Universal Horror presents us this 1932 film, which brought us
the undead mummies.
We open in Egypt (where else?), at a British excavation site. A mummy of high priest Imhotep (
Boris Karloff) has been found and with it the scroll of Thoth, a key to bring back the dead. After one foolhardy assistant reads the scroll, the mummy comes alive, then proceeds to snatch the scroll and shamble away leaving the assistant
a mess of mad laughter.
Cut to ten years later, a mysterious man named Ardeth Bey assists archelogists in uncovering the tomb of Princess Anck-es-en-Amon. However, he doesn't do this out of kindness, as he has plans of his own...
The film was semi-remade in 1940 (
The Mummy's Hand, which itself spawned several sequels), 1959 (
The Mummy, a
Hammer production featuring
Christopher Lee as the title creature) and 1999 (
The Mummy).
This film has the examples of: