Overview

In 1932, The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff, introduced another icon to the classic monster pantheon, beginning a journey down the cinematic Nile that has yet to reach its end. Over the past century, movie mummies have met everyone from Abbott and Costello to Tom Cruise, not to mention a myriad of fellow monsters. Horrifying and mysterious, the mummy comes from a different time with uncommon knowledge and unique motivation, offering the lure of the exotic as well as the terrors of the dark. From obscure no-budgeters to Hollywood blockbusters, the mummy has featured in films from all over the globe, including Brazil, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, and even its fictional home country of Egypt, with each film bringing its own cultural sensibilities. Movie mummies have taken the form of teenagers, superheroes, dwarves, kung fu fighters, Satanists, cannibals and even mummies from outer space. Some can fly, some are sexy, some are scary and some are hilarious, and mummies quickly moved beyond horror cinema and into science fiction, comedy, romance, sexploitation and cartoons. From the Universal classics to the Aztec Mummy series, from Hammer's versions to Mexico's Guanajuato variations, this first-ever comprehensive guide to mummy movies offers in-depth production histories and critical analyses for every feature-length iteration of bandaged horror.

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9781476687889

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Reviews

"The mummy is a classic movie monster, but it often gets second billing in comparison to vampires and werewolves. Senn presents compelling evidence that mummies are on equal footing with their malevolent brethren in this compendium of 138 films. The criteria: only the truly undead need apply, they must make more than a cameo... Senn dedicates a fair amount of text to even the most questionable of entries, which is delightful; he also digs up some movies that might best be forgotten, and his hilarious takedowns of direct-to-video cash-grabs are as entertaining as his incisive analyses of classic mummy motion pictures. ... A well-researched work with many entries that feature production stills and promotional artwork. There are plenty of treasures here for mummy enthusiasts.""—Library Journal"

Author Information

Bryan Senn's work has appeared in Filmfax, Cult Movies, Shivers, Midnight Marquee Press and Monsters from the Vault. The author of numerous books on the history of cinema, he lives in Montana.

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