While exploring the Egyptian tomb of King Tut, Prof. Douglas McCadden (Ben Murphy) finds a previously undiscovered chamber and a sarcophagus with a mummy inside. He takes the sarcophagus back to the California University of the Sciences, where he discovers that the mummy is covered in a dangerous green fungus. McCadden orders everyone not to touch the mummy. However, one of his students decides to steal the jewels that were buried with the mummy and also gives it a strong dose of X-ray radiation. The mummy, which was actually a hibernating alien, comes back to life and is soon causing havoc on campus. Frat boys and mummies make for a dangerous combination!
Time Walker was released in 1982 and features plenty of scantily clad coeds and green-tinted stalking scenes shot from the mummy’s POV. But the movie itself has more in common with the old Hammer and Amicus films than with the Friday the 13th era. The mummy is a throwback to the kind of monsters that used to haunt horror movies, and its alien origins bring to mind an old Quatermass serial, with Ben Murphy’s prickly American scientist serving as a stand-in for Quatermass himself. The idea of an extraterrestrial crash-landing in ancient Egypt and being buried in a pharaoh’s tomb is an interesting one. It’s just too bad that the film’s half-baked script and Tom Kennedy’s uneven direction don’t really do it justice. This was Tom Kennedy’s only film as a director. He was best-known for being one of Hollywood’s premier advertising men, overseeing the trailers for both the Indiana Jones films and the early Star Trek films.
Time Walker tries to be a little of everything: an homage to the old mummy movies, a slasher, and finally a sci-fi film about how humans should be nicer when greeting visitors from another planet. There are a few dependable character actors in the mix (it’s always good to see James Karen), but Ben Murphy is bland in the lead. The film ends on an overdramatic note and with the promise of “To be continued.”
The story would not be continued, but Time Walker later found new life and a new title when it showed up on Mystery Science Theater 3000 as Being From Another Planet. The joke I always remember from that episode is Joel Hodgson suggesting that the mummy was actually Pete Duel. Even Tom Servo and Crow were shocked.
