The Original 1932 Mummy Movie Is More Tedious Than Chilling

And so, in preparation for that new Mummy movie that opens in theaters everywhere this Friday, I've decided to take a deep dive into the Universal Mummy franchise by way of watching all five original Universal Mummy movies as well as the first two Brendan Fraser Mummy movies (I've already seen the third in that series). This journey begins with, of course, the very first Universal Mummy movie, the one in 1932 that kicked things off for the franchise and reaffirmed Boris Karloff (who also played Frankenstein's Monster for Universal in this era) as a prominent fixture of monster movie mayhem in this era.


Uncovered out in the middle of Egypt is a tomb containing a long preserved dead body, Imhotep (Boris Karloff) one carrying a scroll that mortal man was not meant to tamper with. This is a monster movie though, so of course us foolish mortals were gonna tamper with stuff we weren't supposed to. The scroll gets read aloud and awakens that once dead body, whose really more of a....Mummy(!!!), who walks out with that scroll in tow and sets out on a mission: bring his former lover from centuries ago back to life. He's on the hunt for the spirit of this ex-lover of his lover and soon discovers it now resides in the form of a then-modern day woman named Helen (Zita Johann).

In order to bring his lover back to life, Imhotep needs to do a sacrifice ritual that will entail Helen's body being destroyed, a process Helen's compatriots, including a new lover, are keen to thwart. It's a high-stakes battle between the living and a resurrected disgraced Egyptian but it's weird to see it all played out in such a subdued and frequently snooze-inducing manner. Given that this is a film from 1932, I'm obviously not expecting The Mummy to break out modern day rapid-fire editing tricks or any of the other visual tactics modern-day movies use to sustain the attention of viewers, but I've seen plenty of other movies from this era and even earlier decades that were far better at keeping one thoroughly engrossed.

The Mummy, meanwhile, struggles to be all that scary or thrilling, with The Mummy himself carrying superpowers (which include mind controlling people and giving other people heart attacks) that feel too nebulous and poorly defined to be truly frightening. The titular monster is probably the best part of the movie though, if only because Boris Karloff really plays menacing well. A recurring shot that is solely comprised of a super close-up shot of his face provides the proper amount of chilling imagery this film otherwise direly lacks. It's also fun to hear a voice I've associated with the Grinch my entire life deliver more ominous dialogue!

Besides that Mummy character, everyone else in The Mummy is dull as dishwater and blends together too easily. Helen is ground zero for damsel-in-distress roles in horror movies, and a boring ground zero at that while the romance she develops with a generic fellow is as captivating as watching brown paint dry. With no scares or interesting characters around, The Mummy really does end up being a forgettable horror motion picture, one whose low quality makes it shocking it's spawned so many sequels, knock-offs and remakes over the past eighty-five years. This series really is as persistent at staying alive as its lead monster.