Event

THE SECRET OF THE MUMMY

a/k/a: O Segredo da Múmia
dir. Ivan Cardoso, 1982
85 min, Brazil
In Portuguese w/ hard-burned English subs.

With our SOUTH OF HEAVEN: Supernatural Mexican Westerns series all but a distant rider in the sunset, Spectacle has partnered with our pals at Camp Motion Pictures to bring the early works of Brazilian basement & beach auteur Ivan Cardoso to Brooklyn's big screen. Cardoso, though champion of genre film back home, was largely unknown in these United States (outside of VHS releases by Something Weird Video) until only very recently. This July we're presenting his first four forays into film in the form of 1 short and 3 features featuring more tropes than you can shake a stake at - vampires, mummies, carnivorous plants, masked villains, radio detectives, unlicensed Alfred Hitchcock overdubs, Coffin Joe cameos, and more.

A tale as old as time: Dr. Vitus, a disgraced scientist (Wilson Grey who would go on to be one of Cardoso's go to character actors for the majority of his career) devotes his dying days to the reconstruction of a map that had been divided into 8 parts and scattered to the winds with their owners meeting most mysterious deaths.

On a trip to Egypt he finds a mummy, Runamb, and brings it with him back to Brazil. You aren't going to believe this - but it comes to life and wreaks havoc on all in his path obsessing over Nadia, a dancer who had scorned him when he was alive - well, more alive anyway.

Fleshing out his vision after NOSFERATO IN BRAZIL, Cardoso again takes advantage of the countryside and finds juicy roles for the legendary José Mojica Marins - better known as Coffin Joe - and Regina Casé (THE SECOND MOTHER).