April 16, 2026

There’s a new MUMMY movie on the horizon. I’ve seen it. My thoughts on it are about the same with most “MUMMY” movies which is… mixed? It got me thinking though, why can’t anyone ever get THE MUMMY right? Of all the Universal Monsters, it seems to be the one that filmmakers struggle with the most. It doesn’t have the baggage of being adapted from a literary source. It started as a treatment by Nina Wilcox Putnam (novelist and playwright) and Richard Schayer (screenwriter) that was turned into the 1932 original, written by John L. Balderston and directed by Karl Freund. But the public perception of the horror “Mummy;” the bandaged, scary monster is not really in that first film. That came later.

So, why isn’t anyone ever able to truly capture what most people imagine when they hear “MUMMY?” Well, like I do when almost any new reinterpretation of a classic property comes out, I go back and rewatch everything in the franchise and try to recontextualize! So, join me on this long journey, and let’s go through all of the official MUMMY movies and try to figure this out together!

THE MUMMY (1932)

Ah the original MUMMY film! I’ll be honest, I’ve always found this one terribly boring. And I think a part of it is that every time I went to visit it, it was never what my memory of the “Mummy” was. Boris Karloff is only the “bandaged Mummy” in the opening scene and never looks like that again. It also never has the lumbering Mummy we know from future movies. That was in the sequels with Prince Kharis. (Karloff is the original Mummy, Imhotep.)

I tried to be objective, forget what I thought I knew about THE MUMMY in pop culture and really watch this as its own movie. It’s definitely the most I’ve ever enjoyed it! Deep down, its a love story! Imhotep basically sacrificed himself to try to bring back his beloved Anck-es-en-Amon. He’s resurrected in the 30s. And helps some archeologists uncover her tomb. He meets modern-day woman Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann) who bears a striking resemblance to Anck-es-en-Amon, and hence he sets his sights on her to be the vessel for this resurrection of his long lost love! Zita Johann is so terrific and one of the most unique looking actresses from this era of Universal films. Her big eyes give her an otherworldly look, and she’s quirky and funny being the love interest of the two male leads, one a dashing young man, the other a nearly-4000 year old Egyptian!

Again, I enjoyed it more on this viewing than ever before, especially with an audience and seeing such a beautifully pristine film print. (Watched at the New Beverly in Los Angeles!) But… I still found it a bit boring! And to prove it’s not just me, the guy sitting next to me started snoring in the final 15 minute stretch. Regardless, if ANY Universal Monsters movies screen at the New Bev, I’ll be there every single time!

THE MUMMY’S HAND (1940)

Since I recently caught the original MUMMY on the big screen at the New Beverly a few weeks back, I knew I’d be inspired to dive into the rest of the franchise! And this is the one that most people mistake for the original MUMMY movie.

Firstly, this isn’t a direct sequel meant to capitalize on the success of the original MUMMY. This came a full eight years later! It’s more of a loose remake as they recycle the back story of Imhotep but instead, it is now Prince Kharis, who will remain the “Mummy” for all subsequent sequels that follow. His backstory is the same. He was in love with a Princess who died and in his grief, attempted to resurrect her. But he was caught and for this sacrilege, he was sentenced to be buried alive! (Mummification) So, even though Kharis is played by a new actor Tom Tyler (a former weightlifting champion that bears a resemblance to Karloff), they use footage of Karloff from the first film for the retelling of the legend.

Cut ahead to 1940 (when this movie was released) and two archeologist friends stumble upon clues to the tomb of Princess Ananka, whose discovery is sure to bring fame and success. They get funding from a traveling Magician and his daughter to begin an expedition. But instead of finding Ananka, they find Kharis (Ananka was the Princess Kharis sacrificed himself for) and he’s resurrected to bring death to these non-believers.

It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. It’s a lean 67 minutes long, so it’s short! And since this is 1940, instead of being a straight forward Universal Monster movie, it’s filled with humor, adventure, and even a saloon fight. The “Mummy” doesn’t really show up until the last 20 minutes, but Tyler does a great job and plays him menacingly. It’s fun to pick up the shots where he’s wearing the full on make-up and when it’s a mask (with beady black eyes!) But hell, he looks super cool and this is the image of the Mummy we all recognize. There’s something of a love story between the lead archeologist Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and the magician’s daughter, Marta (Peggy Moran). But she’s not nearly as striking the original’s Zita Johann.

In the mid 90’s, Mick Garris almost wrote and directed a MUMMY remake that would’ve combined BOTH Imhotep and Kharis as the villains! You can read about that in this “unseen horrors” article / interview I did back in 2017!

THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1942)

I love that in our recently uncovered “lost” interview with writer David J. Schow (available exclusively in the Icons Of Fright book!), there’s a whole section devoted to comparing THE MUMMY’S TOMB to religion. How he believes in THE MUMMY’S TOMB because he’s seen it so he knows it’s real!

THE MUMMY’S HAND acted as a quasi-remake of the original, switching from Imotep to Kharis as the lumbering “mummy!” But I think this, THE MUMMY’S TOMB, is the definitive MUMMY movie in terms of the hallmarks of this “series.”

For starters, it’s efficient! Universal made this as a “cost effective” sequel, and boy did they make this thing cheaply! It’s only an HOUR long! 60 minutes, bless it! The first 12 minutes, is a recap of THE MUMMY’S HAND, the previous film, just to bring you up to speed. Then it cuts 30 years later! Where the remaining characters from the previous film are now old, and Andoheb, the villain of the last movie, resurrects Kharis for some good old fashioned revenge! And targets Steve Banning (last movie’s survivor and hero) and his entire family! And the damned Mummy actually does kill them, making this a bit of a darker entry!

Of note, Lon Chaney Jr took over the role of Kharis / The Mummy, meaning he played more Universal monsters than any other actor. And he’s good as just about all of them! Although, naturally, the Wolf Man will always be his best. This is a short and sweet classic Universal Monster sequel.

THE MUMMY’S GHOST (1944)

This is now the fourth of Universal’s MUMMY movies and the third sequel! THE MUMMY’S GHOST is a brisk 60 minutes, but it’s also pretty much a repeat of the last film, THE MUMMY’S TOMB which is kind of the quintessential MUMMY movie. At least as it pertains to this interpretation.

The High Priest Andoheb (George Zucco) is back, despite supposedly perishing last time and he has summoned Yousef Bey (the great John Carradine) to bring back both The Mummy Kharis and his star crossed lover Princess Ananka to set their souls to rest.

Back in the States and not too long after The Mummy’s previous rampage, a student Tom Hervey (Robert Lowery) and his girlfriend Amina Mansori (Ramsay Ames), an Egyptian descendant with a cloudy past, become the target of the recently resurrected Kharis! I’m not exactly sure how he returns considering the townspeople surrounded him with fire last time, but it doesn’t matter! He comes walking onto screen about 10 minutes into the movie and attacks Professor Norman who was just uncovering the secret of the High Priest. It turns out Amina is the long lost reincarnated soul of Princess Ananka.

In order to summon Kharis, Yousef needs to brew a fluid using nine tana leaves on the full moon. (I think those are the rules.) In a strange twist, Yousef sees Amina, has a weird conversation with his conscience about how she should belong to him, wants to make her his bride and gives into his temptation, which… Kharis is certainly not happy about. In one of the craziest, darkest endings to a Universal movie EVER, Kharis takes Amina, both of them aging rapidly, and walks them both into the swamp, where they disappear under the muck.

This is now the second time that Lon Chaney Jr plays The Mummy aka Kharis and he looks great. Unlike the previous films, he gets a lot of Mummy screen time, his costume and make up are the traditional and most recognizable versions of The Mummy and despite being completely hidden and having no dialogue, Chaney Jr gives it his all as usual. (And from what I’ve read, he was not comfortable or happy to be under all those bandages.) Oh, I guess this one also stands out because there’s a little dog that leads Tom, the boyfriend, to Yousef’s lair for the finale. In the 40s, I don’t think people got to revisit the earlier classic films unless they played in some sort of revival, so that’s why the plots of these sequels are so similar. They were just looking for a way to release another Mummy movie, regardless if it was only an hour long and basically the same as the last one.

THE MUMMY’S CURSE (1944)

Wild! This starts with a musical number at a bar, top billing for Lon Chaney Jr, and a superstitious lot outside of a swamp! What’s also wild is this came out in the same year as the previous sequel, THE MUMMY’S GHOST, and yet it takes place 25 years later!

An engineering company are dragging the swamp, the same swamp where the Mummy Kharis and Amina disappeared into at the conclusion of the last film. And what do ya know, they find an indentation of what appeared to be a large man. That’s right! Kharis is back on the loose! But also, his beloved Princess Ananka, reincarnated as Amina (played by Virginia Christine this time), also rises from the swamp. The Mummy Kharis wanders, looking to reunite with his lost love. Not much more to it than that! We get an extended flashback sequence that uses footage from the first two films. And this one takes place somewhere in the swamp of Louisiana, although the last film was clearly set in Massachusetts, but whatever.

Lon Chaney is doing his thing and looks great as the Mummy, but apparently was pretty fed up by his third time in the role. His co-stars reported later that he was drunk the whole time, hence his stumbling around wasn’t acting! But bless him. He played just about all the Universal Monsters. So, he’s entitled to a drink! At this point, we got five MUMMY movies and the latter three got pretty redundant. So, this is as good a place as any to let the franchise rest. That is, until 11 years later when Abbott and Costello come along…

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY (1955)

Considered the “sixth” film of Universal’s MUMMY franchise, even though it comes a full 11 years after THE MUMMY’S CURSE, and a full 7 years after Abbott and Costello’s first monster cross over with ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, it’s a fascinating end point for both franchises. This would end up being Abbott and Costello’s final Universal Studios picture after doing several horror themed cross overs.

Although its set in Cairo, this has no connection to any of the previous MUMMY movies or their mythos. Instead, its its own secluded one-off story; The Mummy being “Klaris,” and not Kharis or Imhotep from the originals.

The plot revolves around a whole bunch of comedy of errors. The Egyptian baddies are after a sacred medallion which is in the possession of a Dr. Zoomer. Abbott & Costello go to visit the Dr, hoping it’ll be their ticket back home to America, but when they arrive, he’s already been killed and they’re framed for the murder! The duo make it away with the medallion but upon learning its cursed, they try to get rid of it. In a comical routine, Abbott and Costello keep trying to trick the other to look away while they slip the medallion in each others burger. Costello ends up eating it, and later is examined by X-ray for the bad guys to see if the medallion is still in his stomach!

It’s all silly stuff, and hell, there are even two musical numbers in here. Even at 79 minutes, it’s a big of a slog in places (all the MUMMY movies are), however, the last 20 minutes is really funny and exciting. Basically, one thug AND Abbott try to disguise themselves as the Mummy while the real Mummy roams around. (A similar thing is done in my favorite AMAZING STORIES episode MUMMY’S DADDY!) It’s not quite as magical as ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, but there’s enough great stuff in here to make it a worthwhile adventure.

The Mummy design of Klaris is actually pretty darned cool! Sure, the lower half looks like a suit of bandages rather than the real thing, but his face looks like the traditional Mummy face, partially bandaged up with a creepy corpse just underneath the surface. The latter Lon Chaney Jr MUMMY movies looked more like a mask than anything else. (Which, hey, is pretty cool too.) So, it’s nice to close this cycle of MUMMY movies with a traditional looking Mummy. (Or three!)

THE MUMMY (1959)

Hammer time!

The Hammer era of horror is fascinating. I didn’t see these movies growing up, I was more familiar with the original Universal Monster movies because those were the films on regular rotation on television. Even during the 80s amid the golden period of the “slashers” where I was soaking up whatever horror I could find, for whatever reason, I never got into Hammer. It wasn’t until much, much later that I was able to watch and appreciate them. And this version of THE MUMMY, to me, is probably what I’d consider the definitive Mummy movie. It takes all the basic elements of the original Universal franchise, primarily the three middle sequels, updates them, and expands upon them in interesting, unique new ways. Plus, the Mummy looks COOL!

It begins in Egypt in 1895 where a group of archeologists are uncovering the long dormant cave and tomb of Princess Ananka, the high priestess of the god Karnak. Stephen Banning (Felix Aylmer) takes the lead as his son, John (Peter Cushing!) has badly broken his leg, yet refuses to leave the excavation site. Stephen eventually makes it into the cave and discovers the coffin of Ananka! He also find and reads aloud the Scroll of Life, which awakens her Mummy protector! It scares him so badly, he goes catatonic!

Regardless, they take the tomb of Ananka and bring it back to England, and blow up & seal the tomb. Three years later, Mehemet Bey (George Pastell), one of the devoted worshipers of Karnak, helps to transport another coffin to England which carries Ananka’s long lost love, the Mummy named Kharis! (Christopher Lee! And now using the names from the Universal movies!) Each night, Bey conquers up Kharis and sends him after the people that disturbed the tomb of Princess Ananka. First, starting with Stephen Banning in the mental institute he’s been committed to.

This poor guy. Can you imagine? He accidentally awakens a scary-ass Mummy. Seeing him makes him go catatonic. He finally comes out of it after three years. Is locked up in a looney bin and confined to his room. And Kharis actually breaks into his room! Through the bars on the window and everything, just to murder him! Finally catching on, his son John now believes his father’s tales and is teaming up with a Police Inspector Mulrooney (Eddie Byrne) to try to figure out what’s going on.

John’s wife, Isobel (Yvonne Furneaux) happens to resemble Ananka! So, in the finale, she manages to confuse the Mummy, but he grabs her and heads to bring her down into the muck of the swamp. (Just like in THE MUMMY’S GHOST!) John and Mulrooney save Isobel and vanquish The Mummy and his disciple.

Sure, even at 90 minutes, the movie moves at a late 50s pace, but it’s still damn good and manages to capture the essence of what a MUMMY horror movie should be. Christopher Lee is GREAT as Kharis, both in the flashbacks from when he was alive AND fully decked out as the Mummy creature. It’s a great, scary design and a definitive Mummy look. He was 6 foot 5 in real life, so he’s imposing in every scene he’s in. And it’s fun to think that Lon Chaney Jr had played several Universal monsters, even though we associate him primarily with The Wolfman. Lee is best known as Hammer’s Dracula, but he also played The Mummy and the Frankenstein monster, so kudos and respect, Sir Christopher Lee! And anytime you put Peter Cushing in the same movie with Lee, you know you’ve got gold.

Now THIS is how you do a MUMMY movie!

THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1964)

The second of the Hammer Horror MUMMY movies, five years after their previous remake, and yet this isn’t a sequel to that film but rather yet another remake borrowing loose elements from the Mummy lore.

Like the previous film, a pair of archeologists are on an expedition in Egypt in 1900, this time hoping to open tomb of Pharaoh Ra-Antef (not Kharis! Instead a completely new Mummy!) when one of them has his hand amputated and is then killed by the superstitious local natives. All that aside, showman Alexander King (Fred Clark) still manages to raid the tomb and have it all shipped back to England with the intent to tour the artifacts and make a profit. It takes quite a while to get going with our first look at the Mummy not happening until around the 30 minute mark, but it does eventually lead to a pretty thrilling third act.

During the big show to reveal the Mummy (reminiscent of KING KONG), the tomb is empty, much to the shock of the reporters and spectators present! He’s also being send to kill those that desecrated his tomb! (Much like in the last Hammer feature.) It turns out that Adam Beauchamp (Terence Morgan), one of the heads of the expedition is actually the Mummy, Ra-Antef’s, brother! And he’s been cursed to eternal life! He has resurrected his brother to put him and his girlfriend, Annette Dubois (the stunning Jeanne Roland), to eternal rest! But of course that doesn’t go according to plan!

Despite a slow pace for an 80 minute movie (which hey, it was the 60s), there’s some great stuff here. For starters, the look of The Mummy itself is pretty great and menacing; very similar to Christopher Lee’s depiction but without the mud and muck. His face looks a lot like a creepy plaster cast, similar to the mask The Phantom would wear in his Hammer film.

Have you ever seen WAXWORK (1988)? Writer / director Anthony Hickox made a funny statement about Hammer Horror when that came out. He said that most Hammer was kinda boring until the finale. So, what if WAXWORK just had those exciting finale scenes instead of everything else? In his MUMMY segment of WAXWORK, a worshiper bows before the Mummy and gets his head crushed when the Mummy just steps on it! That’s lifted directly from THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB, except in WAXWORK, you actually see the gore!

CURSE isn’t a bad film by any means, and writer / director Michael Carreras does a fine job, especially with the guidance of famed cinematographer Otto Heller. But it was always pure magic to have Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in these Hammer Horror films and their on-screen gravitas is missing here. Still, these first two Hammer MUMMY movies pretty much lay the template and rules for what most people think of when they think of THE MUMMY.

THE MUMMY’S SHROUD (1967)

The third of Hammer’s MUMMY movies, yet again, starts from scratch! No relation to the previous two entries, but instead starts with an elaborate 8 minute prologue setting up the legend of Pharaoh boy Kah-To-Bey. His father’s dynasty is ambushed and the King’s loyal servant Prem is ordered to get Kah-To-Bey to safety. After a long, turbulent journey, the boy doesn’t make it and is buried in a tomb, covered with a shroud for protection. The only connective tissue is before the boy passes, he hands the “royal seal of the Pharaohs” to Prem, his protector. (It’s similar to the green amulet from the last film.)

We are then transported to 1920 where, you guessed it, yet again, a group of archeologists are digging around a tomb they shouldn’t be in! One of them, Sir Basil Walden (André Morell), leader of the expedition, gets bitten by a venomous snake, but afterwards is sent to an asylum by his wealthy investor friend, Stanley Preston (John Phillips), so that Preston can take sole credit for the discovery. Once the boy’s skeleton and the tomb with the Mummy are transported back to a Cairo Museum, an Egyptian loyalist Hasmid (Roger Delgado), chants the sacred oath on the shroud and resurrects Prem as this movie’s Mummy!

This happens about 46 minutes into the movie and I have to admit, this Mummy is pretty darned cool! We get this striking close-up shot of his piercing blue eyes as they open. He’s not the traditional bandaged look, but more like he’s wearing a unique costume from his era. His first victim is poor Sir Basil who gets his head crushed by the Mummy!

Like in the previous Mummy movies, he’s being controlled and used to exact revenge on those that disturbed the final resting place of Kah-To-Bey. In one memorable sequence, the Mummy attacks someone in their home-made photo-darkroom, which is bathed in this glowing red light. The Mummy’s hand comes around the curtain, all red! And he ends up killing this victim by breaking flammable chemicals over him and leaving him ablaze!

It’s got a pretty good finale too where the two survivors recite the words of the shroud to stop the Mummy and when they do, he begins to disintegrate, turning to dust and ash, pulling his own face apart to reveal a skull! Again, not bad, not great. But a pretty traditional Mummy movie. The Hammer producers rarely deviated too far from the formula, but I still think they did it best in their first MUMMY movie in 1959 with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

I’m going to skip the fourth and final Hammer MUMMY movie, 1971’s BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB because I’ve seen it before and it’s the only one to not feature a bandaged Mummy. It’s actually based on the Bram Stoker 1903 novel, THE JEWEL OF SEVEN STARS and hence has no real connection to THE MUMMY franchise at all.

THE MUMMY (1999)

It’s funny. By the time THE MUMMY (1999) came out in theaters, I was 23 years old and already a die-hard Universal Monster fan, so I was pretty cynical about this wild reinterpretation of THE MUMMY that shared very little in common with the previous movies. But I can not deny that in terms of pop culture influence, when people think of “THE MUMMY,” they think back fondly to the Brendan Fraser franchise. It has become synonymous with “THE MUMMY” and I’m able to now judge it as its own entity. I mean, how can you not chuckle at the recent popular meme, “my sexual orientation is the cast of THE MUMMY (1999)?!”

The horror and basic elements are there, but they take a backseat to the action / adventure in the vein of INDIANA JONES. I thought at the time this was just a rip-off of those films, but with enough time, it’s got its own distinct tone and flavor.

In the prologue, we learn of the forbidden love between Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) and his mistress Anck-su-namun (Patricia Velasquez). They are caught in the act and kill her King husband. She kills herself before they could torture her, and poor Imhotep suffers a terrible fate, mummification and buried (barely) alive with flesh eating scarabs! Cursed for eternity, if he is ever found or resurrected, it would cause the ten plagues to return to our world.

Fast forward to 1926 and American adventurer Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser), serving with the French Foreign Legion, teams up with librarian and love-interest Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah) to follow an intricate map back to Hamunaptra, the City of The Dead. Along with some other competing American archeologists, they uncover the final resting place of Imhotep, and set him free. His goal now is to use Evelyn to resurrect his beloved Anck-su-namun! And he’s kinda a CGI skeleton for most of it.

As a Sunday morning action adventure, it’s quite good and I can understand why this was as big as it was. It’s a four-quadrant Hollywood movie, filled with all the cliches of the time and excesses of late 90’s blockbuster filmmaking, but it’s also entertaining as all hell and we’ve all, collectively, come to appreciate this cast, especially Brendan Fraser. I, in particular, love his comical screams, swashbuckling acting style, action jumps and shooting that feel like an enthusiastic 12-year-old playing make-believe, and charming, chivalrous wit. In other words, he’s a classic Hollywood leading man and we didn’t appreciate him enough in the moment!

It’s not quite THE MUMMY movie I always imagined in my head but its what is universally accepted as “The Mummy franchise,” and that’s OK. I wonder if the unmade iterations that Clive Barker, George A. Romero, and Mick Garris planned in the decade leading up to this would’ve been well received. I personally can tell you that Mick Garris’ script was AWESOME and paid tribute to all the original Universal Monster movies while updating it as a 90s horror movie. But alas, we’ll never know. While “Lee Cronin’s THE MUMMY” may be what audiences see next, we have been promised a continuation of this version with a fourth movie by Radio Silence. I say bring it.

THE MUMMY RETURNS (2001)

After years and years of development, THE MUMMY reboot finally hit theaters in 1999 with a production budget of $80 million and ended up grossing $422.5 million world wide. So, naturally, with that kind of profit for the studio, not counting a ride at the Universal Studios amusement park, a sequel was inevitable! And it was fast tracked with all the main principles, both primary cast and director, coming out a mere 2 years later.

It’s several years after the events of the first film and Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), are exploring a dig when their son Alex uncovers the bracelet of Anubis. The bracelet is linked back to The Scorpion King (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first big Hollywood role) which gives Alex visions of his potential return. Meanwhile, Imhotep and his Anck-su-namun are resurrected and want to gain control of The Scorpion King’s army.

It follows the template of the first film pretty closely with the action set pieces and adventures galore, and ends with a terrible, terrible CGI version of The Rock. One of the worst examples of CGI to ever be a part of any Hollywood movie. It’s not bad, maybe it’s not as great as the first one, but it’s a serviceable sequel and everyone gives it their all. Still, no real traditional “Mummy” in it, so it bears no resemblance to Universal’s original MUMMY franchise except for a few carried over names.

There is a third feature in this franchise which is a low point, and even the filmmakers have de-canonized it since Rachel Weisz was recast with Maria Bello. Radio Silence is hard at work on a new fourth chapter, which will arrive in theaters tentatively in 2027, 20 years after the last entry.

THE MUMMY (2017)

I was really rooting for THE MUMMY 2017, because… hey, I love Tom Cruise. No one loves movie-going more than him, so when he puts his all into a movie project, it’s usually with the audience in mind. But by the time this version of THE MUMMY hit theaters, it was obvious no one had a clear vision of exactly what this should be.

For starters, it was billed as the beginning of the “Dark Universe,” a series of interconnected movies utilizing the Universal Monsters as reluctant heroes in this new shared universe, ala… sigh, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So… the monsters are the heroes now? The early marketing didn’t help either. I remember writing an article at the time (Is The New MUMMY A Horror Movie… Or What?) speculating if this was, indeed, a horror film as they kept promoting it would be. (It wasn’t.) They said it would be terrifying. (It was not.) It was basically one of Tom Cruise’s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movies with Egyptian lore forced into it. We assume “The Mummy” is Sofia Boutella’s character Ahmanet, because she’s front and center in the trailers and er, she’s wrapped in bandages. But by the end of the film, it’s actually Tom Cruise’s Nick Morton, riding off into the desert sunset, ready to team up with a bunch of other recently announced “monsters.” (Never forget this ill-fated photoshopped group photo of all the Dark Universe actors!)

They also “borrow” heavily from AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. Cruise is technically “dead,” and is followed by his former associate who keeps decomposing more and more as the movie goes on. All of these creative minds trying to make this thing work, and they lift this from a cult favorite 80s movie? The biggest sin is, honestly, Tom Cruise is miscast as Nick Morton! The thing about Tom is this. He’s a great, confident hero in movies, like Ethan Hunt. OR he can be a vicious villain like in COLLATERAL. But he simply is not capable of being the cowardly braggart that somehow elicits the audience’s sympathies. That’s a very fine balance and the only person that could’ve pulled that off at this moment in time is Bruce Campbell. Basically, Nick is supposed to be Ash from ARMY OF DARKNESS. Brash, self absorbed, and only thinking of himself while maintaining the facade that he’s this brave, cool, bad-ass. Eventually, Ash becomes that by the end. But Tom Cruise can’t pull off Ash. Plain and simple.

Thankfully, the “Dark Universe” was dead on arrival and they didn’t continue beyond this movie. Would anyone ever get THE MUMMY right? Well, certainly not this time.

LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY (2026)

THIS MOVIE IS 2 HOURS AND 14 MINUTES LONG!!!

Strike one. Strike two is fairly obvious. Like all the recent Blumhouse produced “Universal Monster” remakes, this shares next to nothing in common with its source material besides a title. In fact, this has far more in common with EVIL DEAD RISE (my least favorite of the EVIL DEAD movies), THE EXORCIST, and PET SEMATARY than with any movie that has “Mummy” in the title. Look, that’s fine, but just don’t call it THE MUMMY then. Universal didn’t call ABIGAIL “DRACULA’S DAUGHTER,” even though technically that’s what it’s a remake of. And I don’t know if calling it that would’ve made a difference. Lee Cronin’s THE RESURRECTED is a far superior title, and my grade on this would be a full notch higher if it just wasn’t named after one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time.

A journalist, Charlie Cannon (Jack Reynor) and his family are currently living in Cairo, Egypt on an assignment. With just days to go before they head back to the States, their daughter Katie is playing in the backyard when she’s lured away and kidnapped by a gypsy. Mysteriously, a huge sand storm begins as Charlie runs through the town looking for his daughter, but it’s too late. We jump ahead 8 years later and the Cannon’s are trying to go about their lives in New Mexico, Albuquerque, when they get a call that their daughter Katie has been recovered and she is alive!

OK, so back up. A plane crashes and in the crash is a giant tomb which is where they found Katie, all wrapped up in bandages. When the grieved parents go to pick her up, well… this is where you need to suspend disbelief. The doctors claim that Katie is physically OK, but has suffered skin deformation from being in the dark all this time. All she needs is “rest and a loving home environment.” OK. Katie is clearly a dead girl. She looks like a corpse. She can’t communicate. Her nails are fully grown and she looks like she’s literally rotting. I get it. I do. Parents are just so relieved she’s alive, but there is clearly something wrong from the get go!

And then, once home, this “mummy” suddenly displays a bunch of supernatural abilities. Like, possessing other people in the house and forcing them to do stuff, levitating, cursing. Kinda like THE EXORCIST. It drags and drags until the third act just becomes gross out EVIL DEAD RISE stuff. (And again, for the record, I despised EVIL DEAD RISE.) We even get eye-rolling cringe-worthy one liners from the possessed Katie and her Grandma and whatnot.

Again, if this were not positioned as yet another remake of a classic Universal Monster movie, I’d be willing to cut it a lot of slack for trying to do something original, even if most of the ideas are derivative. There IS something to the idea of losing a child and then being reunited with that child 8 years later only to realize they are not the same person. (Again, that’s PET SEMATARY, but it’s still a strong, emotional conceit.) But as it stands, I don’t know who “Lee Cronin” is or what his voice is.

I know they named it “Lee Cronin’s THE MUMMY” for legal reasons, but Cronin has only made one other movie, EVIL DEAD RISE; a sequel / remake to yet another franchise. Even Zach Cregger doesn’t do that and he probably could because BARBARIAN and WEAPONS are uniquely him. And this is just a fail of marketing. If people dig this, more power to you. I just don’t know who this is for, exactly? Who wants to see a horror movie about a rotting 9 year old girl? I know the Brendan Fraser MUMMY franchise is coming back soon, and that’s not THE MUMMY to me either, but at least those films have their own thing going for them.

Until then, I continue to ask… why can’t anyone get THE MUMMY right?

EPILOGUE: THE FEW TIMES PEOPLE DID GET THE MUMMY RIGHT…

I can give a few examples of MUMMY stories that I’ve absolutely loved and thought did THE MUMMY justice. None of them are officially part of the Universal franchise, but these are the best examples I can give if you’re really craving something great!

AMAZING STORIES: SEASON 1, EPISODE 4. “Mummy Daddy.” (1985)

This episode of AMAZING STORIES is just really fun and hilarious. I love comedy-of-error type stories and this is probably my favorite 22 minutes of television. A stuntman named Harold (Tom Harrison) is in the middle of shooting a new MUMMY movie in a swamp under the direction of a very Steven Spielberg-esque Bronson Pinchot. He chose this location because of an actual local Mummy legend. But in comes a call that Harold’s wife is going into labor early! With no time to take off his Mummy garb, he runs off to the hospital. But while in route, the locals spot him and think he’s Ra Amin Ka, their real Mummy! They chase him all the way to the hospital and in route, the real Ra Amin Ka is also resurrected. Short, sweet, and great fun, featuring tons of recognizable faces like Brion James, Tracey Walter, and even a very young Elden Henson! It’s perfect for background watching if you’re throwing a Halloween themed party! And while unconfirmed, I believe this script was, at least, loosely based on the true story of Paul Ehlers rushing to the hospital dressed as Madman Marz while shooting MADMAN for the birth of his son, Jonathan!

WAXWORK (1988)

Writer/director Anthony Hickox loses all the boring build-up and exposition you’d normally get in a Hammer Mummy movie and instead delivers a bloody little ode to those films in WAXWORK! Basically, if you get pushed into the display of one of David Warner’s classic monster recreations, you are forced to live that horror story. And if you die in that story, you forever become a part of that wax display! In THE MUMMY segment, a terrifying monstrous Mummy emerges and pretty much tears apart anyone in his tomb. It has a direct lift from THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB and delivers on one of the goriest depictions of THE MUMMY put on screen!

TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE, Segment “Lot 249” (1990)

In the first story from the TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE, creepy Graduate student Edward Bellingham (Steve Buscemi!) uses a scroll to resurrect a terrifying Mummy and sends it after his classmates Susan (Julianne Moore) and Andy (Christian Slater). It’s one of the few times you actually see the barbaric practice of excerebration! It’s when, before mumification, the Egyptians would use a metal hook to pull the victims brain out through their nostrils! Loosely based upon the Arthur Conan Doyle story!

BUBBA HO-TEP (2002)

Last but certainly not least is Don Coscarelli’s BUBBA HO-TEP, which tells the very unique story of an old Mummy awakening every night to suck the souls out of the residents of an old-person’s home. Only the aging Elvis (Bruce Campbell), the real Elvis that many years prior switched places with an impersonator, and JFK (Ossie Davis) can stop this ancient cowboy Mummy named Bubba Ho-Tep! Based on the story by Joe R. Lansdale, BUBBA HO-TEP is not a scary or even traditional Mummy story. Instead, its a poignant look at agism and how we treat our loved ones in their twilight years. It’s the one Mummy movie that I guarantee has more heart than anything that’s come before or since.

And there you have it!

*All of the above reviews have come from my personal Letterboxd account where I’ve gotten back into the habit of reviewing all of the films I watch. Please feel free to follow along: https://letterboxd.com/RobertVGalluzzo