Create And Destroy A Universe All In One Movie..."The Mummy"

The Mummy (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson

Directed by Alex Kurtzman

The Story:

An ancient evil is uncovered during the war. It claims the life of Nick (Cruise) and Veil (Johnson) before giving them the power to return from the dead. Meanwhile Dr. Henry Jekyll (Crowe) is convinced that Nick could be just the research experiment he needs.

Let's put the cart before the horse and see what happens!

Instead of rolling out the latest relaunch of the Universal Monsters, Universal decided that like Marvel, but really, more like DC, they wanted to have their own cinematic universe.

Imagine the possibilities with Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and all the rest sharing screen time once again.

Except...

The film isn't really that good.

Don't get me wrong, it's not bad nor is it unwatchable.

But...

Forgetting the 30s and 40s Universal Monster movies...

This makes Brendan Fraser's turn with The Mummy franchise nearly 20 years ago, look like Indiana Jones.

And please, don't take that as any sign that Fraser's Mummy was terrible. I loved it then, after watching this version, I love it even more!!

No, this was like Universal was excited to get Cruise as their leading man.

However, Cruise wanted to make another Mission Impossible movie.

Which probably made Universal see all kinds of dollar signs, except the execution was poor.

Instead, they shoehorn in a Dr. Jekyll story, instead of making that the standalone beginning to the universe, so that when he shows up, briefly at the end, it would be more like Nick Fury assembling the Avengers.

Versus DC just shoving all the characters in your face at once, and saying don't you just love what we've done?

Clearly, audiences just didn't gel with this attempt, and Universal has since shelved pretty much everything else they had lined up to follow.

That's a shame, really.

Not that they are abandoning the "Dark Universe", but that they are going to let these properties sit in mothballs.

As the low-budget horror films have proven time and again, and even the bigger budgeted It, audiences still love a good scare, as long as you craft a halfway decent thrill-ride to entertain us with.

Try again.

Don't worry about a big star, it's the name on the franchise that will get us through the door.

Final Grade:  C-

Oh the Horror! "Nightmares in Red, White and Blue"

Things that go bump in the night are the least of your worries...

The Story:

Chronicling the history of cinematic American horror, this fast paced documentary chronicles one of the greatest genres of film history:  The Horror Film! : )  Using clips of dozens of horror films, each decade is represented by the best (or worst!) of the period.  In between these clips, we get the customary talking heads from some of horror's greatest minds explaining why it was important, what these movies reflected in society, etc.

So you either love horror, or you hate it.

Therein lies your reaction to this documentary.

I love horror films, but feel that about where this documentary ends, 2009ish... is where my enjoyment of horror began to diminish.

The pendulum has swung so far in the direction of "what can we show the audience that they've never seen?" that suspense, terror and excitement gave way to gruesome, graphic torture.

Yeah, Saw and Hostel, I'm looking at you.

So yes, when you long for the good old days of kinder gentler serial killers like Freddy and Jason...

; )

You know that something has gone seriously wrong.

It is a fascinating walk down memory lane from the Universal Monsters to the gruesome shock cinema of the last decade. 

It is interesting to hear John Carpenter and Joe Dante or George Romero tell you what they were thinking when they made these films and how horror was often used as a social commentary of the times.

Not every film falls in line with that way of thinking, but it is a visible pattern that repeats often enough in the genre to give you pause.

Available for streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: B

Would I Own It: Hard to say.  Probably not, just because I'm the only horror fan in the house.... for now! ;)