ATTACK OF THE MAYAN MUMMY (1964)

Dr. Munson is leaving his old life as a TV commentator behind as he is tired of chasing empty dreams of riches and glory, and tells a reporter an improbable story from his past. Munson worked with a doctor named Redding who dabbled in hypnotic regression though Munson was eventually ousted from his job. Redding's best subject was Ann Taylor who apparently lived a previous life as a Mayan princess. She was sacrificed to the gods but knew the location of a Mayan breastplate which is the key to finding a hidden treasure, though it is supposedly guarded by a mummy. Munson, through Redding's teenage stepson Timmy, keeps tabs on Redding and his plan to head to the Yucatan with Ann, find the Mayan pyramid where the treasure is, and take it. When they get there, the mummy kills Redding and is taken back to Pasadena to be studied. The mummy gets all hot and bothered for Ann and kidnaps her, but both are killed in a car accident. Back in the frame story, the reporter decides that Munson’s tale is too far fetched for publication and tosses the story in a wastebasket.

This movie was put together by B-film producer and director Jerry Warren who was notorious for buying the rights to foreign films, usually horror or sci-fi, cutting them up and piecing them back together with cheaply shot new footage with different actors, sometimes shot years after the original film. This is Warren’s version of the 1957 Mexican film The Aztec Mummy. Munson's story, shot by Jerry Warren, is cut into huge chunks of the original Aztec Mummy movie. The characters from that movie have new names—Redding is Alamada (Ramon Gay, pictured) and Ann is Flora (Rosita Arenas)—and any footage that even comes close to being exciting or scary is from the original film (probably half of this movie's 75 minute running time). But Warren didn't bother to dub that dialogue; instead, we get narration from Munson over virtually every scene with people talking. Most of Warren's footage consists of two dumpy guys talking (Munson and the reporter, Munson and a former colleague). The scene that gets the most attention from online critics features Munson getting info from Timmy in a soda shop where we are distracted from dumpiness by watching teenagers dance rather badly. Without the context of how this was put together, I imagine this would be nigh unto impossible to sit through. Luckily (one way of putting it), I came to this after watching the original Aztec Mummy trilogy so I had some fun seeing how footage was appropriated and how relationships among characters were altered. For the record, George Mitchell is Munson and Bruno VeSota, a B-actor who has a bit of a cult following, is the reporter. Do I recommend this? Hell, no. But if you've seen The Aztec Mummy, you might get a mild kick out of this. [DVD]