The one that started it all and still the best. No one can top Boris Karloff’s iconic performance which, in my opinion, eclipses every other classic Universal horror movie. Better acted than Dracula and more terrifying than Frankenstein, The Mummy is the template for which all horror monsters should stem. Scary, atmospheric, and unstoppable, this is the best of the best.
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40 years after Hammer last made a major mummy movie, Universal rebooted their franchise with this Indiana Jones-esque adventure. Brendan Fraser was awesome despite the Mummy himself being mainly CGI. Forget the lackluster sequels and enjoy this literal roller coaster ride that is the most fun a mummy movie can be without being a horror movie.
Hammer reinvented Dracula with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and manages to do the same to The Mummy. This take is dark, violent, and doesn’t turn the creature into a sympathetic person. This is the primary influence for the Stephen Sommers action-oriented take on the franchise.
Bruce Campbell as Elvis fighting a mummy? Hell yes! Don Coscarelli’s movie is cheesy and goofy but also a hell of a lot of fun. The mummy design is pretty foreboding for a low budget affair but he spends most of the running time lurking in corners and in shadow, making the full reveal all the better.
Fred Dekker’s horror homage actually presents one of the creepiest mummies every put to film. This guy is gross and scary looking but falls prey to easy unraveling. A good visual take on a monster who doesn’t get nearly enough screen time.
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Now this actually is the Hammer version of the Bram Stoker story that inspired THE AWAKENING. More direct and rooted in the exploitation sub-genre popular in the 1970s, BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB shows less actual mummies than hints at the ancient power the Egyptians were capable of. A fun, cheesy British romp.
Based on a Bram Stoker story and directed by HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE filmmaker Mike Newell, this 1980 horror movie almost feels like a Hammer horror movie with the added benefit of Charlton Heston in a scenery chewing lead role. This may not be the most exciting mummy adaptation, but it is still an atmospheric and well directed take.
After Boris Karloff, THE WOLF MAN himself, Lon Chaney Jr, took over the role of The Mummy which lasted for multiple films before the character became a joke, literally, alongside Abbot and Costello. It would be years before mummies became scary again.
Possibly the only Irish mummy movie I have ever seen, THE ETERNAL (aka TRANCE) is more artsy than straight horror, but the presence of Christopher Walken more than makes up for it. The mummy here is actually an old witch with powers that may or may not be real.
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An attempted cross between a Mel Brooks comedy and THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, this is by no means a good movie. In fact, the mummy in the film gets minimal screen time, but when we finally get the reveal as to her origins, the cleavage more than makes up for it.