10 Horror Movie "Facts" That Aren't Actually True

2. Boris Karloff's Mummy Was Covered In Bandages

Jason Mask
Universal

Apart from Frankenstein's Monster, Boris Karloff is best-known for his portrayal as the title character in the 1932 classic, The Mummy. It wasn't the first mummy film, but it was Karloff's version which popularised the idea of resurrecting a mummified corpse into a supernatural deadly force.

It was such a hit, The Mummy is now considered one of the original Universal Monsters alongside The Wolf Man, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and Gillman. Although the original film never had a direct sequel, it spawned a whole sub-genre of mummy movies.

Even though The Mummy is one of the easiest characters to recognise, he looks nothing like how you would imagine in the 1932 film. When he's resurrected, he wears normal clothes and a fez. Also, he doesn't act like a mindless zombie. He is intelligent, articulate, and calculating. At no point is he depicted like a brainless brute shuffling towards his victims while covered in bandages.

The first film to have a killer mummy draped in bandages was the The Mummy's Hand, which was released eight years later. Because this version of the Egyptian killer had a more striking appearance, it wasn't long before every mummy film had the main villain donned in bandages.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows