Most Westerners are familiar with mummies, at least the resurrected kind, through movies. The history of mummy films goes all the way back into the silent era to the very beginnings of motion pictures. An outgrowth of a Western fascination with Ancient Egypt rooted in real life explorations and discoveries (“Egyptomania”), the mummy in fiction allowed modern man and technology to compete with ancient man and mysticism. This is very similar to the way “lost world” stories, which were also popular in the early 20th century, allowed modern characters to step into ancient settings to pit brute strength against modern intellect.
Many cite Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt (1798 to 1801) as the origin point of Egyptomania. In addition to French military forces Napoleon brought over 150 scientists, historians and artists on his campaign to study and document the ancient relics of northern Africa. During this time the Rosetta Stone was discovered by a French soldier. A little over 3/4 of a ton, the stone was carved with a decree from King Ptolemy V Epiphanes in Egyptian hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts as well as Ancient Greek. The Ptolemaic rulers were actually of Greek descent; they were left to rule Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great. The stone’s multi-lingual message finally allowed scholars, after two decades of study, to translate Egyptian script for the first time,
As actual artifacts from Egypt and artist impressions of the land and the pyramids returned to Europe, Egyptian history and motifs began to permeate Western arts of all types. From paintings to jewelry to opera, ancient Egypt was everywhere in Europe and America, including literature. Jane C Loudon wrote the first English language novel of a resurrected mummy in 1827. The Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty Second Century was not horror but satire, telling the story of an ancient man revived in a future world. French author Theophile Gautier penned The Mummy’s Foot in 1840. It was a horror story about a man who acquired a small part of a mummy and met the beautiful (dead) queen to which it originally belonged. It was translated into English later by Lafcadio Hearn in a collection called One of Cleopatra’s Nights, named after another story in the volume which was set in ancient Egypt. Gautier’s book also included an early story of female vampirism.
As the 19th century progressed, many well known authors dabbled in stories of ancient Egypt and mummies. Edgar Allen Poe published the satiric Some Words With A Mummy in 1845, Little Women author Louisa May Alcott published Lost in A Pyramid or the Mummy’s Curse in 1869. Bram Stoker followed up Dracula (1897) with the mummy tale The Jewel of the Seven Stars in 1903. The Lost World’s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited ancient Egyptian mysticism in 1892’s Lot No. 249 (which featured a malevolent mummy) and 1890’s the Ring of Thoth, which some maintain was the inspiration for Universal’s The Mummy (1932). H. Rider Haggard visited ancient Egypt in several works including The World’s Desire (1890, co-written with Andrew Lang), Cleopatra (1899), Ancient Allan (1920), Queen of the Morning Star (1923) and Wisdom’s Daughter (1925)
The obsession with ancient Egypt and mummies continued as the pulp magazines rose, especially as the early 20th century brought exciting new discoveries such as King Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922. Pulp horror master H.P. Lovecraft wrote about mummies in several stories and even ghostwrote Entombed With The Pharaohs for Harry Houdini (1924, also known as Imprisoned With The Pharaohs). The story told of the magician’s supposedly true mystical adventure while visiting the Great Pyramid of Cheops.
As films began to develop, many early silent movies featured ancient Egypt and mummies. In 1899 magician turned filmmaker Georges Méliès released Cléopâtre (also known as Robbing Cleopatra’s Tomb). It reportedly featured a resurrected mummy but is now lost. 1911’s The Mummy, also lost, told the story of a beautiful Egyptian princess resurrected when electricity is applied to her mummy. Das Rätsel der Sphinx (The Riddle of the Sphinx, 1921) included a mummy as well. In addition to these mummy films (and others), there were at least a half dozen films about Cleopatra and ancient Egypt by 1920.
The most famous mummy movies are, of course, from Universal Pictures. “The Mummy” is considered one of Universal’s “Classic Monsters” along with Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman and other horror icons. After huge success in 1931 with both Dracula and Frankenstein, Universal released The Mummy in 1932. Directed by Karl Freund (cinematographer of Metropolis 1927 and Dracula), it starred the iconic Boris Karloff as Imhotep, a vengeful resurrected Egyptian searching for the reincarnation of his lover. In 1940 Universal released a second mummy film, The Mummy’s Hand. This was not a sequel because it starred a different mummy, named Kharis, resurrected thanks to the mystical power of the tana leaves. Kharis returned in 1942’s The Mummy’s Tomb, with Lon Chaney Jr. taking over the role. In 1944 Chaney starred as Kharis in both The Mummy’s Ghost and The Mummy’s Curse. A new mummy, Klaris, was introduced for the final film in the original Universal horror series, Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy (1955). Not played for scares but laughs, it was also the final film in Abbott and Costello’s “meet the monster” series and their last film with Universal.
Other studios took on the task of resurrecting Egyptians, though. Most notably the English horror specialists at Hammer Productions started their own series with The Mummy in 1959. Directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster, the film starred both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It was basically derived from the stories of the Universal “Kharis” mummy films. Hammer produced a second film, Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, in 1964 and a third The Mummy’s Shroud in 1967. Neither were connected to their 1959 film. In 1971 Hammer released its final mummy movie, Blood From The Mummy’s Tomb, which was loosely based on Stoker’s Jewel of the Seven Stars and starred Valerie Leon in a dual role as Margaret Fuchs and the Egyptian Queen Tera.
Mummy movies never completely disappeared. The classical Universal films haunted television as part of “creature feature” syndicated television movie packages (often hosted by local ghouls across America). Mummy movies from lesser studios inhabited drive-ins and late night television as well. After all, a mummy took way less special effects expertise than werewolves and other monsters. Mummies even worked their way into Saturday morning cartoons and Mexican wrestling films!
Thanks to the popularity of zombie movies and a new general interest in horror, Universal looked to resurrect their mummy franchise in the 1980s. After initially working with George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead1968) the project bounced around for a while until Stephen Sommers decided to mix the original mummy premise not with zombie movie chills but Indiana Jones style adventure thrills. His film, 1999’s The Mummy, starred Brendan Fraser as blowhard American mercenary Rick O’Connell and Rachel Weisz as wellborn English intellectual Evie Carnahan. Arnold Vosloo and Patricia Velásquez played cursed Egyptian lovers Imhotep and Anck-su-namun. John Hannah, playing Evie’s unreliable brother, and the mysterious Oded Fehr rounded out the cast.
Comedy and stunts were mixed with special effects far beyond what had ever been seen in a mummy film and the movie was a huge hit. Two official direct sequels were made, The Mummy Returns (2001, which included most of the original cast as the mummy, umm, returned) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), which moved the action to China. Mario Bello took over the role of Evie while Jet Li, Russell Wong and Michelle Yeoh stepped in for the film’s supernatural roles. A spin-off movie, The Scorpion King (2002), followed the ancient adventures of Dwayne The Rock Johnson’s cursed character from The Mummy Returns. It was successful enough to spawn a series of straight to video sword and sandal sequels. There was also an after school animated series based on the adventures of Rick, Evie and their son from 2001 to 2003.
Universal remade The Mummy again in 2017, leaving much of the comic twists and period costuming behind. This film, starring Tom Cruise, featured a female mummy and was meant to anchor their proposed “Dark Universe.” The idea was to create a new series of connected films featuring iconic Universal horror figures. Russell Crowe appeared in The Mummy as Dr. Jekyll and Johnny Depp was announced for an intended remake of The Invisible Man. 2014’s Dracula: The Untold Story was also originally part of the Dark Universe concept and, even though it made money, it was not well received. Universal downplayed its connection to the multi-film project and declared The Mummy the lead story for Dark Universe. It did not do well, however, and the entire Dark Universe project was cancelled soon after. Mummy movies returned to lesser, mainly straight to video, film studios.
But the thing about mummies is they keep coming back. Just before Evil Dead Rise (2023) director Lee Cronin released his new take on resurrected Egyptians (Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, 2026) Universal announced a new sequel to the 1999 version of The Mummy was in development. Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah have all signed to reprise their roles in a new mummy film slated to be released sometime in 2027. No other details have been confirmed but if history is any indication we can expect a whole new wave of Egyptomania horror.