The Curse of the Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

The Curse of the Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 23, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Aztec Mummy Collection.

Could you adequately describe the difference(s) between the Aztecs and the Mayans? There are a number of excellent online resources for anyone who might need a little, um, help, but there wasn't an internet in the early sixties (that we know of, anyway), and that may account for the somewhat hilarious fact that American producer Jerry Warren re-released a Mexican effort from 1957 called The Aztec Mummy that Warren had rejiggered for American audiences, renaming it Attack of the Mayan Mummy in the process, though the English language versions of The Aztec Mummy's sequels included on this disc are attributed to K. Gordon Murray. As Dr. David Wilt discusses in his interesting comments on the films included on this disc as a supplement, the first three Aztec Mummy films, the aforementioned one linked to and then The Curse of the Aztec Mummy and The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy included on this disc, were basically shot back to back (to back). It's somewhat hilarious, then, that while it is instantly obvious in watching the three films on this disc that The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy in particular utilizes footage from The Curse of the Aztec Mummy, in truth both of those films evidently utilized footage from the first film (which is not included on this disc). These were obviously quickie low budget productions that were probably made even more gonzo when the likes of K. Gordon Murray got ahold of them and "translated" them into English. The results are undeniably daffy, with fleeting glimpses of our raggedy anti-hero (whatever his "tribal" status may be), and the added attraction of everything from Luchadors to robots to wrestling women thrown into the mix for good measure.

There are any number of hilarities that can be discussed with regard to all three Aztec Mummy films on this disc, but one of the funniest might be that the archvillain of both this film and The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy is named Dr. Krupp (Luis Aceves Castañeda), a character who is also known as The Bat. So why should that be funny? Because this entire franchise plays like a looney-tunes Luchador and Mummy infested alternate universe version of Batman, and Krupp in particular looks and acts quite a bit like Victor Buono's memorable bad guy, King Tut, which of course gets us right back to mummy territory, albeit now with Egyptians vying with Aztecs and Mayans for titular bragging rights.

There are unsurprisingly a number of characters who were evidently introduced in the first Aztec Mummy film who are carried over to this one and the next, Krupp AKA The Bat among them. Two others are Dr. Eduardo Almada (Ramon Gay), a researcher who has been using hypnotic regression on a patient named Flora Sepúlveda (Rosita Arenas), who also happens to be his fiancée. This particular plot point is linked by Dr. David Wilt to the now little remembered best seller The Search for Bridey Murphy, which itself had just been adapted for an American film in 1956, immediately prior to the 1957 filmings of the first three Aztec Mummy films. In this case, Flora does not remember a previous life as an Irish lass, but instead a much further back in time existence as an Aztec (Mayan? Egyptian?) princess named Xochitl.

Suffice it to say Xochitl's memories ultimately result in the awakening of a mummy named Popoca (Ángel di Stefani), and havoc of course ensues. A supposedly priceless treasure is also involved, which is why also unsurprisingly The Bat is showing a good deal of interest in archeology all of a sudden. This is all Grade Z live action cartoon material, and the English dub probably only makes it all the weirder, but for horror fans, it should be noted glimpses of the Mummy are few and far between.

The Curse of the Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Curse of the Aztec Mummy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Without any hint of trying to sound snarky, this is one of VCI's better looking efforts, and to my eyes is pretty easily the best looking of the three presentations in this set, despite the fact that the third film on the disc is of somewhat more recent vintage than the other two. There are none of the sometimes odd encoding anomalies that have been seen in VCI's other Blu-ray offerings, and contrast and detail levels are both generally commendable. As seems to be the case with VCI offerings, though, there are some passing oddities to grain resolution, with what almost looks like a "scrim" of frozen grain at times, and some minor clumping that can almost look like macroblocking in some of the darkest scenes. There is quite a bit of damage that can be spotted, but not at the level seen in The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy in particular.

The Curse of the Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While it's probably not going to be a huge deal killer for diehard fans, The Curse of the Aztec Mummy has only lossy audio, a serviceable but pretty thin and boxy sounding Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track. The dubbing is often hilariously mismatched to mouth movements, but dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly enough. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Curse of the Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

VCI has packaged three of the Aztec Mummy films together on one disc, with the following sole supplement:

• The Mummy Films (HD; 24:38) is billed as a "video essay" but is in fact mostly the rather interesting Dr. David Wilt speaking directly into his monitor's camera about the films. He's obviously reading and probably will seem a little stiff for some tastes, but he has a lot of good information to impart, and there are some fun archival stills and snippets from the films included as he speaks.

The Curse of the Aztec Mummy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Curse of the Aztec Mummy probably has the closest thing to a verifiable "plot" of the three films on this disc, but that may be damning with faint praise. This is a goofy outing that might provide a few laughs for those with appropriately jaded temperaments. Technical merits are improvable, but the supplement on the disc is informative, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.