by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I miss the mummies. They were never really super-popular, at least not as much as vampires or zombies, but there was a bit of a mummy mini-revival a few years ago.

Most of the horror fiction connected to Egypt owes its birth to the Egyptomania of the 19th century, when Egypt became the perfect, exotic location for more than one action-adventure story. Later on, the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb inspired Universal’s The Mummy, with rumours of a “curse” that befell the people on the expedition.

The 1932 Mummy is a short, interesting black-and-white horror movie because it incorporates romance. Nowadays, the addition of a romantic subplot, or the complete obliteration of horror for the sake of romance, hardly seems of interest. But Universal’s previous horror efforts, Dracula and Frankenstein, had no such underpinning. Dracula was sexy, but he was a source of dangerous eroticism, not a love-struck character.

The Mummy, however, is one long tragic love affair. The Egyptian priest Imhotep, reanimated after several centuries, is searching for a way to bring his lost love, Ankh-es-en-amon, back to life. This movie is probably the source of the “exact double” phenomenon, where a person who is meant to be the reincarnation of another bears a striking resemblance to the original, even though it defies genetics. Also, Imhotep is killed in a very interesting way: death by statue of Isis.

The Mummy produced no sequels. But there were other mummy movies. The Mummy’s Hand (1940) stars a priest, who controls the mummy, named Kharis. Kharis and the priest guard the tomb of princess Ananka, until the day when some meddling archaeologists go poking their heads around the princess’ grave. The mummy and priest reappear in The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), with a nefarious plot to kidnap a woman and turn her into a bride for the priest. The Mummy’s Ghost (1942) has the priest and mummy encountering the reincarnation of Ananka in modern times. The priest decides to shack up with her (much to the mummy’s anger). The Mummy’s Curse (1944) was the final installment of the series. It takes place in Louisiana (seriously?), where the bodies of Kharis and Ananka are recovered and come back to life.

Egypt lapsed into quiet oblivion for several years, until Hammer decided to film The Mummy (1959), which had little connection with the Universal mummy and more in common with the 1940s mummy films. It starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, the latter tightly wrapped under lots of bandages. A team of archaeologists searching for the tomb of princess Ananka accidentally bring Kharis, the mummified priest guarding the tomb, back to life. Kharis goes on a hunting spree, killing the people who desecrated her tomb. However, he has a soft spot for Isobel, who, as usual, looks a lot like the dead princess.

Hammer filmed several other mummies: The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964), where a mummy is brought to London and begins killing people, and The Mummy’s Shroud (1967). These two movies were routine affairs, but Hammer returned to Egypt in 1972 with Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, which was a much more interesting product.

Hammer films were classy, gothic and a little bit sexy. However, in later years, as their formula waned, they tried producing movies with more mass appeal. Ergo, more heaving bosoms and blood. Thus, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars could fit the bill because it featured a female mummy. In Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb a perfectly-preserved and beautiful Egyptian woman is unearthed. What’s one to do with such a finding? Why, take her body back home and watch as one’s daughter grows up looking exactly like the dead princess. This is a nice-looking film and even though the lead female lacks acting chops, it’s worth watching.

Stoker’s novel was adapted again in 1980 when it was titled The Awakening: once again an archaeologist fears the spirit of a dead Egyptian queen has possessed the body of his daughter. The production is beautiful, with real Egyptian locations and wonderful sets. On the other hand, the pacing is off, and the big reveal is no big reveal (we know the evil queen is going to reincarnate). However, it’s worth tracking down if you can find a copy.

A third adaptation of Stoker’s novel, appropriately titled Bram Stoker’s Legend of the Mummy appeared in 1997. It heralded a whole new slew of mummy films. The most important of these was The Mummy (1999), with Brendan Fraser. It is an action-adventure film, not a horror flick, and it pits the heroes against an evil sorcerer who can conjure wild CGI sandstorms. It’s quick, with lots of special effects and fight sequences. Oh, and there are flesh-eating scarabs. Altogether, it works. The sequel, The Mummy Returns (2001), is fun, even though not quite as fresh as the first. The rest of the franchise, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), The Scorpion King (2002) and its direct-to-video sequel The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior lack energy or originality.

However, there were cheaper mummies making their way to horror aficionados. Talos the Mummy (1998) was one of them, complete with an organ-removing mummy doing the spooky-bandage dance. Sporting some interesting special effects and with Christopher Lee in a secondary role, it is ultimately run-of-the-mill in the execution.

The swan song to the mini-mummy boom is Bubba Ho-Tep (2002), a delightful horror-comedy starring Bruce Campbell. Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy (played by African-American actor Ossie Davis) fight the mummy intent on killing the people in their nursing home. The idea itself is worthy, but the execution is even better. Don Coscarelli, of Phantasm fame, floundered after an auspicious beginning. Here, he is at the top of his game and the movie is a loving tribute to all those old, shuffling-mummy films.

It’s worth mentioning that Stargate (1994), although science fiction instead of horror, did feature Egyptian-inspired technology and settings, including a very-good-looking Ra, who is an alien in human form. Another science fiction film, the French Immortal (2004), combines Egyptian imagery and mythology with a heavy use of CGI. Pyramids hovering in the air, Egyptian gods, and gorgeous visuals abound. It is based on the graphic novels by Enki Bilal, which appeared in 1986.

As far as the written page, there’s Theophile Gautier’s “The Mummy’s Foot” and The Romance of the Mummy, as well as Stoker with the aforementioned Jewel of Seven Stars.

Lovecraft said Nyarlathotep came from Egypt and he used Egypt as the setting in the Houdini adventure “Imprisoned With the Pharaohs”. Robert Bloch wrote two Egyptian stories “The Eyes of the Mummy” and “Beetles,” both appearing in Weird Tales. Also in Weird Tales: “The Vengeance of Ai” by August Derleth and “The Man in Crescent Terrace” by Seabury Quinn.

Tanith Lee tackled Egypt in The Book of the Damned, part of the Paradys series, which had a section dedicated to an Egyptian sorceress up to no good, and Reigning Cats and Dogs, set in Victorian London where a figure in the shape of Anubis is killing people throughout the city.

Cities of the Dead, written by Michael Paine and published in 1988, is set at the turn of the 20th century and succeeds as a slow, interesting thriller starring Howard Carter, who investigates the provenance of several mummified children.

Anne Rice wrote one novel about The Mummy or Ramses The Damned. It had as its protagonist a handsome immortal who wakes up in Edwardian England and proceeds to bring back to life his old flame, Cleopatra. Turns out to be a bad idea. Intended as a series, it was never continued.

I don’t expect a new cache of mummy or Egyptian-inspired horror movies to emerge any time soon, but one can always hope that they will rise from their sarcophagi to roam the world one more time.

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