Popular Culture Review Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2002 | Page 105

From Karloff to Vosloo:
The Mummy Remade
Stephen Sommer’s decision to team with Universal Studios and remake
the classic 1932 horror title, The Mummy, suggests yet another look at the place of
remakes in the Hollywood system as well as an examination of key themes and
production elements of both the original and the remake to see what they tell us
about the horror film’s place in the popular culture of their respective eras. While
Som m er’s version incorporates state of the art com puter technology, its
characterizations and subliminal pseudo-feminist message suggest this effort lacks
both the grace and sense of underlying tension of the Karl Freund-directed
predecessor.
Known as one of Universal Studios’ ‘'Big Four” during the 1930s and
‘40s, The Mw/w/wy joined Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman to provide the
studio reliable audience appeal to the horror market at the time. The success of
Universal’s four major horror stars led to inevitable sequels churned out with
stunning regularity to help keep the studio’s coffers in the black. Frankenstein’s
monster was killed off and revived from countless deaths; Boris Karloff’s Imhotep
transmuted into the shambling Kharis; the Wolfman and the Frankenstein monster
slugged it out in the same film; and all four suffered the ignominy of coming out
second best to Bud Abbott and Lou Costello shortly before the great Universal
horror cycle thudded to a close when the two comedians met and subdued The
Mummy in 1955.
The appeal of these monsters was so enduring that they played a major
role in the success of the Hammer Studio horror film series which began with The
Curse o f Frankenstein in 1957. Mixing vivid color into these monsters’ depictions
for the first time. Hammer invested its films with more overt action and pandering
displays of their female stars’ cleavage than had been found in the classic Universal
films. Christopher Lee’s Dracula was more athletically assertive than Bela Lugosi’s,
while the Frankenstein series focused not on the creature’s travails but rather on
those of his creator. Oliver Reed’s turn as Hammer’s Werewolf and Lee’s depiction
of the Mummy also contributed to the Hammer stable while the studio played
around with the Jeky 11and Hyde story and discovered the soft-core attraction of its
lesbian vampire tales as well.
O f note here is the choice Hammer made to formulate its Mummy series
around the mythology engendered by Universal’s follow-ups to the Karloff film.
Featuring Tom Tyler or Lon Chaney, Jr. as Kharis, this Mummy gave rise to the
usual depiction of the slow moving, bandage-wrapped figure that became the series’