10 Horror Movie Scenes You Remember Totally Wrong

One year after his career-defining performance in Frankenstein, Boris Karloff starred as another archetypal monster, the titular character in The Mummy.

The movie opens with archaeologist Joseph Whemple uncovering the remains of the Egyptian high priest, Imhotep. After Whemple translates the scroll of Thoth, Imhotep is resurrected, allowing the Mummy to unleash unspeakable terrors on the world.

However, Karloff doesn't play the character like a traditional Mummy. Instead of acting like a mindless monster, Imhotep is deeply intelligent and calculating. Rather than going on a murder spree when he's awakened, he spends ten years in hiding, creating a persona of a wealthy historian called Ardath Bey. Since he'd stand out like a sore thumb if he was draped in bandages, Imhotep wears regular clothes and a fez while in the public eye.

The shuffling Mummy in bandages trope that we're all familiar with originates from the 1940 feature, The Mummy's Hand. This movie (which spawned three sequels) centres around a different Mummy called Kharis, and has no association with Karloff's version. Although that series wasn't great, the titular monster's striking design helped the Mummy become one of the most recognisable characters in horror.