Some guy wearing a cop uniform and speaking in a monotone brings an unknown and reasonably attractive 20ish actressâwho isnât really bothering to pretend to be anyoneâinto a small dark bathroom and then pretends to kill her and wraps her head with a few strips of gauze. Then he does it again. And then again. And again. And then two more times. AndâŠthatâs about it, except for a few shots of the guy with an older woman so that the director could pretend that heâs saying something about killers and mommy issues.
Mummy Maniac is a movie the way a cardboard box on the street is a house. One can call it one. And you can watch it on a video screen of some sort. And the picture moves. So, a movie. There seems to be no script, nor does anyone involved have skills at improv. Iâd be surprised if the lighting involved anything more than a lamp. There is an annoying, constant rumbling sound which might be better than silence. They were going for some kind of snuff film aesthetic, but it is far to fake for that. So I even have to warn away death-fetishists. Hey, this film is for no one. Thatâs a feat.
This âbased on a true storyâ serial killer crap isnât based on a true story. It just sounds better than saying, âThis is some faux murderer cosplay we thought you might be stupid enough to buy.â
As best as I can determine, Lionsgate gave some money to a guy named Ulli Lommel to churn out a bunch of no budget, semi-movies that they could trick people into buying with a near-professional cover. If your movie costs nothing to make, you reach profitability pretty quick. Since Lommelâs reputation for not being able to shoot a movie got around, we now have a film made by his protĂ©gĂ©, Max Nikoff. And the existence of this garbage offends me. I run a film festival. I have screened hundreds of films from talented filmmakers who will never be able to make a living off of their work. Theyâd love some of that Lionsgate money. They could make something interesting. But instead the world has Mummy Maniac.
I usually get cover images from Amazon that come with a link you can use it buy the film. Not this time. I want no association with this atrocity.