Night of the Mummy - a Hammer Tribute Ionce Wrote

An introduction - my web-friend Adrian Charlton and I wrote this together, well he contributed ideas but I wrote the script, to be intended as a Hammer tribute, with a 1969 setting, really a tribute to all of British horror, and bits of American and Italian horror. We cast, Udo Kier was considered to play the elderly German archaeologist, and Italian actor "John Morghen"/Giovanni Lombardo Radice from such films as City of the Living Dead and the Omen remake were cast. The Egyptians were in our heads, Nadim Sawalha and Vernon Dobtcheff, both in the Spy who Loved Me as Egyptians.
1.CAMP/NORTH PYRAMID/EGYPT, MORNING, C.1969
We open in Egypt, in a sandpit. We see a camp, dusty and mud-streaked. We open on the elderly DOCTOR REINHARDT, moustachioed, bespectacled, and sitting down, reading an issue of National Geographic. He has just returned to the North Pyramid in Egypt, where in 1931, he discovered the tomb of RAMESES KITUNIAN MOHASSATEP, but is unable to translate the code, a complex mechanical row of rolling hieroglyphs. He is with his one-time protégé, the middle-aged PROFESSOR MAITLAND, kind of happy, bearded, and swilling ale.
MAITLAND (in broad Northern/West Country accent)
Aye up, Reinhardt!  Have you translated the code?
REINHARDT (getting up, speaking in Germanic accent)
It is no use. The technology used in this period, though of the same date, it is far more complex.
MAITLAND
What do you think?
REINHARDT
This is of a scientist. Rameses Kitunian Mohassotep ... (stopped by MAITLAND)
MAITLAND (steady)
It is sometimes translated as Mohassatep, with an A.
REINHARDT (laughing him off)
It's pronounced the same way phonetically, and that's all that matters, but he was one of the advisors to the Pharaohs.
MAITLAND (suspicious)
I think it is more complicated.
REINHARDT (laughing)
Not that Ancient Astronaut mumbo-jumbo! This is real life!  
MAITLAND
Well, I am suggesting that the way the stars align affects this pyramid, not any other pyramid. Mohassatep was aware that the Gods were not quite of this world. Another dimension was where they came from, so the alignment of the stars acts at a time when the universes, the dimensions for one moment unite.
REINHARDT
Not collision! Are you sure? When I was at the British Museum, they did not trust me for being a German, even though of Jewish extraction, I told them that purity in race could only come from Africa.
MAITLAND
You saying that the Aryan race were the Egyptian gods?
REINHARDT
Yes, it is one of my theories. Hitler may have been following in the path of Seth.  
MAITLAND
What upper poppycock!
REINHARDT
Well, they said that Rameses Mohassotep had the most golden shade of skin.
MAITLAND
My theory, if it was the Aryan race, they would have been known to the Egyptians. There is reference in other Egyptian writings of that time of pale-skinned, white-skinned, not golden-skinned people.
REINHARDT (angry)
It could have been a tan!
We see BEY, a small, wiry Egyptian guide and the linguist, a tall, attractive young woman, ANNA MARSET.
MAITLAND (shouting)
Did you find anything?
BEY (in thick Middle-Eastern accent, broken English)
No sir, Reynart is right!
REINHARDT (pompously)
It is Reinhardt, my name is Reinhardt, Dr. Hans Reinhardt, I tell you!
ANNA (curious)
Yes, he was described, as being golden-skinned on one of the scriptures, but I can only remember the file number, funnily enough.
MAITLAND
Yes, but the authenticity of those scriptures, they are often thought to be written by the man himself!
BEY
Yes, he was an honest man, but there is also scripture by a contemporary, Abu Ali…
ANNA
Yes, Abu Ali Amicus, of Roman descent who claimed that Mohassotep was a man who had perhaps meddled with the gods, thus his premature death?
MAITLAND ()
Yes! Where on Earth is that boy photographer?
We see HARRY, young, friendly, fresh-faced, dark-haired, of Egyptian descent, taking snips with his camera.
HARRY (young, fresh-faced, dark-haired boy photographer)
I’m here, sir! What is it, sir?
MAITLAND
Well, we are going in!
HARRY
Good grief, sir!
We see that the first to go in is the figure of REINHARDT, alongside BEY, who dial in the code. However, we hear a shriek, REINHARDT’s bag opening and then a brief cut to an emaciated, skeletal hand grabbing a container of Vaseline, and dousing it on the body of REINHARDT, before BEY wraps it in bandages.
BEY (running out)
REINHARDT fell on the body.
ANNA
Poor man!
MAITLAND
At least he did it for us! Bey killed him, bandaged his body. Where is Bey?
HARRY
I think he left.
We then see ANNA’s boyfriend, ALAN DANE, thirty-something, tall, dark and handsome.
ALAN
Hello! I was in Cairo! The ship’s waiting for us. One of the Egyptian porters told us. Well, not all of them are Egyptian. I am sorry.
ANNA
Oh, my Alan! Have you seen the guide, Bey?
ALAN
Yes, I think the boat is waiting us. By the way, I saw the guide! He left.
We meet a younger Egyptian archaeologist, PROFESSOR VENGAZI, sent by the Egyptian Archaeology Guild.
VENGAZI (sinister)
Hello, I come from the guild.
ALAN (suspicious)
Bore off!
VENGAZI (smiling)
I was the guide.
HARRY (confused)
But we have Bey!
VENGAZI (dismissive)
Bey, he’s just one of these cult worshippers. Completely dedicated to the end, smarter than me, probably, but he is nuts. They say he worships the Gods, especially their servants.
MAITLAND (laughing)
No wonder he killed him! He killed one of our men, Doctor Hans Reinhardt.
VENGAZI (nods, in agreement)
Yes, I’ll contact Scotland Yard. I believe that such a man would travel to England to follow the progress of the corpse. Mind you, there are collectors out there, you know!
ALAN (curious)
I know. There’s a fellow in Wales, a Sir Linus Frame, collector of the supernatural.
ANNA
Oh yes!
VENGAZI
You know him?
MAITLAND
He is quite well-known back home, for all the wrong reasons, though. He’ll do anything for a mommy in his collection.
VENGAZI
How?
HARRY (setting his camera to take a photo of VENGAZI)
Let’s just say law doesn’t matter in his game! Smile, sir, for the paper!
VENGAZI (not actually smiling, just looking mildly calm)
Hello! I must go, because the Guild might need me. I don’t just work for the Guild, mind you. I am their contact with Interpol.
ALAN
So that explains your curiosity!
VENGAZI (leaving)
Yes, I must be off.  
ANNA (to ALAN)
He was a nice chap. Slightly odd, mind you, but aren’t we all a bit old!
ALAN
Yes, but at least explain why he was slightly odd, while Bey just didn’t hide it or explain it.
ANNA
Yes, you are right.
MAITLAND (seeing HARRY pack up his camera)
You seem mildly caught up! Do you have a girlfriend back home, though you seem extremely young!
HARRY
Yes, her name is Jess Manley. Her father is a police sergeant in Scotland Yard.
ANNA (smiling)
I believe Manley is a woman.
HARRY (surprised)
Could have fooled me!
MAITLAND pats HARRY on the back, as the archeology team begin to pack up.
2.SS BERNICE/DOCKS/CAIRO/EGYPT, AFTERNOON, C.1969
We see in the cargo deck of a British ship, the SS Bernice, two shadows carrying swag bags. As the camera moves along, we see that they are in fact two thieves, ACHMED and PERCY. PERCY is a Cockney, tall and thin, with a round face, brown-haired, in a roll-neck sweater, brown sheepskin jacket and flat cap, and aged in his early thirties. ACHMED is Egyptian, older, fatter, with a moustache, tufts of greying black hair sticking out of each side of his fez.
PERCY (as he nears the wrapped-up body of the mummy)
Ooh, here is, Mohassotep! Ooh-er, he’s wrapped up in brown paper bags!
ACHMED (oohing and aahing in sweet surprise)
And under there, the mythical blood-stained bandages! They say he bleeds even though he is dead.
PERCY (in the broadest Cockney accent)
Sir Linus is going to love this!
ACHMED (in stereotypical Middle-Eastern accent)
Yes, we’ll take him down to the lifeboat, leave and then he’ll be at Sir Linus’ house in Wales, in a glass case, given all the care he needs. He won’t need to feed on the souls of the dead, or the living, for Sir Linus will feed him love.
PERCY (listening, holding his ear)
Look ‘ere’s some noise! Some bloody loud shoes I can hear. Achmed, watch out, only an Egyptian wears shoes like that.
ACHMED (slightly angry)
Stop it!
Soon, we hear footsteps. We see, in the disguise of a waiter, BEY, who seems to look horrified, as the figure of ACHMED approaches him.
BEY (taking gun out)
Who is there? You are guarding the body of my lord, Rameses Kitunian Mohassotep! I am Mohassad Bey, descended from his lineage.
PERCY
Watch out, Achmed!
ACHMED (finding a wrapped-up saxophone on the cargo deck)
Eh, we were told about your kind. My father hated your people.
BEY
Oh, god, you must be Achmed Kitaj! You killed my father, did you not?
ACHMED (angrily)
It’s pronounced Kit-eye!
PERCY (surprised, shocked)
You didn’t kill his dad, did you, Achmed?
ACHMED
No, he died of a heart attack. Every bugger knows that.
BEY (shooting his gun in the air)
Leave, will you, leave!
ACHMED runs out into the corridor, where we see a guard in white uniform, a blond, possibly English man in his twenties. The guard is carrying a harpoon. As BEY shoots, the guard prepares his harpoon, but as BEY touches the wrapped-up MOHASSATEP, the mommy comes to life, still covered in brown paper bags that slowly begin to tear, as he walks. MOHASSATEP tears the guard’s head off, and instead bandages up the guard, once again using Vaseline. However, ACHMED and PERCY escape to the lifeboat.
PERCY (panting, sweating and wheezing)
When we get to London, we’ll track down that bloody Egyptian geezer and find the Mummy. (He pauses to think for a minute) Actually, never mind that, I have an idea.
ACHMED
What is it?
PERCY (looking sneaky, whispering in ACHMED’s ear and fez)
I’ll stay here, pose as a guard, and you go to England, on the lifeboat and tell Mr. Frame what I am doing. Do you hear me?
ACHMED (nodding)
I hear you! Yes, I’ll get on the boat.
We see MOHASSATEP in the corridor, both god-like and shining and yet dirty and rotting and coated in bandages.
BEY
Thank you, I am alive, and so are you! I worship you!
MOHASSATEP (in electronic, god-like voice)
No, you pitiful swine, you deserve to be part of me. I am not a god. I am only a tool, a servant of the Gods. You will become part of me.
BEY (as he starts to billow smoke, his lips forced to MOHASSATEP’s mouth, creating a kiss of death, incinerating him)
No! I serve you!
We see BEY drop dead, his body sizzling up.
ACHMED
Alas poor Mohassad!
We then see in his bed, PROFESSOR MAITLAND, who awakened by the noise below gets up, picks up a penknife, puts on a suit and goes down.
MAITLAND
What is going on? Bey is dead. Oh no, the mommy has awakened.
PERCY
Oh no! It is the Professor from the expedition.
MAITLAND
Who are you? You’re the two thieves sent by Sir Linus Frame, that nasty crook.
ACHMED (picking up BEY’s gun, cleaning it with a handkerchief, and preparing to shoot MAITLAND)
Wait a moment! Frame may have sent us, but we may share the same view as you. We only work for him. We ain’t his sex slaves. He may think of us as that, but that’s his mind playing tricks!
PERCY
Yeh, it’s his darn mind!
ALAN (walking in, holding a hook to ACHMED’s neck)
Dirty thoughts, are they, sir?
ACHMED (looking foolish)
Eh, no, sir!
Then, we cut to a shot of ANNA, in a diaphanous nightgown, traipsing down the steps from the cabin she shares with HARRY, who is in bed, cuddling a piece of netting as if it is a teddy bear. Noticeably, HARRY is still wearing his glasses in bed. ANNA trips, and falls down slightly, but she is rescued by PERCY, who gives his hand out to her.
ANNA (to PERCY)
Who are you?
PERCY
None of your business, ma’am!
ANNA (throwing him a punch)
Well, that’s for saying what you said, you misogynist Cockney pie! I only eat pie when it is cooked, not suspiciously raw!
PERCY
Calm down, sweetie! It’s Percy, my name is Percy. The fella in the fez is Achmed!
The mummy, MOHASSATEP is chased by ALAN and MAITLAND. ALAN finds the bloodied guard’s harpoon and uses it. He aims it and it cuts through the stomach of MOHASSATEP, taking with it the mummy’s heart, covered in flies that are feeding on it. The mommy once again continues to lumber on until he enters a sarcophagus. ACHMED bandages up the sarcophagus and traps the mommy inside it. He and PERCY take it down to the lifeboat.
MAITLAND (tossing his hat through a porthole)
And no good will come of them!
ALAN
No!
ANNA
Why not?
ALAN
They are going to be killed by the mommy. What do you think? It is the obvious solution.
ANNA
Well, they could become his slaves.
MAITLAND
It is unlikely.
ALAN
After all, what did his last slave die of?
ANNA
Murder?
MAITLAND
Indeed, it is a dangerous world!
We see the three of the expedition head back to their cabin.
3.FRAME HOUSE/LLANWELL/WALES, MORNING, C.1969
We see some stock footage of rolling green hills and Welsh stuff, like miners at work, mine lifts going up, all to the sound of a male voice choir, before cutting to a large house with a sign outside it reading in big black letters, “Welcome to Frame House, Llanwell!”
We cut to inside, and we see a camp, tall, slim man of about sixty-ish in a gray seventies suit. His hands are on his hips. This man is SIR LINUS FRAME. He is arguing to his youngish, brown-haired butler.
FRAME (mildly surprised)
Oh, Simon, my butler!
BUTLER
Yes, sir, what is it?
FRAME
Have you seen my collection? You are the new boy here, after all.
BUTLER
No, I am not aware of what is in the collection, but I was told that it is wealthy and full of rare antiquities, I believe.
FRAME
Yes, you do say antiquities, but some of my commodities are one of a kind.
BUTLER
You prefer that term?
FRAME
Ah, yes, commodities! Some of my artefacts are possibly a year old.
BUTLER
What is their worth?
FRAME (as he opens a door disguised as a bookshelf that leads to some steps)
They are supernatural objects. I have what I believe is a haunted door. It makes noises at night. I have it framed, but it will still make a creaking noise, even though it is glued to the glass.
BUTLER
You’re joking?
FRAME
I never joke about my collection. It is a very serious thing, my collection. I had to do some very serious things to get some commodities.
BUTLER
Like how?
FRAME (picking up a flaming torch and going down to the collection)
I’m afraid you would not believe me. I once had to face a six-year term in an American prison to get what I believed to be part of a crashed UFO. It turned out to be the homing device of a top secret US Military Aircraft.
BUTLER
You must have thought of giving up?
FRAME
Yes, once this mommy is delivered. It’ll the piece de resistance of my collection. I shall sell the rest.
BUTLER
How much sir?
FRAME
You would not believe the value. I would be the richest man in Britain if I sold these, you know, and Italy, of course?
BUTLER
Why Italy?
FRAME
I am Italian, born in Italy, of Italian mother. Did you recognize my accent?
BUTLER
Oh, yes, but I thought it was a quirk, and it is only slight.
FRAME
Yes, it is. And I hope to get big money!
BUTLER
Who will want such unusual commodities?
FRAME
You will be surprised. Due to the risks involved, collectors of the macabre and the supernatural do not like to publicise their collections. Mine is one of the largest in the world, but I’ve had to turn down the offers of press coverage, no matter how much the American networks offer.
BUTLER
How much do they offer? Would it be millions?
FRAME
More than that, forty million dollars for a news report. They’d better spend it on elocution lessons for the newsreaders. I told you how rich I would be if I sold it. It would be astronomical.
BUTLER
Would it be, sir?
FRAME
Yes, my boy! It would be, indeed.
BUTLER
But sir, would you sell your collection?
FRAME
Of course not, until I lose everything else. I am Sir Linus Frame, son of Lady Maria Messaghi and Lord Harold Frame. I am rich already. I would be 5000 times richer if I sold this collection.
We see the BUTLER going down, looking awestruck, as we close up on his face. Then the lights are turned off by FRAME, denying us the chance to see the collection. We see a removals van coming in, driven by PERCY and ACHMED. We see then walk in, on their way, dressed exactly as they were on the SS Bernice.
FRAME (as he walks outside)
Hallo, boys!
ACHMED (coming over to shake FRAME’s hand)
Hello, sir!
FRAME
Yes, now where on Earth is Percy?
PERCY (walking out behind the van)
Sir, you won’t believe me, but we caught him alive!
We see FRAME looking at the shaking, moving sarcophagus. As he unwraps it, the mommy leaps open and ACHMED is immediately crushed in half, and we hear the crunching of his bones and a really high-pitched scream. PERCY is splattered and skewered by two giant wooden kebab skewers through his guts, his blood now on the bandages of MOHASSATEP.
FRAME (screaming to the BUTLER)
Ring up the police! Ring the bell! Ring the bell, you wondrous imbecile!
BUTLER (in a joyous tone of voice)
Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full, sir!
FRAME
Stop the puns!
BUTLER
Yes, sir!
We see the BUTLER enter the kitchen. He begins to dial. Soon, we see an ambulance arrive and FRAME is dragged in, screaming. We see some soldiers, squaddies in full uniform and tin hats chase the Mummy into the wilds, before shooting it down. FRAME is carted into the ambulance, a young-ish paramedic with a horrified, kind of perplexed look on his face.
FRAME (in a strait-jacket, giggling)
I didn’t mean to do it! It was not my fault. The mommy came to life.
AMBULANCE DRIVER
Take him in, boys!
PARAMEDIC
Right, sir!
FRAME
It really did happen.
PARAMEDIC (quizzically)
Did it sir?
FRAME (gurning, his face going all exaggerated in its expressions)
Yes! It did! I saw it with my own two eyes (pointing at his eyes) and I’ll tell you, a lot of money was wasted in that deal, and I can tell you that with an honest face.
AMBULANCE DRIVER (quipping)
Sir, I think his face is the least honest face I have seen in a long time, sir!
We briefly cut to the house, and see the BUTLER, blessing himself and seeing a car driven by his fat, elderly MOTHER.
4.ASYLUM/UNSPECIFIED COUNTRYSIDE/ENGLAND, MIDNIGHT c.1974
It is now five years later. We see FRAME, now on the edge of clinical insanity, looking out of the window. He is banging his head against the wall, giggling. He has become a nutcase. He can only experience happiness. He is surrounded with loose banknotes, suggesting that the collection has been sold.
FRAME (seeing his reflection in the window)
My collection is gone. I have nowhere, nowhere to go, and nowhere to leave. I am stuck here for eternity. An eternity is wasted, and if I wait, then what will I be waiting for?
We see a bizarre dream sequence where FRAME, his mind slowly slipping back sees himself in an underground crypt, a coffin slowly being lowered over him. Then, we see a mommy teleporting in, and then another mummy, and then another one. The three mummies approach the terrified FRAME from each angle, and then as he screams, the screen slowly breaks up into a million tiny pieces and behind this image we see the real FRAME, screaming in his bed, afraid of what is going to happen!
FRAME
Ah! Gesundheit! A million eyes watching over me!
Of course, then we see from the window, a figure of glowing light approaching. FRAME gets up and excited, opens the window.
We hear a deep voice inside FRAME’s head.
VOICE
You shouldn’t have opened the window!
FRAME
Who is that? God, is that you?
FRAME’s neck is held by MOHASSATEP.
MOHASSATEP (grinning)
No, it is me!
FRAME’s brain is pulled out through his nose and his brain and nose put into Egyptian jars held by MOHASSATEP.
We see a nurse knocking down the door, and the camera closes up on her, as she screams.
5.BRITISH MUSEUM/LONDON/ENGLAND MIDNIGHT C.1974
We see an older, grimmer PROFESSOR MAITLAND, taping up the sealed area where the mummy’s sarcophagus is on display.
MAITLAND (heading up an emergency conference)
The stars have aligned. They did not align last time. The code merely gave the illusion. Now, he is fully alive, MOHASSATEP, and on the streets of London.
We see a posh, fat, gluttonous MINISTER, who is quick to explain otherwise.
MINISTER (in posh voice)
It is quite obviously something else. It has been timed obviously as a sick publicity stunt by those makers of horror movies down in the Home Counties. They say in the press those films are for sadists-only. It is clear that is the case.
Soon, we see a makeshift office, as the camera pans out. We see the banner ‘Belongs to Scotland Yard’, and we open up on this odd, cluttered office, full of books, Union Jack flags and bunting to emphasize it is Britain, maps of Britain and ‘welcome to Britain’ or union jack mugs being drunk by hat-wearing policemen. We see the character of INSPECTOR FREDERICK BULLIVER, a fat, balding, moustachioed, cigar-chewing, middle-aged copper, who when we met him, has a cigar in his mouth and is slightly tipsy. We see him come in.
BULLIVER (stern)
This investigation is an extension, not of a publicity stunt, but of the madness of a deranged collector who sent in a butler of his to assist in a suicide bid, disguised as a ridiculously contrived Egyptian curse. The missing mommy has been doubled.
ALAN (walking in, drinking a glass of wine)
Oh, god, don’t you see?
BULLIVER
What is it, sir?
ALAN
Well, you are trying to come up with a rational explanation in a situation that cannot be explained as a rational situation.
BULLIVER
Oh, not this nonsense, again!
MAITLAND
I think he is right.
BULLIVER
Sergeant Manley, do you have anything?
We cut to the appropriately-named MANLEY, a tall, brutish woman of middle-age, unattractive, hair close-cropped and short and with a large nose.
MANLEY
No, sir! In fact, can I call you BULLIVER, because I don’t like to call you sir?
BULLIVER
No, this is not the pub; this is police work, you see, so it is not all that simple, I am afraid!
MANLEY (eating a sandwich)
Oh, sorry, sir!
ALAN (to MANLEY)
Where is Harry? He’s dating your daughter, Manley, is he not, madam?
MANLEY
Yes, I believe he is.
BULLIVER (scribbling down notes)
What is he doing, Sergeant?
MANLEY
Oh, just a bit of fun!
We see ANNA walking in.
ANNA
Sorry, I was out there. There are a lot of press photographers outside. A few randy Germans and French tried to pinch my bum.
MANLEY
Oh, really, I am shocked by the international journalism community; sometimes I really don’t like it! They are a bunch of fools.
ANNA
Yes, I know!
ALAN (walking off)
I’m going out to deal with the journalists. I think they need to be dealt with, with a few fisticuffs, if you know what to do!
ANNA
Oh, you are great!
We see outside, initially represented by stock footage, possibly, a swarm of journalists trying to get past the doors.
BBC JOURNALIST
Do you think there’ll be another mommy attack?
CANADIAN REPORTER
What will happen next?
GERMAN JOURNALIST
Was it a cover-up for the murder of German archaeologist Doctor Hans Reinhardt? Or was it his mysterious Egyptian manservant, Mohassad Bey?
ALAN
No, no, no! The hunt is on for the mommy. As far as we know, Reinhardt was killed by the Egyptian man, Bey, himself dead.
ANNA (as ALAN walks back in)
So, what happened?
ALAN
They are all a bunch of bastards. They just run a mill, a bloody rumor mill!
ANNA
You’re good for clearing them!
BULLIVER
Now, that doesn’t help the investigation!
6.BARGE/CANAL DOCK/LONDON, NIGHT-TIME, c.1970/LONDON ARCADE
We open with stock footage of London. We cut to s tugboat or barge at dock, from the view of a camera coming out of billowing fog. We see two young people making love to each other to some cheesy easy-listening romantic music of the 1960s/1970s on a record player. The girl, ANNA is dressed skimpily in short shorts, late teens, early twenties, while her boyfriend CARLO is swarthy-skinned, possibly Latino, tall, dark and handsome, and slightly older, twenty-five-ish. The camera rolls by, the Captain, GORLEY, sixty-ish, with a gray beard, in peaked cap and roll-neck jumper, looking happy and smiling at the lovers. He nods and then turns to his wheel. As CARLO and MARY make out, CARLO breathes. Then, his girlfriend begins to shriek in fear.
CARLO (in odd foreign Mid-Atlantic type accent)
What is it darling?
ANNA
Rope!
CARLO (quizzically)
Rope, what do you mean rope?
ANNA points at a rope swinging from a crane that reaches CARLO. CARLO does not notice. Then, the rope catches between one of his legs, it unravels and catches him, slowly pulling him. He then looks once more behind him, a kind of squeamish look spreading across his face like a rash. He looks scared, before letting out a scream, as he is pulled across the water. Then, he hits a buoy, and another rope comes along onto his neck. He screams again, but it is too late. His neck begins to snap loudly, and he is left with a kind of mouth-open, enraged look, as he dies, his eyes wide open. He looks as if he is in shock or surprise. Then, all of a sudden, his body reaches land. We see his body dragged back onto the land, screeching, and we cut to the figure of MOHASSATEP, lassoing the rope. We cut back to ANNA. She looks terrible. She is wondering what has happened to her boyfriend. She has a kind of erratic, fast movement in her fingers and in her body language. She is panicky. She turns to the captain, GORLEY. There are tears coming out her eyes. She is not happy. She has a sense of grief, horror, confusion, shock and everything else. There is hope in it, but it fades eventually. She is left a wreck, she’s left sad.
ANNA (getting all blubbery)
Is there anything we could do?
GORLEY (in a pirate-y West Country accent)
No, ma’am, he’s dead! Don’t cry, don’t cry!
ANNA (looking at GORLEY in shock)
What? He’s dead?
GORLEY
‘Fraid so, don’t be so stupid! I’ve served in the Navy! Basically, his neck broke.
ANNA (confused, grief-stricken)
But who would do it? Why, was it an accident, was it murder?
GORLEY
What was his job?
ANNA (wiping away her tears)
Oh, he was a police constable, at Scotland Yard, yes, at the Yard.
GORLEY
It is a dangerous job, ma’am!
We cut to the other side of the Thames, with HARRY taking photographs of the mommy and ANNA waving to them.
HARRY
Oh, look! Poor man! But I know now that the mommy is in London! Wait, it is Anna.
JESS (an attractive dark-haired girl)
I thought Polaroids were instant. Why is Anna there?
HARRY
That was one of the undercover policemen. She was not actually making love. I think he was gay, anyway.
JESS
Oh, it is a shame though!
HARRY
This isn’t the Polaroid. This is a much more detailed lens. (pointing at photo) The knife is dropped from the ground, so it is either anyone in this crowd. There has to be an ally with the Mummy to let him do the murders, the Mummy. His disciple is dead though.
JESS
It could be Mum.
HARRY
Yes! My thoughts too! She doesn’t seem to be working much. She isn’t that emotional either.
JESS
Mum is that emotional!
ANNA briefly bumps into HARRY and JESS.
ANNA
Hi, yes, sadly, Carlo died, but I’m over it. He was trying to be all macho, and yet he still couldn’t convince me that he was a heterosexual!
HARRY
Yes, we are on his trail. Are you too?
ANNA
No!
JESS
Why?
ANNA
The professor and the Inspector want me back here, you see, especially your father, Jess!
JESS
Oh!
HARRY
Bye, Anna!
ANNA (as she leaves)
Farewell!
We then see the UNDERTAKER, a tall, bony, bug-eyed man with slicked-back black hair, like something out of a silent movie.
UNDERTAKER (in thick German accent)
Howdy do! I must go now. I have things to do. The bodies need to be prepared for cremation. Did you know that cremation is quicker than birth?
JESS (slightly creeped out)
Howdy do! (Once the Undertaker leaves) He was an odd sort, wasn’t he, and they’re all oddities. You know what?
HARRY
What?
JESS
He looked like a younger Reinhardt.
HARRY (following the UNDERTAKER across the bridge)
The mommy is not there. I am suspicious. Maybe, he copied his image from when he was uncovered by Reinhardt.
JESS (following HARRY)
I think his undertaker’s shop is in a shopping arcade.
We see HARRY and JESS enter a shopping arcade. However, we see an odd blurry effect. The CARETAKER transforms into the Mummy.
HARRY
His human-absorption has given him the power to create a sort of semi-photographic, holographic shield to cover his horrible look.
We see MOHASSATEP as he walks across the steps, down the bridge and sees a little girl who touches his bandages, as she bounces a ball against the bridge.
GIRL
Are you alright, sir?
The mommy just looks at her, smiling and kind of nicely surprised. He walks away and leaves her. The girl looks oddly happy. She is playing ball, and then we see her dad come over to collect her. Her dad is a sergeant in the army
DAD
Come over, sweetie!
We see night turn to day, and in the morning, as the sun rises, a Land Rover and a lorry full of British soldiers arriving outside the shopping arcade. Soon, the arcade is swarming with British soldiers, shooting at the Mummy, but the bullets simply stick in him.
BRIGADIER
It’s not working, chaps!
SERGEANT
I know, Brig!
BRIGADIER
I wonder why!
JESS (to BRIGADIER)
Where should we go?
BRIGADIER
You can go down the back! But run, the Mummy is likely to escape.
HARRY
I was there at the expedition. He has a name, Mohassatep, Rameses Kitunian Mohassatep.
SERGEANT (to BRIGADIER)
Let him go, will you?
BRIGADIER (letting the two youths pass)
Alright, you can go! But avoid the Mummy!
As JESS and HARRY run, MOHASSATEP escapes, and thrusts an arrow into a soldier’s brain, his face falling off to revealed the exposed, punctured but still pulsating brain. JESS and HARRY are taken by MANLEY.
JESS
Where are we going, Mum?
HARRY
You’re bringing us to the underground. You are using the British Museum line. It has been closed for decades.
MANLEY
Yes, but the Army and Scotland Yard have opened it up.
7.BRITISH MUSEUM/LONDON/ENGLAND, MORNING, C.1974
HARRY and JESS are escorted by MANLEY, but as HARRY and JESS enter the train carriage, MANLEY goes back up, only to be pushed down the steps by MOHASSATEP. MANLEY gets up and chases the mommy onto the line. MOHASSATEP tries to strangle him, but MANLEY manages to punch him. MANLEY runs down the line, only to be knocked down by a passing tube train carriage only containing about seven soldiers and BULLIVER.
BULLIVER
Manley, you’re dead! Well, at least you don’t need to irritate me!
We then see HARRY arrive, at his makeshift darkroom. We see him trying to develop the photographs of the mommy that he has taken. He drops them into some red developing fluid.
HARRY (to JESS)
How are you?
JESS
Good, I hope Mum died.
HARRY
Why you don’t like her?
JESS
Well, she’s not the same since Bulliver overtook her job. I think she could have been killed by the mommy. I heard her scream.
HARRY
Oh no, not your mum!
JESS
Ah come on, she wasn’t that great!
ALAN (coming in)
Hello, the Inspector is coming. You do know that we have to be on our best behavior.
ANNA
Oh, god, yes we will be!
BULLIVER (coming in)
Yes, I am here. I am sorry that, yes I know, Manley is dead.
ANNA (also entering)
I have to check the archive. I think I might find the scriptures.
MAITLAND
Good! We’re going to kill this mummy!
ANNA
Yes, I will!
As HARRY and JESS leave, and ANNA goes to the archive, ALAN tries to develop the photos of the mummy, but they start to go on fire. The fire spreads, and out of it rises the mommy. Mohassatep picks him up and throws him into the flames. Then BULLIVER wanders in with a swagger that ultimately kills him.
BULLIVER (quizzical)
What you doing here?
MOHASSATEP (concentrating)
You shall feel my power!
We cut to a scene of BULLIVER, a close-up of his head shaking.
BULLIVER (screaming in pain)
Oh no, I have a terrible headache!
We hear a drilling noise, as MOHASSATEP laughs evilly. All of a sudden, without fanfare, BULLIVER’s head explodes and MOHASSATEP is covered in guts and brains and blood. MOHASSATEP is laughing. To him, making a man’s head explode is a hilarious thing.
We see ALAN, slowly rising out of the flames. ANNA is in the archive, a large white room full of filing cabinets and boxes full of files, and finds rolled up, covered in transparent plastic, the right scripture.
ANNA (upon hearing ALAN in pain, running up the stairs to see him)
Alan, are you alright?
ALAN (gurning, screaming)
I am dead.
MAITLAND
The power of Mohassatep just reanimated him. Push him into the flames!
ANNA (to ALAN)
What is it?
ALAN
I am in pain!
ANNA (looking sad)
Alright, what is best?
ALAN is pushed into the flames. We see some scarab beetles coming out of the flames.
MAITLAND
That is a sign; it is the loss of power manifested in a physical shape. Read out the scriptures.
We see HARRY AND JESS rising out.
HARRY (taking photographs to aggravate the mummy)
Snap out of it, man!
As ANNA reads out the scriptures, in Egyptian-sounding mumbo-jumbo, MOHASSATEP is weakened.
ANNA (calling out in English)
I claim hell to the House of Mohassatep also known as Mohassotep and with it, it's leader Rameses Kitunian Mohassatep!
MAITLAND grabs the mummy’s foot.
MAITLAND (brave)
I’m going down with him to disintegrate the world of evil!
JESS
No!
MAITLAND is dragged along by MOHASSATEP and falls through the flames down from the burning porch and they drop into the flames together.
Suddenly, the flames go out. ANNA and JESS are together.
JESS (worried)
Where is Harry?
ANNA (pointing at the burnt scripture, solemn)
I didn't see him. He must be out.
JESS (confused)
Really?
ANNA (peeping through the door)
No sign.
JESS (thinking)
He once said he has Egyptian blood.
ANNA (horrified)
You don't think he was related to the clan Mohassatep, do you?
JESS nods solemnly.
FADE-OUT.