When it comes to classic movie monsters in the vein of “Dracula”, “Frankenstein” and even the Headless Horsman of “Sleepy Hollow”, they each have great literary source material to draw inspiration from.
The Mummy however was a mostly original monster, created for Universals 1932 picture of the same name, and didn’t have any direct literary source material. This gives further movie adaptions of this creature freer range to get creative and do different things with each instalment, as they’re not bound to any set of rules. The Mummy itself has gone through many different names and appearances over its lengthy filmography. Imhotep is of course the most famous Mummy, while The Mummy Kharis has made the most appearances, and there are still other one-off Mummy characters. Personally, I’ve always felt a little more attached to The Mummy then most other classic monsters … so, for this October, I thought it would be fun to stop and rank each theatrical Mummy movie I’ve seen.
Before I begin my List, there are some quick things to address. I won’t be including the 2002 movie “The Scorpion King” or any of its sequels, as they feel like a whole other topic. Also, this list is for movies only, so I won’t be including “The Mummy: The Animated Series” from 2001, which featured the Rick O’ Connell family, and featured Jim Cummings as the voice of Imhotep.
Lastly, I haven’t seen every single Mummy movie,
including the resent Warner Brothers picture from 2026 titled “Lee Cronin’s
The Mummy” … so this won’t be a complete list. I have, however, seen eleven
different Mummy pictures, which gives me enough material to work with. Thus,
here’s my own personal ranking of the Mummy movies I’ve seen … beginning with
my absolute favorite … and ending with my least favorite.
#1 “The Mummy” (1999)
Thrill seeker Rick O’ Connell and inquisitive Librarian Evie set off to find an ancient Egyptian book, which is buried in the long-lost city of the dead. Amidst their search, they accidently resurrect the evil high priest Imhotep, who’ll bring about a new dark age across the land of Egypt. While not a traditional Horror movie, this was nevertheless the childhood experience that got me interested in viewing the classic monster movies like “Dracula”, “Frankenstein” and even the 1932 original “The Mummy”. As corny as it is to say, I view the 1999 remake of “The Mummy” as my own personal monster-movie fountain of youth ... as it's the one that started it all.
All these years later, it's still just as enjoyable as when I was a kid. It embraces its own corny adventure elements without being either too silly or too serious, the characters are all memorable, the scary material is more fun than scarring, and there’s no shortage of general entertainment. Arnold Vosloo is very memorable as the Mummy Imhotep, and the design of the creature is very unique, as we watch its progression from a rotting corpse that gradually becomes more human.
Brendan
Fraser’s Rick O’ Connell is just as much an icon as the titular monster, and Rachel
Weise’s Evie is still one of my biggest female movie character crushes. The film
also had its own visual iconography to give it a personality separate from
other remakes. Personally, I think this film has aged in just the right ways,
as it’s modern but also has this enchanting old-fashioned innocence that makes
it one of my all-time favorite adventure movies.
#2 “The Mummy” (1932)
Going back to where it all started, we see the Mummy Imhotep resurrected, and spends several years in disguise, seeking the reincarnation of his long-lost Princess … and won’t hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his way. Surprisingly, this film is far more sophisticated than a movie about a cliched, bandaged mummy killing people.
It’s all about an evil spirit that simply wants to bring back its long-lost love, and for an older 1930’s film, it boasts a spooky atmosphere and creates an eerie mood. Legendary horror icon Boris Karloff shines as the mummy Imhotep, and in my opinion, is even better here than he was as Frankenstein’s monster. He has such a hypnotic and creepy presence whenever he’s on screen, especially with him staring at you half the time with those lifeless eyes of his.
The rest of the characters do a
great job holding your interest, most notably the female lead named Helen,
who’s easily the most attractive lead from any of these early monster films.
This is all around a very unique horror movie that doesn’t rely on common
horror movie conventions and instead treats the audience to a competently
constructed film. It’s slower paced than many of its peers, even for the time,
but it has a sophisticated craft that for me brushes aside any real
shortcomings.
#3 “The Mummy Returns” (2001)
Rick O’ Connell and family are back for another adventure, this time he and his wife Evie race across Egypt to rescue their son Alex, whose been captured by the newly resurrected Imhotep, and aims to raise an army of the dead. In some respects, “The Mummy Returns” succeeds as a larger, and more action-packed adventure picture. While this film is often described as a lesser sequel … it really isn’t that bad, especially when compared to everything else that came after.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say that “The Mummy Returns” works just fine as an entertaining, and mostly complete sequel. It develops the characters further, explores the universe more, and features some of the franchise’s best action sequences. This is also when the Rick O’ Connell universe really took off as franchise, with multiple spin-off material, and more representation at the Universal theme parks … including the indoor roller-coaster “The Mummy’s Revenge”, which is one of my absolute favorite rides based on a movie.
While the sequel doesn’t
accomplish anything remarkable, and is brought down by some noticeable
problems, it’s by no means terrible, and for me is very easy to watch. If fun
Saturday afternoon fodder is all you want, then this sequel delivers the goods,
and is a mostly entertaining experience.
#4 “The Mummy” (1959)
Next, we have the only non-Universal studio production to appear on my list. Through the late 1950’s and early 1970’s, Britain’s Hammer Film Productions remade most of Universals monster movie classics, which had their own string of sequels. Their 1959 remake of “The Mummy” is frequently cited as one of their best and has the distinction of being the monsters first remake. However, this is not a remake of the classic Boris Karloff Imhotep Mummy, but the spin-off mummy creature called Kharis (more on his original film in a moment).
For this outing, archeologist Steve Banning and his family violate the buried temple of the Princess Ananka, which beckons the Mummy Kharis to kill all who disturbed the sacred resting place. While this isn’t the most fun or spooky creature feature, it’s undeniably one of the more sophisticated, with intriguing characters engaging in logical debates and a killer mummy on top. More than anything, it’s the cast that makes this remake a classic, with famed horror actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee dominating the scene in the lead roles of John Banning and The Mummy Kharis.
This movie
had three sequels, “The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb” in 1964, “The
Mummy’s Shroud” in 1967, and “Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb”, none of
which featured the lead actors from the first film. As such, I haven’t watched
any of these sequels, so they won’t appear on my countdown.
#5 “The Mummy’s Hand” (1940)
A team of explorers set off to find the burial chamber of a long-lost Princess, only to discover a cursed tomb with a killer Mummy named Kharis. Following after the original 1932 classic, this marked the first spin-off film with a whole new undead villain. Tom Tyler portrayed the new Mummy Kharis, and unlike Imhotep, this corpse stayed in its bandages and lumbered at a slow pace … while not very scary, it’s still appealing in how basic and traditional it’s presented. The real threat comes in the form on an evil High Priest played by George Zucco, who easily delivers the most enjoyable performance. Also, while Imhotep isn’t present, this film unmistakably features the DNA for the Brendan Fraser series of the late 90’s, with an emphasis on adventure/action and a goofy sense of hummer.
This movie also introduced the lead character
Steve Banning to the series, although very different from Peter Cushing’s portrayal
in the 1959 classic. Honestly, the characters of Steve and love interest
Margrit look like the pre-cursers to Rick and Evelyn O’Connell from the 1999
film. While “The Mummy’s Hand” is not a classic, I’d recommend any fan
of the 1999 remake of “The Mummy” to give this film a watch, just to see
what laid the foundation for it.
#6 “The Mummy’s Ghost” (1944)
Following after his success as “The Wolf Man”, Lon Chaney Jr. became a regular monster movie star throughout the 1940’s and portrayed the Mummy Kharis three times. His middle chapter titled “The Mummy’s Ghost” is the one that sticks in my mind the most, and for me is the most recommendable of his three films. This time the terror is set on a college campus, in which the Mummy Kharis stocks the grounds in search for the reincarnation of his long dead princess. Sounds like a familiar plot beat, but there’s one key difference in this instalment. The presence of the Mummy is forcing the young, reincarnated woman Amina to age rapidly, and throughout the film we see her get more decrepit.
This culminates in this franchise’s most
Gothic and melancholy ending, in which both the monster and the girl parish
together. While most of this instalment repeats familiar beats from previous
films, this darker ending makes it stand out. It’s also the film in which the
Mummy shows off the most bruit strength, which gives the film a little more
energy. Lastly, this movie features John Carradine, famous for his Count
Dracula portrayal, as the secondary villain of the film, which also helps
salvage this instalment.
#7 “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (2008)
Third in the Rick O’Connell saga, we reunite with the now grown-up Alex, whose just as bad at accidently resurrecting undead villains as his parents. This time around, the family set out on a quest to stop the evil Dragon Emperor, and his rise to power. This film has the distinction of feeling the least like a Mummy movie, and more like any generic fantasy adventure, with three-headed dragons, Yeti’s and clay soldiers occupying the scenery as opposed to … well … Mummies! The new villain is played by Jet Li, a good actor, but he has nothing to work with and doesn’t command an ounce of the presence Imhotep previously had.
This movie also
commits the sin of recasting Rachel Weisz’s Evie with someone new … shameful …
although Maria Bello’s is an okay talent in her own right, she’s just no Evie. For
all the faults of this film, I can at least take some comfort from being with
these characters, and there’s surface level enjoyment, including an awesome
final battle, which has its place among the franchises stand-out set-pieces.
#8 “The Mummy’s Tomb” (1942)
Set 30 years after the events of the 1940 picture “The Mummy’s Hand”, the wicked high priests have salvaged the Mummy Kharis and set him loose in Mapleton Massachusetts to enact revenge on all who violated his tomb. This was the first time the series left Egypt for a contemporary setting, and it was Lon Chaney Jr.’s first time portraying The Mummy, after his Wolf Man debut. Intentional or not, it’s here that he set the groundwork for slow-moving slasher villains. While the Mummy doesn’t have a weapon, he goes through the motions of taking out one victim at a time.
With a slow-moving
killer, the films one hour run time feels like three, and the characters are
even more stock than before. There are at least some highlights, including
old-school spooky imagery, angry mobs, and a fiery climax in a burning house
with the monster. In general, I can enjoy an early creature feature like this
for what it is, but this instalment doesn’t really have an identity that makes
it stand out, it just limps along with familiar beats and blends in with the
crowd.
#9 “Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy” (1955)
Next, we have perhaps the most outlandish entry in the whole series, and a pure comedy without a trace of horror. The famed comedy duo of Abbott and Costello actually got acquainted with a number of Universals classic monsters, including Frankenstein and The Invisible Man. To close out their theatrical Universal roster, they encountered The Mummy Klaris, now portrayed by Eddie Parker. For this comedy venture, Bud & Lou get themselves tangled in a frantic game of cat and mouse between villainess treasure hunters, local authorities in Egypt, and a mysterious group of Mummy worshipers.
Longtime fans of the comedic duo may get their kicks with
this outing, while the goofy antics may be an acquired taste for everyone else.
The Mummy itself is barely featured and comes off like a last-minute addition.
In general, these Abbott and Costello crossovers with Universals monsters are
hit and miss, and this film is no exception. There are fun little highlights
spread throughout, but it’s not on par with their best comedic work
either.
#10 “The Mummy’s Curse” (1944)
After four movies, it’s become more obvious than ever that slow moving killer Mummies can only have so much traction and not much steam. This marked the third time Lon Chaney Jr. portrayed The Mummy Kharis, and it’s the final instalment in this continuity of films. At the end of the previous sequel, The Mummy and the Princess Ananka sank in the swamp together. At the start of this film, a working crew give the swamp a once over, and both Mummy’s rise from the ground.
The scene in which the Princess slowly rises from the dead is a chilling moment, and one of the film’s genuine highlights.
Her youth is also restored, and it becomes a fish out of water story, as she’s
a stranger awoken in a strange land. This set-up had some great potential for
an engaging character narrative … but instead it devolves into a prolonged
chase, with the Mummy chasing the girl through the bog. At least the fogy swamp
setting gives this film some personality, but there’s not much else beyond
that. I’d almost call it my least favorite of the franchise … but there’s one
left that I like a little less.
#11 “The Mummy” (2017)
Landing at rock bottom on my list is the rebooted Mummy movie that came into being for one reason … launching a shared Dark Universe of classic monsters … and it failed miserably. Tom Cruise portrays a treasure obsessed Army sergeant named Nick, who stumbles upon the tomb of the evil Princess Ahmanet, who awakens with plans to unleash vengeance on the world. For some reason, this movie refused to be a simple standalone picture and spent most of its time setting up other famous creatures, including Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, played by Russell Crowe.
The characters aren’t very interesting, the narrative is non-existent, the mythology is a mess, there’s hardly an original idea present in the film, and it’s visually a bleak and ugly looking picture. The one good thing this film had going for it was Sofia Boutella as The Mummy Ahmanet, who has a distinct look and personality, but her motivations are just as convoluted as the rest of the film. It’s not a fun movie to watch, and its failure to launch any kind of series, it feels absolutely useless, and for that it’s my least favorite of the Mummy movies I’ve seen.
So, what’s in store for The Mummy next … well, there’s an announced fourth instalment in the Rick O’ Connell saga, which will bring back the original 1990’s cast. This has some potential, as the Rick O' Connell series is my favorite branch of The Mummy franchise. Otherwise, I’m always interested in new ways this distinct creature can appear in movies, and the Mummy itself has earned its place in the halls of classic monster icons.
That
concludes my ranking, hope you found it an engaging read … and continue to enjoy
the movies you Love!
