The National Mummy – review

Director: José Ramón Larraz

Release date: 1981

Contains spoilers

With bundles of sexploitation, psychosexual themes and a weird style, Vampyres by José Ramón Larraz is a definite favourite of mine within the megatext. That Larraz directed this, therefore, is a bit of a shock. Filmed in a transitional period in Spanish history this is a heady mix of monster mash, political satire (I think) and sexual comedy of the basest kind.

Saturnino and Felipe

So it is a comedy, with an opening soundtrack theme to make it sound like a children’s film (it really isn’t). A visitor arrives ay a country estate. It is Prof Felipe (Quique Camoiras) with his daughter, Ana-Mari (Azucena Hernández, The Night of the Werewolf) and he has a large crate with him containing the mummy of the daughter of Akhenaten (who was Tutankhamun’s father). There is, of course, a curse. They are visiting Saturnino (Francisco Algora) and within minutes we get the “gags” of Ana-Mari complaining that Saturnino is staring at her breasts and her accidentally hitting in in the nuts with a handbag.

the wolfman

Not long after arriving the matriarch of the house, Doña Perpetua (Lili Muráti), is brought a birthday cake and promptly collapses and dies face first in it. Saturnino blames the curse. She later resuscitates (no thanks to anyone else) and becomes somewhat homicidal. Unfortunately, proximity to the mummy has had an effect on Felipe and he becomes a werewolf. We also see the mummy come to life, later we see that the desiccation of her face is not mirrored on the rest of her body,

Carlos Lucena as The vampire

Having survived the night with a werewolf, Saturnino takes his friend to a local asylum, which is run by Dr. Vilaseca AKA Dr. Cabezas (Carlos Lucena), who is clearly modelled on the Kinski version of Orlok/Dracula. Felipe goes there peacefully but then escapes and finds women in coffin in the basement – yes vampire brides. It turns out Dr. Vilaseca sends these to a brothel where they suck… blood. The vampire ends up wanting the mummy, Saturnino and Felipe end up infiltrating the brothel (and getting distracted from their mission) and eventually hunting the vampires down. The mummy herself seems to have a couple of thousand-years-old itch to scratch.

the mummy

I mentioned the political side, and this was filmed after the 1981 attempted coup d'état in Spain – it’s referenced – and in the transitional period post Franco. Many politicians are mentioned that mean nothing to me and the political jokes went over my head. I have read a description of nudity in Spanish films, in the transitional period, being an expression of freedom from censorship post Franco and part of a Spanish cinema movement of cheap end films known as destape. However, to me, the sex jokes were misogynistic and certainly out of date now (probably then also) – Ana-Mari fainting and so Saturnino having to bare her boobs and suckle her nipples is simply sexual assault rather than having a laugh. It took the Seaside Postcard and innuendo of Carry On (which, of course, had ended by then) and pushed it steps beyond. The closing scene is a Benny Hill style chase.

staking

The political aspect went into the vampire lore also, and I really don’t quite know what to make of it either. Dr. Vilaseca is faced with a cross and so, to counter it, he crosses a red hammer and sickle, in response Saturnino’s diminutive butler Agapito (José Jaime Espinosa) holds up a red swastika and this kills the vampire, who disintegrates. What they were trying to say with this was way over my head but felt pro-fascist. Beyond that, a stake through the heart will do (Agapito telling Saturnino to aim above the left breast of a vampire woman, as he initially looked to stake the pubic area) and the vampires have green blood and no reflection.

Azucena Hernández as Ana-Mari

This is bizarre, no doubt about it. It would probably have worked better if I understood the political context and people mentioned. I still think the sexual side probably went too far as comedy – though some may disagree. The film threw in the kitchen sink, merging more Victorian aesthetics (including costumes and carriages) with mentions of the coup and motorbikes (in the final scene). Strange and probably only worth 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.