The Top 10 Best Mummy Movies

5. Bubba Ho-Tep

Bruce Campbell secured his spot as a king of B-horror movies after taking on deadites in the Evil Dead films. However, he returned to do battle with another iconic movie monster in the incredibly bizarre Bubba Ho-Tep. This time he teamed up with legendary horror director Don Coscarelli (of the Phantasm series). The two tell the tale of a nursing home in Texas with some rather unusual patients, namely a man who believes he’s really Elvis who swapped places with a double before his death and an elderly black man who received JFK’s brain during an experimental transplant in the 60s. Needless to say, they aren’t the most reliable narrators. So, when a mummy shows up sporting cowboy boots and a matching hat and begins stealing the life force from residents, there’s no telling what actually might be going on. No other mummy movies come close to capturing the same level of weird as Bubba Ho-Tep, making it a perfect addition to this list.   

4. The Monster Squad

I’ll admit, the first time I saw The Monster Squad I was just the tiniest bit traumatized by the ending (I was a sensitive little boy). That didn’t stop me from watching it again and again until it became a nostalgia-filled tradition every October. One thing about The Monster Squad is that it not only features five classic movie monsters teaming up to unleash the forces of darkness, but the versions are still some of my all-time favorite big-screen incarnations. All the big names are there from Dracula to the Wolfman to Frankenstein and even a mummy (Michael MacKay). Now, this mummy doesn’t do a lot of heavy lifting (it is a kid’s movie, after all), but he does embody everything that springs to mind when you think of a classic movie mummy. Time hasn’t been kind to this rendition, and he isn’t much more than a shriveled pile of dust held together by scraps of cloth. That doesn’t stop him from running amuck in a small town though, earning him a respectable spot on this list. 

3. The Mummy (1959)

What would horror movies do without “rational” (white) “men of science” who scoff at such silly things as legends, history, and superstition? Without them, who would be dumb enough to accidentally unleash evil curses with their meddling? The 1959 version capitalizes on this inevitability and features a team of archeologists who ignore all warnings by still uncovering the tomb of the high priestess of the god Karnak, Princess Ananka. As if grave robbing wasn’t enough, one of the explorers reads from an ancient scroll summoning the mummy of Kharis, a loyal follower of Princess Ananka and her eternal guardian. Of course, white guys can’t be the villains in films like this, so The Mummy tosses in an evil Egyptian cult member who uses the scroll of life to control the mummy and take vengeance on the archeologists. For all intents and purposes, this is basically a mashup of all the mummy movies that came before it, but the end result is superior. At least to most of them…

2. The Mummy (1932)

They’re called “classic” movie monsters for a reason, and that’s because all of them made their big screen debut back when films were still shot in black and white. One of the original kings of these “golden oldies” was Boris Karloff, who not only played Frankenstein’s Monster in the original but also portrayed Imhotep in the 1932 version of The Mummy. Once again, a team of archeologists unearths an Egyptian tomb in a pyramid, and unleash a vengeful mummy. This version though can pass as a living man thanks to the wonders of make-up. More importantly, he’s able to have an actual conversation beyond “ugh” and “nygh” with other humans, which allows him to manipulate men into uncovering the tomb of his lost love. Once her sarcophagus ends up in the museum, he goes about trying to resurrect his immortal love using the scroll of life. Sure, Imhotep is the bad guy in this flick, but deep down he’s just trying to restore his lost love and I can’t fault him too much for that.    

1. The Mummy (1999)

One of the most notable modern cult classics is the 1999 version of The Mummy. Despite critics not being kind in their initial reviews, this Brandon Fraser horror adventure has won over audiences since it hit theaters. These days plenty of small theaters bank on the film’s dedicated following by hosting it as a midnight movie every once in a while, and the ones I’ve attended have been packed houses. The film follows an American adventurer who lends his service to an archeologist hoping to uncover the fabled Book of the Dead. They aren’t the only ones in search of the artifact, but they are the first ones to reach the hidden tomb holding the book. This unleashes the vicious Imhotep (this time played by Arnold Vosloo) who wants nothing more than to regain the powers he had in life. To do this though, he’s going to need to get that book back and a few body parts to replace some of his old ones. Critics might not have been big fans of this movie, but audiences love it enough to earn The Mummy the top spot on this list of mummy movies.   

Honorable Mention: Night at the Museum 

So, while Night in the Museum is a pretty far cry from a horror movie, but Rami Malek is just such a charming guy that I had to give him an honorable mention. Besides he’s one of the few Egyptian actors to actually play a mummy in a movie. Unlike all the other mummy’s on this list, pharaoh Ahkmenrah isn’t the bloodthirsty type. Sure, he’s a little miffed about his grave being robbed, but more than anything he doesn’t want people to be hurt by the magical artifact unearthed along with him. So, he teams up with a bunch of other living exhibits and a night security guard to make things right. Not a terrifying rendition of the classic monster, but one that I felt deserved some recognition for just that reason.

Shout-Out: Tales from the Darkside

I tackled a list of some of the best horror anthologies of all time recently, and while Tales from the Darkside barely missed an official spot, I still want to give it a shout-out for featuring a pretty cool mummy story in it. This one focuses on a mummy as a tool of revenge for a graduate student cheated by two of his peers. Revenge never works the way you think it will though and the mummy is all too happy to teach his “master” that lesson. 

There you have it, the best mummy movies to ever stagger across the silver screen. There aren’t a ton of other mummy movies out there, but if you know a really great one that I missed, let me know in the comments below. As always, I’ll keep an eye out for new and improved mummy movies crawl out of their Hollywood sarcophagi. So, be sure to check back in the future to see how the rankings might change. Until next time, stay out of undiscovered tombs, don’t read any ancient scrolls you find, and always listen to warnings from the locals.