The Universal Monsters Movies - Ranked From Worst To Best

6. The Mummy

Played by: Boris Karloff (The Mummy), Tom Tyler (The Mummy's Hand), Lon Chaney Jr. (The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Curse), Eddie Parker (Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy) Who is he? Universal boss Carl Laemmle Jr. (son of the studio's founder) had been the driving force behind the first monster films and was now inspired to make a mummy movie by the uncovering of Tutankhamun's tomb. Failing to find an appropriate source novel, Laemmle had his go-to monster screenwriter John L. Balderston write an original story that was directed by Dracula cinenatographer Karl Freund. The first film's Imhotep, a priest mummified alive when trying to resurrect his lover and brought back to life by archaeologists reading from an ancient scroll, was played by Boris Karloff hot off the back of his breakthrough role in Frankenstein. Karloff has real presence and his make up effects are impressive even though he spends hardly any time in the iconic bandaged look. None of the principles returned, however, for the follow up, making The Mummy's Hand as a much a remake as a sequel. Tom Tyler stars as new mummy Kharis in a film that's a definite B-picture and even ham fistedly re-uses footage of Karloff from the first movie. Lon Chaney Jr., who played most of the Universal monsters at one time or another, replaced Tyler for sequels about Kharis, but none come close to Karloff's original. After the classic era: Hammer's own monster cycle included a mummy series, the first of which, The Mummy, remade the first two Kharis films with Christopher Lee. Universal, however, would not dust off Imhotep until the big budget action movie remake in 1999. The new Mummy series is arguably Universal's most successful monster reboot, stretching to more parts than the original franchise (provided you count the Scorpion King series as well). The first film, starring South African Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep opposite Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, is a great fun action romp with a decent take on the monster and the same initial story as the Karloff film. Director Stephen Sommers even impressed enough to be handed the keys to the rest of the Universal monster franchise. Both Sommers' appalling Van Helsing and the ever declining quality of the Mummy sequels and spin-offs eventually killed off the first film's legacy. Universal have ordered a new Mummy, to be overseen by Star Trek's Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman. It is due out in 2016 and the studio hopes that it will contribute to a new monster cycle.