The Mummy has never attained the level of cultural clout that other classic Universal monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein have, but the monster and franchise has proven remarkably durable over the last 90 years or so. An interest in all things ancient Egyptian kicked off in 1922 with Howard Carter’s opening of the tomb of King Tutankhamen. When Lord Carnarvon, who had funded Carter’s expedition died in Cairo shortly after, Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle remarked that, “An evil elemental may have caused Lord Carnarvon’s fatal illness,” essentially inventing the idea of the mummy’s curse.
Universal Studios released The Mummy in 1932, capitalizing on public fascination with all things ancient Egyptian and in particular the idea that King Tut’s curse, fanciful though it may have been, had claimed as many as nine victims. From this template, innumerable variations have followed, from slapstick comedies and adventure films to gory slasher flicks and surrealist meditations on aging and death. Some of these are better than others, and with so many movies to choose from, it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. To help, we’ve compiled a list of the nine best mummy movies from across the spectrum.
9 The Mummy’s Hand
The Mummy’s Hand was made quickly on a shoestring budget, hoping to capitalize on the success of not just 1932’s The Mummy, but also two other Universal horror sequels, Son of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man Returns. It reuses footage from The Mummy and recycles the score from Son of Frankenstein, but manages to nonetheless craft a compelling story.
An ancient Egyptian prince, Kharis, played by Tom Tyler, seeks to revive his secret lover, Ananka, but when he’s caught with the contraband life-giving herbs, he’s tortured and buried alive. Awakened centuries later, his quest for vengeance plays out alongside modern-day scientists on their own quest for immortality.
8 Under Wraps
The Disney Channel’s first horror film finds a monster-movie-obsessed preteen tasked with returning an escaped mummy to its coffin before midnight on Halloween. Under Wraps cleverly understands the truth at the heart of all mummy movies: the mummy is an inherently sympathetic monster.
A victim of the same curse that torments the heroes, it is almost always in search of a long-lost and often reincarnated lover. These things can form a complex, sympathetic villain, or they can strip the plot’s conflict of all logic or tension, depending on how they're handled. Under Wraps embraces the fundamental goodness of the character, and proves that horror can be surprisingly family-friendly affair.
7 The Mummy’s Shroud
Just as Hammer Films did with other horror franchises, this 1967 film takes the standard mummy movie tropes and injects them with enough ingenuity and gore to set itself apart from long line of sequels that surround it. The creative and often graphic deaths portrayed onscreen as the mummy works his way through the members of the expedition that unearthed him mark this as something of a slasher film. Catherine Lacey’s brilliant performance as the “toothless hag” Haiti, balances the gore nicely, making The Mummy’s Shroud an interesting, if flawed, variation on the mummy theme.
6 Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy
After the success of their run-ins with Frankenstein in 1948, “The Killer, Boris Karloff” in 1949, The Invisible Man in 1951, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1953, the bumbling vaudevillian duo finally encountered the Mummy in this 1955 comedy. By this time, their schtick was growing a bit stale, and this would be their last movie with Universal’s roster of classic monsters. Nonetheless, the combination of elaborate, overtly silly slapstick and time-tested horror tropes works well, paving the way for the horror-comedy genre (and more than 50 years of Scooby-Doo).
5 The Mummy Returns
The 2001 follow-up to The Mummy, The Mummy Returns does something that not many mummy sequels have been able to do: succeed as an enjoyable movie. The Mummy Returns never rises to the level of the Indiana Jones movies, or even its 1999 predecessor, but its willingness to embrace the lighthearted silliness of the old pulp adventures that inspired those films makes it a fun romp that’s held up surprisingly well over the years.
4 The Mummy (1932)
The one that started it all. Universal Studios’ 1932 horror film starring Boris Karloff, of Frankenstein fame, came on the heels of their successful adaptations of Dracula and Frankenstein and established the mummy as a part of the classic monsters franchise. All the key ingredients are here in The Mummy: the archeologist disturbing cursed artifacts, the ancient Egyptian priest whose doomed romance has tormented him through the centuries, and the supernatural elements and exotic settings that define the genre.
3 The Mummy (1999)
This Stephen Sommers-helmed action-adventure take on the monster, starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, is probably the first film that comes to mind when most modern movie-goers think of mummy movies, and for good reason. Fraser’s Rick O'Connell is a charismatic, deeply endearing take on the Indiana Jones-type adventurer and his chemistry with Weisz carries the film. Combined with solid special effects and a charming, self-aware script, The Mummy proved that mummy movies don’t need to horror films in order to leave audiences satisfied.
2 Bubba Ho-Tep
Director Don Coscarelli made his name in horror with the Phantasm films of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, but Bubba Ho-Tep sees him delivering a distinctly idiosyncratic take on the mummy plot that’s more of a surrealist comedy than thriller. The plot follows an elderly Elvis Presley, who had long ago traded places with the impersonator whose death the world has mistaken as his own, and who now must defend his nursing home from a strangely cowboy-inflected mummy.
Through all its absurdity, Bubba Ho-Tep manages to deliver an authentically thoughtful take on aging, dignity, and the respect owed to the past, both recent and distant.
1 The Mummy (1959)
Legendary B-movie studio Hammer Films had already taken on Frankenstein and Dracula when they turned their attention to another Universal monster with 1959’s The Mummy. Director Terence Fisher floods the film with lavish, evocative color while Christopher Lee delivers another of the horror-inducing performances that would make him an icon, this time using little more than the burning intensity of his eyes and the sense of a barely restrained physicality. So while Universal may have the classic take on the mummy and new versions will certainly continue to be made, it’s Hammer that sets the bar with this definitive take on the vengeful monster.