's an indestructible man who can't be hurt and has super human strength.  He basically just goes around kicking ass like the Hulk for most of the movie and getting revenge against his old crime partners who double-crossed him.  It's fun to watch the Wolfman fling bodies around and deflect bullets like Superman.  Not sure why they made him mute when he comes back though I guess it makes him seem more menacing.  The plots pretty straight forward with no surprises but it's still a neat old flick.  Features a gangster named Squeemy, some burlesque dancers and other more typical 50's characters.