Just in time for Halloween, Cranial Sacral Productions and Bayview Films have released Mummy Dearest to DVD. If you’re a returning reader of my reviews, then you know I’m a sucker for a mummy movie because the Egyptian-based villain has been all but forgotten after the 70’s. Written by Jared Vineyard, Mummy Dearest finds a recently disabled mother, Scarlett, and her daughter, Autumn, as they move in with Autumn’s boyfriend, Frank. The house is secluded, old and creepy; as well as plastered with Egyptian paintings and replicas of artifacts. Even their neighbor, Quinton, has a problem with the property – which has a history of missing people and/or murders. When Scarlett starts receiving mysterious visions and Frank’s personality grows darker and darker, the mother and daughter duo start to realize there is more to the property than meets the eye. Directed and produced by White Cross, Mummy Dearest stars Jennifer Cozza James, Mike Valley, Anna Sherman, Quinton Aaaron, Sharknado’s Tara Reid, The Incredible Hulk’s Lou Ferrigno and Bone Tomahawk’s Michael Pare.
Mummy Dearest was produced by White Cross along with co-producers Jared Vineyard and Keith Barrows. It features cinematography by Eduardo Ramirez Gonzalez and editing by Alex Shyp. All the key players behind-the-scenes did their part in making Mummy Dearest feel authentic in terms of atmosphere and set/costume design. I can’t name everyone specifically, because that would eat up too much time, but the depths of the effort put into set authenticity and set design really blew me away. I was also a big fan of all the camera work inside the home, though not so much outside the house; especially in regards to any scene shot in front of the big blue doors. A lot of those shots were picture perfect and should be used as promotional stills. Really, this flick has a lot going for it in terms of production and post-production. The beautiful views, the perfect audio and above average performances from the lead cast. However, I will mention that I wish Tara Reid was used more in Mummy Dearest because she was my second biggest reason for wanting to view it in the first place.
My one complaint here, which is a pretty big one, is that Mummy Dearest is being mistargeted – to an extent. It’s much more of a family drama and/or relationship drama with strong supernatural mystery elements tossed in. It doesn’t contain very much horror and worse yet, the mummy is virtually non-existent. Obviously, the poster and trailer are wise to use a mummy, especially since Mummy Dearest is marketed to horror fans, but I think the title is more of a double or triple meaning that’s quite genius. It takes more than accurate props, costumes and portrayals and some suspenseful moments to build a genuine horror flick; and because of that, Mummy Dearest misses the mark. Still, it manages to be an entertaining and moody independent feature that kept my attention despite yelling MORE TARA REID MORE TARA REID MORE TARA REID! An extra death or two to spruce up the horror narrative would have greatly enhanced its appeal, but I have no qualms in terms of production, post-production edits, performances and continuity. It’s pretty solid.
Only marked down due to a lean too far into too many genres. Final Score: 7 out of 10.
