Hammer Time: The Mummy's Shroud (1967)

Like The Reptile, I first saw this in late 2017, when I bought a Blu-Ray-R at a convention in Lexington, Kentucky. But, while The Reptile was a film I didn't learn of until I was in my late teens, I'd known of The Mummy's Shroud since I was a young kid because of that oft-mentioned filmography in the book, Monster Madness, though it took me a long time to actually see it because the DVD went out of print by the time I began collecting Hammer movies, and this was a year or so before Scream Factory put it out on an official Blu-Ray. Though, I must confess, like The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, this was a Hammer flick I wasn't in much of a hurry to see because of my not being a big fan of mummy movies, and, sure enough, like that movie, The Mummy's Shroud didn't leave much of an impression when I finally did see it. In fact, when I got and watched Scream Factory's release simply for completion's sake, I didn't remember a single thing about it, including who was in it, the specifics of the story, or the music score (ironic, since I now feel that's one of the movie's strengths). But, having now re-watched both it and The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb fairly close together, I can say that, while not one of Hammer's absolute greatest movies by any means, The Mummy's Shroud has a little more to it. It's a very visually appealing movie, with a great score, and some good actors in the cast, but, that said, it doesn't change the fact that we have yet another story about a team of archeologists who, after uncovering an ancient tomb, are stalked and killed off one by one by a vengeful spirit in the form of a reanimated mummy. As I've said before, it's a premise you can only do so many times before it becomes stale, as it is here.

In the year 2000 B.C., a son is born to Men-tah, reigning pharaoh of Egypt, and he's proud to finally have an heir to the throne. But, by the time the son, Kah-to-Bey, grows into a pre-adolescent, Men-tah's younger brother, Armen-tah, after having long plotted to overthrow him, has his followers attack the palace. Before he's killed, Men-tah tells the head slave, Prem, to escape into the desert with Kah-to-Bey, which they manage to do, along with a group of servants. However, as they trek through the desert, they soon die from lack of provisions, including Kah-to-Bey himself. Before he expires, he presents Prem with the royal seal of the pharaohs, and Prem then marks the time and place of death on a stone. Over 3,000 years later, in 1920, an expedition to search for Kah-to-Bey's tomb, led by noted archeologist Sir Basil Walden, goes missing. Stanley Preston, the expedition's financial backer, arrives in Mezzera, along with his wife, Barbara, to find the team, which their son, Paul, is a member of. At the restoration house, Preston holds a press conference where he talks about the belief that the mummy displayed there, despite having been found with a royal seal, is actually that of Prem rather than Kah-to-Bey, and that the expedition's primary goal is to prove this. Preston also announces that he plans to double the number of parties searching for the expedition and is also pressed into joining them personally, along with his much put upon publicity manager, Longbarrow. Meanwhile, the team, after having been pinned down by a sandstorm, finds the tomb once it passes, but inside, they're threatened by Hasmid Ali, a knife-wielding man who's the latest in a lineage of guardians for the tomb and warns them that death will befall them if they disturb it. Soon, Preston's search party finds them, and they aid in breaking through the wall of the tomb, wherein they find Kah-to-Bey's body buried beneath the sand and covered with a sacred shroud. They're both transported back to Mezzera, but it isn't long before the expedition members, specifically those who entered the tomb, start to die one by one, apparently at the hands of a maniacal killer. In reality, their assassin is the reanimated mummy of Prem, used by Hasmid and his elderly mother, Haiti, to avenge the desecration of Kah-to-Bey's tomb, and if they're not stopped soon, not one of the expedition members will leave Egypt alive.

After The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile, John Gilling directed Where the Bullets Fly, a James Bond spoof (and, by all accounts, not a very good one), before coming back to Hammer for The Mummy's Shroud, which he also wrote the screenplay for. A film that he was ultimately not very proud of, describing it as his worst work as director, it marked the end of his tumultuous association with the studio and also came very near the end of his directing career altogether. After leaving Hammer for good, Gilling spent the rest of the 60's directing episodes of The Champions, The Saint, and Department S, before retiring to Spain. Save for a 1975 Spanish film, Cross of the Devil, he left filmmaking behind altogether and spent the rest of his life as a painter. He died in 1984 at the age of 72.

It's hard to figure out where to start when talking about the cast of The Mummy's Shroud, as there's no one character who can be called the protagonist. The closest one we get is Paul Preston (David Buck), as he's something of the typical handsome leading man, although he's a pretty ineffectual character in the long run. A young archeologist who's part of Sir Basil Walden's expedition, he respects and looks up to him far more than he does his own father, whom he knows is a selfish attention whore. When Walden becomes ill when they return to Mezzera and is suddenly put into a mental asylum, Paul suspects his father is behind it, believing he bribed the authorities. He confronts his father with this, telling him, "I've watched you taking every advantage of his illness: stealing the credit for his work, lying to the press, and singing your own praises until I and everyone else have been sick with embarrassment!... What you have done amounts to sheer persecution of a sick man, and a great man... And now that he's out of the way, your own star can shine more brightly, can't it? Good old Preston! He saved the expedition, he found the mummy of Kah-to-Bey! Three cheers for Preston! Give him a knighthood!... He hasn't got your millions, he hasn't got a penny, but he's worth ten of you." He then intends to get Walden out of the asylum, only to hear that he's escaped and is then found dead the next day. Though he doesn't accuse his father of murdering him, he still blames him and becomes frustrated when he tries to get out of Egypt as fast as he can rather than stay and help the police in the murder investigation. When another member of the team who entered the tomb is murdered, he opts to stay behind and uncover the identity of the killer, rather than flee like his father. It's through his interactions with Claire, an assistant of Walden's who's an Egyptian linguistics expert, that Paul learns the shroud they found covering Kah-to-Bey's mummy can be used to resurrect the dead, and he slowly comes to believe that they are being picked off by a reanimated mummy, specifically that of Prem. It's all but confirmed for him when he finds blood on the mummy's hand, and he does face Prem during the climax but comes close to getting killed, whereas Claire is the one who ultimately stops Prem.

Speaking of Claire (Maggie Kimberly), she also seems to be somewhat clairvoyant, as when she and the other members of Sir Basil Walden's expedition are introduced while they're waiting out a sandstorm, it's revealed that several predictions she's made, such as their porters deserting them, have come to pass, and she also correctly predicts that they're going to find the tomb. In addition, she predicts that the real trouble will start when they leave the desert, adding that some of them won't survive. This aspect of her character is never explained at all, and we're meant to just go along with it. Also, when they succeed in finding the tomb and the mummified remains of Kah-to-Bey, Walden asks her to translate the hieroglyphics on the shroud but she says she's cant, explaining that they refer to the spirit of the tomb and that she feels reading them may prove dangerous. When Walden falls ill, escapes from an asylum, and is murdered upon their return to Mezzera, Claire decides to look at the negative of a photograph taken of the now missing shroud in order to safely translate the hieroglyphics, feeling it may hold the key to what happened. While looking at the negative, she explains to Paul and Harry, the photographer, that she believes the words on the shroud can reanimate the dead, as well as destroy what it reanimates. And like Paul, following the murder of Harry, Claire decides to stay and solve the mystery. She eventually meets up with Haiti and is told that, in order to save herself, she must ask the mummy for forgiveness, which she does attempt to do. But, Hasmid once more reanimates the mummy, intending for him to kill both her and Paul, when Claire manages to get her hands on the shroud and recite the incantation that destroys Prem.

Stanley Preston (John Phillips), though not as much of a bastard as some characters in other Hammer films around this time, is still pretty unlikable in just how much of a snobbish, self-centered jerk he is. He immediately starts talking down to and mistreating poor Longbarrow when he arrives in Mezzera, despite how much he bends over backwards for him, saying that all he understands are results and is not interested in what problems he runs into. Though he acts concerned for those in the missing expedition team, specifically for his son, in reality, he's just concerned about whether or not they find the tomb of Kah-to-Bey and that the whole world knows that he's the reason why the expedition is even a reality due to his backing, irked that Sir Basil Walden is getting all of the attention. He agrees to accompany one of the search parties only when he's asked about it by a reporter at a press conference and doesn't want to look bad, telling Longbarrow to make sure it's the best one possible. He takes great advantage of his happening to be present when they find the tomb, having Longbarrow write up how strenuous and arduous a job excavating it was, even though he does none of the actual work, and also has him embellish certain things to make him look good. If you couldn't already tell, one of Preston's most notable personality traits is how he's a narcissistic attention hog, with one of the first things he tells Longbarrow upon his arrival being how he doesn't like to be ignored. This is why Paul accuses him of being the one who had Walden committed to an asylum after he was taken ill upon their return, an accusation Preston is insulted by, though a comment made by the police inspector, Barrani, and other hints suggests it may be the truth. Preston also proves to be a gutless coward, as when Walden is found dead and he's forced to identify the body, he decides he wants to get back to England as soon as he can. Though he's told by Barrani that he's to stay in Mezzera in case of further questioning, Preston is determined to weasel his way out, first by having Longbarrow book passages for himself and the others (though, it's suggested he intends to leave them behind in order to save himself), and when Longbarrow is caught by the police, he attempts to bribe Barrani. When that doesn't work, the frustrated Preston, saying he wonders if Longbarrow can do anything right, gives him one more chance to prove himself and tells him to go out and book a solo passage for himself that night. He also cruelly tells him that he has no intention of taking him along this time, like he had before. That night, while waiting for Longbarrow to call and confirm the passage, Preston, unaware that he's been murdered by Prem, sneaks out to the docks himself. On the way, he runs into Hasmid and is tricked into thinking he's having a carriage arranged for him. Instead, Hasmid sends Prem after him while he's waiting and the mummy kills him by smashing his head against the wall.

Barbara Preston (Elizabeth Sellars) is well aware of what a turd her husband is and acts passive-aggressive towards him, notably when she presses him into joining one of the search parties after the one reporter brings it up, knowing how bad it would look for him to refuse. When the murders of the expedition members begin upon their return to Mezzera, Barbara questions Preston as to why he's so eager to flee the country, asking what he's afraid of, and when he says he's merely concerned for everyone's safety, including her, she tells him, "That's very kind of you, Stanley, but I don't really think you need concern yourself on my account. You see, I did not enter the tomb." Indeed, because of that little factoid, she's not very active in the overall plot, spending almost all of her screentime at the hotel, always making it known how little she thinks of her husband with her remarks towards him. She also decides to take a cue from Paul and Claire and not run away like him. When Preston has Longbarrow book a solo passage for him late in the night and refuses to take him along like before, Barbara looks at Preston in a manner that he initially thinks is accusatory but she says, "I was only wondering what it feels like to have bought everything, except the freedom to come and go as you please, and the ability to conquer fear." And when he asks if she's trying to frighten him, she answers, "I don't have to. And I'm sorry. I really am sorry." As he waits for Longbarrow to call and confirm the booking of the passage, she seems to enjoy watching him squirm, as well as pity what a pathetic person he is, and when he becomes impatient and heads to the docks by himself, they say a very cold and stilted goodbye. Before he leaves, Preston is about to say something in a remorseful tone, but he ultimately opts not to and leaves. She's not exactly broken up when she, Claire, and Paul hear of Preston's death, and even though Inspector Barrani gives them permission to leave, they decide not to. Regardless, Barbara does not take part in the climax at the restoration house.

Although he's top-billed, Andre Morell only lasts about 45 minutes into the film in his role of Sir Basil Walden, the head of the expedition to find Kah-to-Bey's tomb. When we first see him as they're waiting out the sandstorm, Walden wonders whether or not they should turn back, since their porters have deserted them and their provisions are running low, especially after much of it was stolen, but everyone else is game to go on. This leads to their finding the tomb once the storm passes, but when they do, they're first threatened by Hasmid Ali, and then, Walden is bitten on the hand by a snake, putting him out of commission for a bit. That's when Preston's rescue party arrives and, once he's recovered enough from the bite to work, he and the others use the gear they brought with them to break through the wall of the tomb, where they find Kah-to-Bey's mummy and the shroud. But, when they return to Mezzera, Walden apparently has a relapse from the snake bite, likely caused by Preston's forcing him into excavating the tomb not long after he was bitten, and is taken to the hospital. Later, it's revealed that he's been placed in a mental asylum, very likely by Preston in order to take full credit for the discovery. Walden doesn't stay in the asylum for long, though, as he escapes and wanders the streets, hiding from the police. He's found by Hasmid's mother, Haiti, who brings him into her home and then predicts that his death will come soon. Said prediction comes to pass when Hasmid animates the mummy of Prem and Walden, who is too ill to even attempt to fight back (the makeup they put on him nicely conveys how sickly he is), becomes his first victim.

Once again, thanks to John Gilling, Michael Ripper receives a substantial role as Longbarrow, Preston's much put upon publicity manager. This poor guy is a complete and utter doormat for Preston, as he does everything he possibly can for him, be it dealing with the press or making accommodations, and yet, he's constantly beaten down verbally and made to feel totally worthless. Unfortunately for him, he was among those who entered the tomb of Kah-to-Bey, making him a target for the mummy. Frightened at the possibility, Longbarrow is overjoyed when Preston initially decides to take him along back to England when he decides to get out, despite the police's orders, but when he goes to look at the sailing departures, he's spotted and questioned by the police, forced to reveal Preston's plan. Enraged at him for this, questioning if he can do anything right, Preston, determined to escape Egypt, then sends Longbarrow to book a solo passage for himself that night. Longbarrow is completely dejected when Preston tells him that he now has no intention of taking him along and mopes out of the hotel room, agreeing to phone Preston when he's booked the passage. That night, after having slept all afternoon, Longbarrow is awakened by his alarm clock to get up and head to the docks. While getting out of bed, he knocks his glasses onto the floor and crushes them while trying to find them. Now virtually blind, he starts to head out the door regardless, only to be attacked by Prem, who wraps him up in his bedspread and mosquito netting and throws him out the window to his death.

The least memorable member of the expedition team is Harry Newton (Tim Barrett), the photographer, who mainly comes off as just as a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. When they're stuck in the sandstorm and are discussing whether or not they should turn back, Harry, like everyone else, is game for going on, especially when Claire says she has a feeling that they will find the tomb and jokes about using her for the stock market. He takes a picture of the shroud when they find it and later, after he's developed it, Claire opts to take a look at the negative in order to decipher the hieroglyphics. When she does, and tells Paul and Harry that she believes the hieroglyphics could reanimate the dead, as well as destroy them, Harry, at first, jokes about it, reminding them that it's the 20th century, but then, he remembers that, the night before, he saw an enormous shadow in the alleyway near his hotel room. Wondering if it wasn't his imagination after all, he decides to make a print of the photo that night, only for Prem to break into his dark room and attack him. He tries to fend the mummy off with acid but ends up getting thrown to the ground and dies a horrible death when Prem breaks a bottle of acid over him, which then causes a fire to break out and burn his body.

Inspector Barrani (Richard Warner) first enters the movie when Sir Basil Walden is committed to and then escapes from the mental asylum. Initially charged with recapturing him, when Walden's body is found at the restoration house the next day, he finds himself in a homicide investigation. He has Preston identify the body and asks him and Paul if they know of any enemies Walden might have had, as well as tells them that the shroud is now missing. Wanting to keep everyone around for any further questioning, Barrani bars Preston and the others from leaving Egypt until his investigation has finished. And when Preston protests, Barrani warns him that he does not, under any circumstances, want to be put in an Egyptian prison, as they're, "Not exactly what I would choose for a holiday." Though Paul, Claire, and Barbara are cooperative on this front, Barrani finds that Preston is attempting to slip out of the country under his nose. Preston even tries to bribe him with 10,000 pounds, suggesting he donate it to a good cause, to which Barrani responds, "Mr. Preston, I think you must begin to understand me. I am not the hospital superintendent." He then insists that he and the others remain at the hotel, adding that he wants to interview him later that day. Meanwhile, he tells Paul that he will return Harry's, who's been found dead by that point, personal effects to him once he's examined them. When Paul asks if he has any idea of what happened, Barrani tells him he has no more an idea than he does, adding, "And, perhaps, no less." That night, both Preston and Longbarrow are killed, and the next day, Paul presents Barrani with the idea of an avenging spirit of the tomb being behind the murders. Despite being a police officer, Barrani admits that, as an Egyptian, it's impossible for him to disbelieve the curse of the pharaohs, and since four of the six people who entered Kah-to-Bey's tomb are now dead, he gives Paul and Claire, along with Barbara, permission to leave. Come the climactic face-off with Prem, Barrani attempts to stop the mummy with bullets, with no luck. He does, however, manage to shoot down Hasmid, giving Claire the opportunity to read from the hieroglyphics the incantation that destroys Prem.

While Prem does all the killing, the two actual villains are Hasmid Ali (Roger Delgado) and his elderly, fortune teller mother, Haiti (Catherine Lacey), who are of a family that has guarded Kah-to-Bey's tomb for centuries. The expedition team first encounters Hasmid in the passage leading to the tomb, where he threatens them with a knife, and continues even after he's disarmed, saying that death will come to those who violate the tomb. Once the team returns to Mezzera, Hasmid and Haiti see to it that the threat is carried out, starting with Walden following his escape from the mental asylum. Haiti drags him into her home off the street, saying that she knows who he is, and then tells him his fortune, very gleefully saying that she sees death coming for him very soon. Hasmid then appears and tells Walden that the spirit of the tomb will kill him and do the same to the others once he's gone. Using the incantations on the shroud, Hasmid continually reanimates Prem, who murders Walden, followed by Harry, Longbarrow, and Preston, with Haiti using her crystal ball to find the location of their next targets. Early on, she gives Claire her card at the hotel and, near the end, she comes to see her. Haiti confirms to her that the deaths are punishment for their entering the tomb and, as with Walden, cackles maniacally when telling her that death will come for her soon. But, she also tells Claire that there's a possibility that she can save herself, that she must go to the mummy of Prem and ask for his forgiveness. Whether she's truly trying to help Claire (which she has no reason to) or is luring her into a trap is never made clear, but when Claire goes to the restoration house and asks the mummy for forgiveness, Hasmid again reanimates him to kill her. When Claire tries to destroy Prem by speaking the words on the shroud (which Haiti told him, for some reason), Hasmid gloats that it only works if the speaker is actually holding the shroud. Of course, that proves to be a dumb move, as he's then shot dead by Barrani and Claire takes the shroud and speaks the words effectively.

Would you believe me if I told you that Prem (Eddie Powell) is even less impressive a mummy than Ra-Antef in The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb? In fact, I'd even say he's worse than Kharis in the 40's Universal movies! At least there were moments in those movies where Kharis showed something of a personality, and Ra had some intimidation factor to him; Prem is little more than a stereotypical, run-of-the-mill, slow-moving undead, and except for a moment following his first resurrection where he looks down at Kah-to-Bey's remains, there's no expression in him at all. As with Ra, there, thankfully, aren't many moments where Prem's victims die simply because they're too stupid to run, and he also kills people in other ways besides just strangling people. In fact, his kills are pretty violent, like when he breaks a bottle of acid over Harry, throws Longbarrow out a window and to the street below, and smashes Preston's head against a wall, and during the climactic confrontation, he actually wields an axe! But, there's very little good I can say about him otherwise, especially since there's never a moment where he turns on those who are controlling him, as often happens in these movies. Plus, his design is just horrible. The look of his face, which was based on a real mummy at the British Museum in London, is okay, and the closeups of his eyes opening, with the dirt dropping of the lids, are effectively eerie (they're what immediately comes to mind when I think of the movie, as they're all over the theatrical trailers), but it doesn't look like he's swathed in bandages. Instead, it looks like he's wearing some ratty suit with a vest-like torso, moldy forearms, and a brown sort of belt around the waist.

Interestingly, when you see Prem as a human in the prologue in ancient Egypt, he's played by Dickie Owen, who played the mummified Ra in The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (moreover, Eddie Powell, who plays Prem as a mummy, was a veteran stuntman who often doubled for Christopher Lee, including when he played Kharis in Hammer's first Mummy film in 1959). Though he has no dialogue here (or as a mummy, of course), Prem does come off as a devoted and loyal servant, one whose faith never wavers, even during the time he, Kah-to-Bey, and some other servants are forced to flee into the desert when Men-tah is overthrown. Ultimately, they all die out there, with Prem staying by his young prince's side to the very end, receiving the royal seal from him and then marking his place and time of death on a nearby rock. It's eventually revealed that his having the royal seal was a means of throwing off potential desecraters, as his mummified body is, at first, believed to be that of Kah-to-Bey when he's discovered.

One of the things The Mummy's Shroud has over The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb is that the story isn't as needlessly complicated, going back to the simple notion of someone controlling the mummy in order to eke out vengeance on those who've violated a sacred tomb, rather than having a group of crazed, and ultimately pointless, fanatics attacking the group long before the mummy himself is even resurrected. But, that said, the movie still does little to nothing we haven't seen before and is all the more basic, with no interesting twists in the story, like the mummy turning on those who have been using him at some point or someone he was connected to during his past life in ancient Egypt coming to figure into the plot in some manner, like how, in The Mummy, Isobel Banning's resemblance to Princess Ananka is key to how Kharis is ultimately defeated, or how Adam Beauchamp is revealed to be Ra's brother in The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb. Indeed, Kah-to-Bey's only importance to this story is to provide the motive for Prem, as well as the shroud used to resurrect him, whereas he himself remains a shriveled corpse for the entire duration.

These Hammer films have really benefited from now being available in high-definition on Blu-Ray, as they've been made to look absolutely gorgeous, especially those that take place in exotic locales, like this. The color palette is very rich and vibrant, especially in the prologue in ancient Egypt, and the scenes at the hotel and streets of Mezzera have a sort of bright, white gloss to them that gives off the feeling of a hot, Egyptian day, with lots of sunlight. The day-for-night photography also has an appealing, otherworldly allure to the way it looks (that is, when it's not totally obvious), and Arthur Grant often combines rich colors with shadows in his cinematography, like the spots of blue lighting in the dark tunnels leading to Kah-to-Bey's tomb, the way in which the tomb itself appears to be bathed in a sort of yellow haze, the red in Harry's hotel room when he's developing photos, and the mixture of golds and reds in Haiti's fortune teller parlor. There are some nice instances of camerawork as well, such as some slow, deliberate pans, like in the restoration house at night, which eventually reveal that Prem is no longer in his sarcophagus; Hitchcockian sort of setups, such as when Prem enters Harry's hotel room without his knowledge, which is put together with closeups of his hand coming around a curtain and his reflection appearing behind Harry in a tray of water on a table; and distorted shots of people in Haiti's crystal ball. Editing is used effectively too, most notably when it cuts from Walden's blurry POV when he faints to Preston's laughing face, the first hint that he could be to blame for his poor condition and eventual fate.

Though the film itself is nothing special, The Mummy's Shroud is significant in the history of Hammer in that it was the last film the studio shot at Bray, ending a sixteen-year association with the place; afterward, Hammer's films would be shot mainly at Elstree Studios, as well as at Pinewood from time to time (interestingly, Elizabeth Sellars, who plays Barbara Preston, appeared in only two Hammer films: this and 1951's Cloudburst, the very first of Hammer's movies shot at Bray). And though he acted as production supervisor, Bernard Robinson was not the production designer (possibly because he was tied up with Frankenstein Created Woman, which was released on a double bill with this), with Don Mingaye, his constant assistant, stepping in as art director. Despite Robinson's lack of involvement, the film's sets are pretty good, like the lovely palace interiors during the prologue in ancient Egypt (though, admittedly, they look a little too colorfully painted for the period); the polished, marbled interiors of the hotel in Mezzera, with gold-painted hallways and very nice-looking suites; and the large interior of the restoration house where the expedition's findings are kept, including Prem in his sarcophagus. However, those sets are small potatoes compared to those of the long, dark passageways leading to Kah-to-Bey's tomb, the small but memorably yellow-colored interior of the tomb itself, with a very shallow, sandy pit in the floor that's revealed to be the final resting place of both Kah-to-Bey and the shroud, and the confined, claustrophobic streets of Mezzera on the Bray backlot. The best set in the film, to me, is Haiti's fortune telling parlor, which is not only lit memorably in those red and yellow colors but has all sorts of strange objects decorating it, like bones, incense burners on the wall, beaded curtains separating its main interior from the doorway, the small table in the center with the crystal ball, and even a jabbering myna bird in a cage, as well as a small alcove where the shroud is kept in front of a statue. As for actual location work, Hammer made use of the Sand and Gravel rock quarry at Wapseys Wood in Buckinghamshire for the outdoor scenes in the desert and it does look like an isolated, hot valley in the middle of nowhere.

Like the two previous Hammer Mummy films, there are some instances of bloodshed here, though not as graphic as in some of their horror films. You see a bit of blood in the battle scene in the prologue where Men-Tah is overthrown, but most of the killings by Prem are graphic mainly in their aftermaths or in what they suggest. Sir Basil Walden's actual death at his hands isn't seen, but you do hear a loud crunch and an anguished scream after you see Prem grab his head, and you also see a little bit of his bloody, mangled body when it's discovered at the restoration house the next day; Harry's death is horrific in that acid is dropped on his face and his body is then burnt, but you see nothing graphic; when Longbarrow is through out the window and to the street below, he lands near a section in the concrete that collects water and you can see his blood pooling into it; and Preston getting his head smashed against the side of the wall leaves a big splotch of blood on it (though, if you look closely, you can see it was already there before his head was smashed). During some of these attack scenes, especially the climactic confrontation with Prem, there are instances where he's shot or stabbed, most notably when Paul puts an axe into his shoulder, and you see that there's nothing other than dust inside him. And when Claire reads the incantation on the shroud that destroys him, he disintegrates in a manner similar to Count Dracula's original death by sunlight, as his head crumbles into dust, briefly revealing a skull before it too falls apart, followed by his torso disintegrating and revealing more of his bones before he's finally gone for good. And, on a similar note, the prop of Kah-to-Bey's mummified remains is a nicely convincing one.

Fortunately, The Mummy's Shroud decides to get the backstory out of the way at the top of the film, opening on a panel of hieroglyphics as a narrator (thought it sounds like Peter Cushing, it's actually Tim Turner) tells of Kah-to-Bey's birth to the pharaoh Men-tah in the year 2000 B.C, an apparent answer to his many years of prayer for an heir. However, unbeknownst to him, his brother, Armen-tah, saw the child as a threat to his plan to one day rule. The film cuts to Men-tah presenting his son to his people, only to walk back into the chamber to see his queen die from the complications of childbirth. Prem is first seen here as he bows his head in sorrow with everyone else, but the people go on to rejoice because of the presence of an heir to the throne. Through more hieroglyphics, the narrator tells how, as the years passed, Men-tah devoted every waking minute to his son, unaware that Armen-tah was secretly amassing an army to overthrow him. Finally, his men attack the palace, smashing their way through the door, and a violent battle takes place. Men-tah's top priority is in protecting his son, and when it becomes apparent that he and his men are outnumbered, he orders Prem to take Kah-to-Bey and escape. Immediately afterward, Men-tah is fatally stabbed. The film transitions to the desert, as Prem, Kah-to-Bey, and a group of slaves trek to safety. The narrator tells us that the slaves hoped that Armen-tah's treachery may spell doom for himself, but he went on to rule for many years, and Kah-to-Bey would not survive to take the throne. Though the slaves never wavered in their devotion and faith in Prem, with barely any provisions, they eventually succumbed to the desert. Kah-to-Bey's strength began to fail him, and as a sandstorm swept up around them, they carried him to what would be his final resting place: a small tent in the middle of a barren valley. Kah-to-Bey is then shown lying on a bed, his life quickly slipping away, and before it gives out, he gives Prem the royal seal of the pharaohs. Prem, wearing the seal around his neck, puts the sacred shroud over his young prince's body and walks outside, marking the time and place of Kah-to-Bey's death on a large stone. As he does, the camera pans to a shot of the sandy, windswept ground behind him, as the opening credits play.

After the credits, the film transitions to 1920, and shows the expedition team, led by Sir Basil Walden, trekking into the valley in search of Kah-to-Bey's tomb. The narrator says that they have been gone for over a month, and that speculation as to what happened to them has made headlines. It then transitions to Mezzera, showing Stanley and Barbara Preston arriving at the hotel there, where they're met by Longbarrow and the press. Preston tells them that he's come to ascertain what's being done to find the expedition team and that he's going to hold a press conference at the restoration house the next day. Once they leave, Longbarrow leads the couple up to their suite, Preston telling him he's not happy about the press focusing more on Walden than him, and also orders him to double the amount of search parties, regardless of what it takes to do so. Out in the desert, it's revealed that the expedition has been pinned down by a bad sandstorm. Paul Preston runs through the storm and enters the tent, virtually falling over himself, and telling Walden that there's no chance of water from where he just came. Thinking it might blow over by morning, Walden laments having gotten them in such a bad situation, but Claire says she knows that they will find the tomb. Walden then lets them decide whether they go on or try to make it back to the oasis they found three days before. Everyone is game for going on, and Claire says that she knows they'll survive the desert, as well as find the tomb, but adds that the real danger will begin when they return to Mezzera and that some of them won't survive. Back in Mezzera, Preston holds his press conference, telling the reporters that the primary objective of the expedition is to prove that the mummy found with the royal seal is Prem rather than Kah-to-Bey and that recent evidence has shown where the tomb may be found. When asked about the search for the team, Preston proudly announces that they're sparing no expense in finding them... which leads to one of the reporters asking if he himself will be going along. Taken aback by this, and with his wife pushing him to agree to it, Preston, begrudgingly, does so, and ends the conference to get to it. As he leaves, he tells Longbarrow to ensure that the team he travels with is the best equipped and has the best possible guide.

Back at the expedition's tent, the sandstorm finally subsides. Paul and Walden head outside to check, while Harry wakes up Claire, who's been sleeping. Relieved that the storm has passed, they're even happier to find that the rock Prem carved into thousands of years ago is, conveniently, just a few feet in front of their tent's entrance. Walden wipes away the dust, revealing the hieroglyphics, and translates, "At this place died my beloved prince, Kah-to-Bey." He then asks Claire to translate further, but she says that she can't read anything other than the year it was carved. Regardless, they decide to go on ahead, bringing the guns and some water with them. They also opt to bring some lanterns, and follow Walden. It's not long before they find an opening in the side of a cliff-face, prompting them to bust out and light the lanterns. Walden leads the way down the dark passageway beyond the opening, with Claire, Paul, and Harry following behind. After walking some distance, a knife-wielding man suddenly jumps out at them, ranting in Egyptian before lunging for them. Walden grabs his hand that's brandishing the knife and speaks to him in Egyptian, before making him drop it and motioning for Paul to put away his rifle. Walden then tells them that he said, "Death awaits all those who disturb the resting place of Kah-to-Bey." Now knowing the tomb is near, Walden asks the man where it is but he scoffs angrily and pushes past them, yelling at them again before rushing back down the passage. Walden says that he revealed himself to be Hasmid Ali, the keeper of the tomb, and that he refused to reveal the entrance, seeing as how he and his family have guarded it for centuries. They then press on, at one point getting startled by the sound of falling rocks back in the passage, and come to a wall with more hieroglyphics carved into it. Claire translates, "Rest in peace, Kah-to-Bey, my beloved prince." Knowing they've found the wall of the tomb, they search it for a possible means of opening it up, when Walden removes a rock at the foot of the wall, revealing a snake that swings around and bites him on the wrist. He recoils and Paul kills it with several shots of his pistol, while Harry gives Walden his knife so he can cut the bite open. He then asks them to get him out of the passage and they lead him back to the entrance, as he grimaces in pain, and sit him down up against the wall.

Paul steps outside to stand guard, when he hears the sound of horses neighing in the distance. He motions for Harry, also carrying a rifle, to join him, and as they look into the distance, they see a band of people on horseback enter the valley. Thinking that Hasmid Ali is returning with reinforcements, they take up position behind some rocks and point their rifles at the group. But, when they get close, Harry sees two men approaching on foot and he realizes that it's none other than Paul's own father. The two of them rush up to greet Preston and Longbarrow, and Claire heads out of the tunnel to join them as well. Preston explains to Paul that they met the porters that had deserted them some time before and made them point out where they were. After being introduced to Claire, Preston asks to see Walden and they lead him to the entrance, Paul explaining his snakebite. Meeting up with Walden, Preston asks him if they've found the tomb and he says he thinks so, but they can't be sure until they've excavated it. Paul offers to show his father the wall with the hieroglyphics but Preston is reluctant to go down the passage, given Walden's snakebite. When asked how long it would take to excavate, Walden says they may have to use dynamite, meaning they'd have to go back to Mezzera, as most of their gear has been stolen. Preston insists they can manage without it, saying his porters have brought all the gear they'll need to break through the wall.

Some time later, after Walden has apparently recovered from the snakebite, he's seen supervising the team's chiseling their way through the wall with the help of the porters Preston brought with him, removing one of the large stones. Preston's voice then narrates, "I started excavating on the 10th of July, 1920. From the outset, we realized that the work would be arduous and dangerous. The heat was fantastic in the dark, cramped quarters in which we had to work," as Walden has two of the porters dig out the space beyond the stone. It then cuts to show Preston sitting in the entrance to the passage, filling a glass with cool water, as he has Longbarrow write down, "We slaved on through the broiling heat on the day. There was always danger of mutiny among the porters. Twice, I had to hold them at gunpoint." The aside glance Longbarrow gives him after that last part all but confirms that Preston is lying through his teeth. Meanwhile, using the handle of a pick-axe, one of the porters breaks through the inner layer of stones in the wall, revealing a room beyond with several containers and a leopard skin. Looking at it, the archeologists know they've found the tomb, and in the next scene, they, Preston and Longbarrow included, manage to climb their way into it. Despite Preston's impatience at not seeing a body, Walden tells everyone how the tomb itself lines up with the theory, saying it was the best Prem could do under the circumstances, that the chest in the back contains the urns holding Kah-to-Bey's innards, and that, down in the small, shallow pit in the center of the floor, they'll find one of the earliest forms of mummification. Stepping down into the pit, Walden bends down and clears away the sand, revealing the top of a shroud, which he then removes, exposing Kah-to-Bey's mummified remains, much to everyone's amazement. Walden walks to the rim of the pit and shows Preston and everyone else the shroud. He asks Claire to translate the hieroglyphics on the fabric but, when she looks at them, she refuses, saying that she feels doing so would be, "Wrong and dangerous." Walden asks what the problem is and Claire says the words refer to, "The spirit of the tomb, and the sacred words of life and death." Regardless of this, Preston has Harry photograph the shroud as he holds it up, asking him to follow that up with a shot of the body. He then tells Walden that he wants everything taken to Mezzera as soon as possible, and the scene transitions when Harry takes the photograph.

Back in Mezzera, everyone is as present as Kah-to-Bey and Prem are reunited thousands years after their deaths. But, looking at Walden, it's obvious he's not well, as he's sweating profusely and swaying back and forth as he stands next to Paul. A POV shot reveals that his vision is becoming blurry and he finally loses his balance and falls forward, collapsing to the floor. It immediately cuts from that to Preston's laughing face as he speaks with reporters at the hotel and takes photographs. When asked about Walden, he says he's not sure what exactly is wrong with him, mentioning the snakebite, which he seemed to have recovered from, and adds that he's been in bad health for the past few years. He tells them that Walden is in the hospital and they're doing all they can for him. When asked if he should receive full credit for the expedition's success, he tries to act all modest and says that what he did was purely for the benefit of Egypt's history at large. He also laughs off the idea of a curse that's supposed to befall those who violated the tomb and tells them that they simply had a job to do. He then sees Paul and Claire walk in nearby, the former motioning towards him. Preston excuses himself and joins them. Paul tells him that Walden was moved from the hospital not too long after he arrived, and that when Claire went to see him, they wouldn't tell her where he'd been taken. Barbara shows up with a policeman she introduces as Chief Inspector Barrani and says that he's told her that Walden has been moved to the Mezzera Lunatic Asylum. That night, Preston tells Longbarrow that he intends to leave that week, telling him to get Paul to help him crate up the mummy and the shroud and to arrange the necessary police license. Paul then comes in and asks to speak with his father alone, prompting Longbarrow to leave. Paul asks Preston when he first learned of Walden being placed in the asylum and Preston insists it was when Barbara told them, adding that he wasn't surprised, alluding to Walden's strange behavior on the return trip. That's when Paul accuses Preston of being the one behind his admittance, having bribed the authorities to do so, in order to take credit for salvaging the expedition. After a heated argument, Preston tells Paul to leave and Paul starts to, intending to get Walden out of the asylum that very night. But, when he opens the door, Barrani is standing there and informs him that Walden has escaped. He says he expects to be told if Walden comes to the hotel. He then slips out, but Paul follows him downstairs to the lobby, telling him that Walden's admittance shouldn't have happened, but Barrani tells him that's of little concern at this point. He also tells him that in Egypt, lunatics are treated as criminals, and that Walden may be shot if he's violent when found. He leaves with his men and Paul, on the way up to his room, finds he can offer little comfort to a distraught Claire.

Walden staggers through the streets of Mezzera, unaware that he's being watched from afar by an elderly woman using a crystal ball. Hiding from the police, and nearly getting caught while pressing himself up against the side of a wall as a policeman approaches the corner, he continues until he finds a building with a room from which a red light is emitting through the window. Said light is due to Harry developing his photos. Knowing that it's him, Walden tries to make his way up there, when he's intercepted by the elderly woman when he stops to catch his breath. She entices him to slip through the gate leading to her home, telling him that she intends to help him. She has him follow her into her parlor and sits him down in a chair at the table with her crystal ball. She reveals herself to be Haiti, that she knows who he is, and ops to tell him his fortune. Looking into the crystal ball, she gleefully tells him, "I see death. You are going to die very soon, but not the way you think." Disoriented and ill, Walden asks for her to give him somewhere to rest, but Haiti responds, "You will soon be dead. Then you can rest. Death can be sweet. Sweet death. I pray for it because I am old and tired, you pray because you are sick. There is nothing left for you, but death." Hasmid then enters the room, Haiti introducing him as her son, and Walden is clearly distraught when he looks at and recognizes him, but is too weak to have much of a reaction. He coldly intones, "The spirit of the tomb will journey from death into life. He will punish you for what you have done, and, one by one, the others will follow you." Walden begs for help but Hasmid's cold stare shows there's no hope for him and he leaves the room, as Haiti tells Walden, "It is in the crystal. Soon, the spirit will move. I see him now. He is dead, but he has the power to move... and kill."

At the restoration house, Hasmid removes the shroud from Kah-to-Bey's mummy and recites the incantation contained within the hieroglyphics. As he does, the mummy of Prem's sand-covered eyes slowly flutter open until he's completely aware. He steps out of his sarcophagus and walks over to Kah-to-Bey, bowing to the body, and then makes his way out the door, leaving behind sandy footprints as he goes. In Haiti's parlor, she informs Walden that his death is quickly approaching, as Prem makes his way into the streets. Up in his apartment, Harry takes a break from developing photographs and walks out onto his room's balcony. He's surprised when he sees Prem's shadow pass along the wall of an alleyway down below but, thinking he was probably just seeing things, he walks back inside. Prem finds and enters Haiti's parlor and walks through the entrance. Walden sees his reflection in the crystal ball as he walks towards him but, even when it finally does register, he's in no condition to attempt to flee. Prem grabs his head from behind and the camera pans up to his face, as you hear a loud crunch, accompanied by the sound of Walden screaming, while Haiti watches. At the same time, Hasmid returns and watches the grisly act from the doorway.

The next day, Prem is back in his sarcophagus, and a janitor walks into the restoration house and starts sweeping up. He does the old cliche of sweeping dirt underneath a rug and then begins dusting about, stopping at one point to knock on the lid of a closed sarcophagus, and then, rather than dusting Kah-to-Bey, wipes up around the edges of the table he's lying on, gesturing respectfully towards him. After dusting a little more, he decides to help himself to the refreshments in the cupboard. But, when he opens the double-doors, he doesn't notice a bloody body hanging from the inside of the door to his right and grabs a bottle of wine, uncorks it, and drinks some of it. He puts the cork back in, but decides to take another drink and glances behind him before doing so, only to then do a delayed double-take, pouring the wine over the side of his head as he sees Walden's body hanging behind him and runs out of the building. In the next scene, Preston, Paul, and Longbarrow arrive to speak with Barrani, who's cordoned off the place. He tells Preston that he has no clue who could have murdered Walden and that, as a formality, he's going to have to identify the body. He warns him that it's not a pretty sight before he has his men remove the drape, and after grimacing, Preston confirms that it is Walden. Barrani asks them if they know of any enemies Walden had, perhaps someone with a grudge, and Paul, after glancing at his father, says that he knows of no such person. Barrani then tells them that the shroud is missing but is unsure if there's any connection between that and the murder. He asks if they're returning to their hotel, as he wants to be able to find them if he needs to, but while Preston and Paul both say they are, Preston then tells Longbarrow that he's planning to leave as soon as he can, specifically on a boat that may be departing the next night. He asks him to go see about available passages and the two of them leave, followed by Paul. At the same time, as he looks over Kah-to-Bey, Barrani appears to get an eerie feeling and turns and looks at Prem, whose sarcophagus is right behind him. He shrugs it off after a few seconds and goes about his business.

On the way back to the hotel, Paul admits to his father that he's not accusing him of murdering Walden, though he does feel he's responsible, and says that he thinks he should stay and help the police with the investigation; Preston, naturally, rebuffs his suggestion. When he gets back to his room, Preston tells Barbara to start packing and she asks him if he's had some sort of premonition of something bad happening, which he denies. There's a knock at the door and Preston answers it to find that it's Barrani, who tells him that he wants him to remain in Mezzera until he's completed his investigation. Preston insists that he can't tell him anything else, that he feels Walden was murdered by a "local fanatic," and invokes his rights as a British citizen to leave when he pleases. Barrani, however, warns him that he will be arrested if he does so, and leaves, with Preston outraged at being forced to stay. Barbara asks him what he's afraid of and Preston says he's concerned for the well-fair of everyone else. She, in turn, says there's no reason to worry about her, seeing as how she never entered the tomb. That night, Claire meets Harry and Paul in the lobby, asking the former if she can see the negative of the photograph he took of the shroud. They depart for his hotel room, but on the way out, Haiti, who was sitting off to the side, hands Claire a card that reads, HAITI CLAIRVOYANT. THE MOST FAMOUS IN ALL EGYPT. CALL FOR APPOINTMENT AT No. 8 ALLEY OF THE HOUSE OF MUKHTAR. Though confused, Claire doesn't pay it much mind. But, as she and the two men walk the streets to Harry's hotel, they're unaware that they're being watched from nearby by Hasmid. Up in his room, Claire glances at the negatives and asks Harry to make a print, saying she wants to examine the hieroglyphics in detail and that she feels the shroud may be connected to Walden's murder. She says that she still believes what she felt earlier about reading the hieroglyphics aloud, that doing so could bring something to life, as well as destroy it, was genuine. Harry, initially, dismisses what they're saying as ancient mumbo jumbo, but then, he remembers the large shadow he saw in the alleyway the night before and now wanders if he didn't imagine it like he thought.

In her parlor, Haiti watches them in her crystal ball. Hasmid enters and, when they see Paul and Claire leave Harry by himself, as he prepares to make a print, they exchange glances, knowing he's to be Prem's next victim. Hasmid walks over to the opposite side of the room and pulls back a drape, revealing a small alcove where the shroud is sitting atop a tiny podium in front of a statue. He recites the incantation while kneeling down and bows to the statue (incidentally, his lower front teeth have nasty, black streaks along the bases). The film cuts to a shot of the empty interior of the restoration house, the main door of which now has a padlock, but the camera pans by a door that's been smashed open and then reveals that Prem is missing from his sarcophagus. In his hotel room, Harry sits at his desk, so engrossed in making his prints, that he doesn't notice the door slowly open behind him, followed by Prem's shadow trailing across it. His bandaged hand moves back the curtain next to his table and when Harry looks down at a plate of water on the table, he sees Prem's reflection appear as he steps next to him. He swings around and, seeing the mummy standing there, promptly grabs a bottle of acid on the shelves above the table and flings it on him. Though his bandages start steaming, Prem doesn't react at all, and Harry grabs a tripod and stabs him in the torso with it. Prem merely pulls it back out and Harry tries to flee out the door, but Prem grabs him by the back of the head and throws him back into the developing area, where he falls to the floor. Prem then takes the bottle of acid, holds it over Harry, and breaks it, sending the acid tumbling down on him. Harry screams in agony from the burning and, as Prem walks out of the room, the acid causes a small heater on the floor to combust and catch fire to some paper flung around it. In the doorway, Prem turns and sees Harry's body and the table behind him now engulfed in flames and heads on out, as the curtain catches fire as well.

When they read about Harry's death in the newspaper, which attributes it to a curse and also has the press clamoring for a statement, Preston decides, without question, that they're leaving, despite Barrani's orders. He tells Longbarrow to get down to the shipping office and book the passages, also telling him to book a couple for Paul and Claire, as well as for himself (though, only after Barbara urges him to). Longbarrow is overjoyed at the prospect of going home, and on his way out, Preston tells him he'll meet him at the landing stage, hoping to ship out immediately. He also tells Barbara to inform Paul and Claire to do the same. Once Longbarrow is out of the room, Preston notices that Barbara hasn't begun packing, and she says that she's not going until she's sure that Paul and Claire are joining them, as she's suspicious of his instructions for them to meet up at the landing. Down in the lobby, Longbarrow tries to slip out without Paul and Claire seeing him but is unsuccessful and tells Paul of his father's plans. Much to Longbarrow's confusion, both Paul and Claire tell him not to book passages for either of them. Once Longbarrow heads out, Paul, not surprised by his father's actions, heads up to their room to talk with him. There, Paul tells Preston that he and Claire are staying, but Preston couldn't care less, telling him that Barbara is staying as well. Paul tells him that he believes the cause of the murders is something that will follow them no matter where they go, but Preston tells him he's nuts and says that he can do what he likes. Meanwhile, Longbarrow, after looking at the shipping schedule, starts to head down to the docks, when he's spotted by Barrani. He tries to walk away discreetly, but is cut off by two other policemen and is cornered and questioned by Barrani.

In the lobby, Paul informs Claire that his father is determined to leave, when Barrani and his men come in with Longbarrow. Barrani asks Paul if he and Claire are among those attempting to leave and he says they aren't. Preston then comes downstairs and Barrani confronts him, as a jittery Longbarrow apologizes. Preston takes Barrani aside and, after suggesting that forcing them to stay might be putting everyone else in danger, which the inspector doesn't yet believe is probable, he attempts to bribe him with a check for 10,000 pounds. Barrani, however, can't be bought, and insists that he give him his word that none of them will try to leave without his permission. Preston, very reluctantly, agrees, and Barrani tells him he wishes to interview him later that day before departing. Preston storms back up to the room, with Longbarrow tailing after him, and tells Barbara what happened when he comes through the door. She says she's sorry, clarifying, "I only mean I'm sorry because you didn't get your own way. I know how you suffer when this happens to you." Longbarrow stammers out an apology, saying he's not good with subterfuge, and Preston, after saying he wonders if he's good for anything, gives him one last chance to prove himself. He tells him to go back to the shipping office and book him a solo passage for the first boat out, telling him he's fired if he fails and to wait until 7:30 before he goes. Before he leaves, Longbarrow is told that Preston now has no intention of taking him, which is shattering for him. Disappointed and dejected, Longbarrow tells him he'll probably have to be onboard the ship at midnight. When they're alone, Preston notices the way Barbara is looking at him and she says she was merely wondering how it must feel to have everything but the right to come and go as he pleases, as well as the ability to conquer fear. She says she also pities him for being the way he is. Elsewhere, Paul and Claire, after having met Barrani at Harry's room, leave, with the inspector telling Paul that he has no more, and perhaps no less, of an idea of what could have happened than he probably does.

Come nightfall, Longbarrow, who's been asleep all evening, is awakened by his alarm clock in his hotel room. In reaching and fumbling around for it, he accidentally knocks his glasses off the nightstand. Barely able to see, especially in the dark, he gets down in the floor and feels around for them, when he hears a crunch. It quickly dawns on him that he crushed them under his hand and, putting them up to his eyes, he starts sobbing, as he can't see through the cracked lenses. Despite this, he gets to his feet, grabs his suit jacket, and, after splashing some water on his eyes and face, goes for the door, which he opens to find Prem standing there. Without his glasses, Longbarrow doesn't recognize the threat at first, but when Prem stomps in towards him, he panics and tries to escape through the window. Prem grabs him, throws him onto the bed, smashes out the window, ties the mosquito netting and bedspread around his torso, and tosses him out the window. He smashes down on the street below, his blood filling up a rectangular indentation in the concrete that's full of water. Meanwhile, in his hotel room, Preston impatiently waits for Longbarrow to call to confirm the passage, as it's now close to 8:30, while Barbara seems to enjoy freaking him out by saying she hopes he has a safe voyage and reminding him that he has to be aboard by midnight. In her parlor, Haiti sees the image of Preston sweating bullets in her crystal ball and glancing at the clock again. He pours himself a drink, his hand shaking as he raises the glass to his mouth, as Barbara watches, and then decides to go ahead and leave. Promising to get her out as soon as he's back in England, he shares a very cold goodbye kiss with Barbara and heads out the door. He appears to come close to apologizing to her for everything but ultimately decides not to. Hasmid then joins Haiti and, seeing the image of Preston leaving the hotel, heads out to intercept him.

He catches up to Preston in an alleyway (near the route Walden took before his death) and asks if he's looking for a carriage, adding that his brother drives one and lives only two minutes away. After talking Preston into paying twenty pounds for his "brother's" services, saying he doesn't like to work at night, and only getting five, saying he'll pay the rest when he reaches the boat, Hasmid leaves, while Preston nervously paces back and forth while waiting. Hasmid heads back to Haiti's parlor to once again recite the incantation to bring Prem to life (apparently, Prem goes back to his sarcophagus after every single murder he commits). While Preston sits down on his suitcase while continuing to wait, Hasmid finishes the incantation, and Haiti looks into her crystal ball to see that Prem's sarcophagus is empty once more. Preston is then relieved to hear the sound of a carriage approaching, but is dismayed when it passes by. He turns around with a start at the sound of a yowling alley-cat, when Prem steps out behind him, grabs him, and shakes him back and forth by the neck, as he screams. Prem then smashes the side of his face against the wall, leaving a bloody spot there as he collapses to the ground. Prem walks away, while Hasmid appears and places something on Preston's torso, telling him, "No carriage, effendi."

Having received Harry's personal effects, Paul looks over them with Barrani and tells him of what might be behind the killings. Though he says he has to remain logical in his position as a police officer, he also has to admit to things beyond his comprehension, with blessings and curses being among them. Given the ancient belief of the curse of the pharaohs, and that four of the people who entered the tomb are now dead, Barrani tells Paul, Claire, and Barbara that they are free to leave Mezzera. Leaving, he tells them, "I will say goodbye, and may Allah go with you. And may I advise you as a friend to embark at the earliest possible moment." Despite this warning, Paul still isn't keen on simply running away. Looking at the photos of the shroud's hieroglyphics, he tries to find the connection between them and Hasmid's warning about the spirit of the tomb. He also believes he's hit upon exactly who is the aforementioned spirit, but when he tries to tell Claire, he finds that she has left. He rushes out the door, telling Barbara to keep Claire there when she comes back. She's then shown walking the streets of Mezzera, making her way to Haiti's parlor, where she's waiting for her. She happily invites her in and sits her down at the table with her crystal ball. Claire tells her what's happened to her friends and says that she wants to know why and how they've happened. Looking at her crystal, Haiti tells her that it's because they desecrated Kah-to-Bey's tomb and that two more people are to die as well, Claire herself among them. She then says that what she next sees in the crystal is too horrible to repeat, and when Claire asks if she herself is to die, Haiti maniacally cackles, "In a few minutes from now!" Freaked out at her manner, Claire tries to flee the parlor, but Haiti grabs her wrist and says she may be able to save her. She makes her sit back down, while elsewhere, Paul enters the restoration house through the smashed door and walks over to Prem, as he stands in his sarcophagus. He's shocked when he sees fresh blood on one of Prem's hands and rushes back out. Haiti tells Claire the sacred words of death and then tells her to go to the restoration house and ask Prem for forgiveness, specifically by saying, "Oh, noble Prem, sacred spirit of the tomb, I pray for your forgiveness for my transgressions against Kah-to-Bey and the desecration of his resting place, of which I am profoundly guilty." During this time, Hasmid listens from the doorway, while Haiti tells Claire to next repeat those words in the language of the pharaohs.

As she does so, the scene transitions to her in the restoration house, saying those words to Prem's mummy. But, before she can finish, she hears Hasmid speaking in Egyptian nearby, while holding the shroud. Paul and Barrani rush in and Hasmid quickly finishes the incantation and Prem's eyes snap open. Hasmid yells for Prem to kill Claire, and he stomps out of his sarcophagus towards her. Paul rushes in and tries to stop the mummy, but gets knocked to the floor and is then lifted up by his neck. Barrani fires on Prem from behind but his bullets do nothing, as Prem tosses Paul aside. Paul rolls and takes cover amidst some displays of hieroglyphics, which Prem pushes to the floor as he stomps towards him, eventually cornering him. Paul grabs a fire-axe from the wall and jams it into Prem's left shoulder, which also does nothing to stop him. Paul manages to run past Prem but trips on part of one of the fallen displays and falls to the floor. Barrani reloads his pistol and fires on Prem, while Paul runs to Claire, telling her to say the words of death. As Prem stomps towards them, removing the axe from his shoulder and brandishing it himself, Claire does say the words, but Hasmid laughs maniacally, saying that the words of death only work for someone holding the shroud. At that very moment, Barrani shoots him down from behind and then rushes in to stop Prem from hacking Paul and Claire by grabbing his arm. This gives the two of them the chance to escape the corner and grab the shroud. Barrani gets thrown among the fallen displays and Prem advances on Paul and Claire again with the axe. He, again, tells Claire to say the words, and when she does, Prem stops, drops the axe, and falls to his knees. He slowly crumbles into dust, grabbing at his head, which falls apart to reveal an ancient skull, which itself also disintegrates, followed by his torso and rib-cage. In seconds, Prem is nothing more than a pile of dust and old bones on the floor. The danger over, Claire places the shroud back where it belongs: atop Kah-to-Bey's remains.

One thing that puts The Mummy's Shroud many leagues above The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb in and of itself is the music score by Don Banks. While I can't remember a single note from Mummy's Tomb, Shroud has a beautiful, sweeping score that gives the story an ages-old, epic feel, with an exquisite main theme that captures the poignant connection between Prem and Kah-to-Bey and how it's lasted thousands of years after their deaths, managing to emphasize it better than the movie itself does. In fact, as much as I liked Banks' score for The Evil of Frankenstein, this alone might easily trump that. It's this incredible piece that's made up of vocalizing voices and great strings, accompanied by powerful drumming in the background, sounding suitably Egyptian and full of grandeur. Narrative-wise, it's heard when they uncover Kah-to-Bey's remains in the tomb, and a more low-key version can be heard whenever the idea of the spirit of the tomb is discussed and when Hasmid speaks the incantation that animates Prem. It comes back in its full glory at the very end, starting out softly after Prem has been vanquished and building to a crescendo when the shroud is placed back on Kah-to-Bey and the ending credits roll, giving the story a satisfying sense of closure. The rest of the score is good as well, especially the thrilling pieces that play whenever Prem attacks someone, the eerie, mystical music you hear during the scenes in Haiti's parlor, and the nasty-sounding string piece that you hear when Prem disintegrates, but that main theme is likely what will stick with you, as it does with me.

In the end, The Mummy's Shroud does have some things that I think make it worth seeking out for fans, such as some capable actors in the cast (John Philips, Michael Ripper, Roger Delgado, and Catherine Lacey are the real standouts), capable direction by John Gilling, lovely color cinematography, good instances of camerawork, nice sets, nice examples of makeup effects, and an absolutely marvelous music score. But, the ostensible leads are pretty bland, the mummy does not look good and has barely any character to him, and, worst of all, it's the same old plot that you've seen done time and again, with very little to differentiate it. Again, if you're a Hammer fan or a fan of mummy movies in general, you'll enjoy it, and as I've said many times, I think it has more to it than Hammer's previous mummy movie, but I don't think I can recommend it for casual viewers.