The Mummy Revisited
I have previously covered the Universal Mummy series, which you can find here.
This post will cover the remake of the film.
This post will cover the remake of the film.
GLIMMERGLASS: THE CREATIVE WRITER’S ANNUAL, VOLUME 1 “THE BEAST” (STORY BY JOHN SMALL)
Release Date: October 15, 2009 (Setting is 1700s to Contemporary Times)
Series: King Kong (Original)
Horror Crosses: King Kong (2005 remake); War of the Worlds (novel); War of the Worlds (radio); The Mummy (remake film series); Jurassic Park (film series); Kong: the Animated Series; Jurassic Park (novel)
Non-Horror Crosses: Buckaroo Banzai; Tarzan; Flash Gordon; Tales of the Gold Monkey; Journey to the Center of the Earth; Tales of the Shadowmen; Doc Savage; Indiana Jones; Mighty Joe Young; A-Team; Fu Manchu
The Story: Author John Small discovers that the film King Kong was based on true events and gathers research on the true events of the film and the follow-up events that have happened since.
Notes: John Small uses a popular Farmerian method (named for Philip Jose Farmer) in which he places himself in the world of fiction, imagining that fictional stories are based on true events. Here, he melds together the original Kong story, and its sequels, prequels, and remakes, and makes them all fit into one coherent reality. Along the way, he throws in references to other fictional characters who must have been involved in such events based on their stature and the nature of the event. John Small makes official my conjecture that the 2005 film by Peter Jackson is the same events as the original film, just retold with dramatic license from Mr. Jackson. In explaining how the events of Kong could have happened in a world where most people are unaware of the supernatural and the extraordinary, he references other events that have later been covered up, despite their overly public exposure, such as the 1898 and 1938 Martian invasions from War of the Worlds, and the invasion of Mongo from Flash Gordon. DOC SAVAGE and TARZAN employ Denham to return to Skull Island to do documentary filming. Skull Island is said to be "the Menace of the Monsters". Joining in on the expedition were INDIANA JONES, Alex O'Connell (famous for taking down THE MUMMY), and Joshua Williams (from "Joshua Williams Breaks a Date"). (TARZAN couldn't make it due to events seen in TARZAN ALIVE). Roland Tembo is among the expedition as well. Tembo's CINEVERSE counterpart appears in THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK. SON OF KONG is a fictionalized version of events that actually happened during this expedition. In Kong Reborn, Dr. Jill Drake is involved in this incident. Jill discovers that BUCKAROO BANZAI has moved a clone of KING KONG to BANDUKI. It may be that the events of KONG: THE ANIMATED SERIES may be based on these events, which involve a female scientist who clones Kong then has to release him in a suitable environment. It was followed by KONG: KING OF ATLANTIS and KONG: RETURN TO THE JUNGLE. Among the crew that journeys to Skull Island in the first expedition is Jake Cutter (TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY). Kong is of the same species as seen in JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE, and TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN 3: DANSE MACABRE "The Ape Gigans". Mighty Joe Young is also connected to Kong and one of Denham’s grandsons is tied in as a villain on an episode of the A-Team. Fu Manchu is also said to be the villain secretly behind Jurassic Park.
THE MUMMY (FILM)
Release Date: May 7, 1999 (Setting is 1926)
Series: The Mummy (remake)
Non-Horror Crosses: The Jungle Book
The Story: High Priest Imhotep is mummified for touching the Pharoah’s bride, Anck-su-Namun, and she is killed. Thousands of years later, the priest’s place of unrest is a fabled place considered to be cursed, but also a place of great treasure. Librarian and hopeful archeologist Evie Carnahan and her no-good brother Jonathan enlist Rick O’Connell, who has been there, to show them the way, while a competing team also heads there seeking treasure. Of course, they accidentally resurrect Imhotep, who now has amazing magical powers. He plans to rule Earth, and kind of destroy it, and resurrect his love in the body of Evie. Rick gets the assistance of the Maji to put the bad guy down.
Notes: This is more of an action film, but it is a remake of the classic Universal horror film. Both versions are brought into the Horror Universe, but luckily are different enough to not cause continuity issues. In the film they visit Fort Brydon, which is named for Colonel Brydon of the Jungle Book. Stephen Sommers wrote and directed both 1999’s Mummy and 1994’s Jungle Book. In the Mummy’s commentary, Sommers states this was an intentional linking of the films. This film is followed by a few sequels, starting with the Mummy Returns. This film has been referenced as fictional, paid homage to, and spoofed numerous times in other films and on television.
THE MUMMY RETURNS (FILM)
Release Date: April 29, 2001 (Setting is 1933)
Series: Mummy (remake)
Non-Horror Crosses: Scorpion King
The Story: The reincarnation of Anck-su-namun unearths her beloved Imhotep, who returns for revenge and a new plan to defeat a resurrected Scorpion King and steal his power.
Notes: Sequel to the remake Mummy, this film continues in an animated series and a third film, and the Scorpion King gets his own prequel film series after this, which are not even remotely horror but more of the sword and sandals genre. This film has been referenced as fictional and paid homage to numerous times in other films and on television. It has also been spoofed in the 2001 MTV Movie Awards and Kung Pow: Enter the Fist.
THE MUMMY (ANIMATED SERIES)
Release Date: September 29, 2001 to June 7, 2003 (Set in 1930s following the Mummy Returns)
Series: The Mummy (Remake)
The Story: Imhotep arises again, but this time the O’Connells must chase the fiend around the world.
Notes: The only thing that may contradict the live action movies is that in Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Rick states that he put down the same mummy twice, but if we count this series, it would be three times. This series follows the Mummy Returns and is followed by The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
SEASON 1 EPISODE 6 “THE ORB OF ATAN”
Release Date: November 3, 2001 (Setting is 1935)
Horror Crosses: The Mummy (Universal)
Non-Horror Crosses: Simon of Gitta; Conan the Barbarian
The Story: I’ve only seen one episode of this series, when it was originally airing. I barely remember the episode, and I’m sure this wasn’t the episode I watched. I tried to do an internet search and came up with nothing.
Notes: The Scroll of Thoth appears in this episode. The Scroll first appeared in Universal’s The Mummy, which was remade into the film that this cartoon is a spin-off of. If the Scroll had appeared in the first remake film, I may have not counted it as a cross, and thus wouldn’t have included the remake for inclusion. But because it shows up here, we can use this as a cross with the original, and so both versions are in the Horror Universe. Incidentally, the Scroll was also seen regularly in sword and sandal series Simon of Gitta, and the Scroll is named for Conan’s adversary Thoth-Amon. My choice for including this series in supported also with the appearance of Shangra-La in Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR (FILM)
Release Date: 2008 (Setting is 1946)
Series: The Mummy (remake)
Non-Horror Crosses: Lost Horizon
The Story: The family who should know better find another mystical mummy. This time around, Rick and Evelyn are bored, having no adventures any more. Evelyn has successfully published two “fictional” tales about fighting a mummy in Egypt. (One must wonder if these later became films.) Their boy Alex is supposed to be in college but instead is digging up another mummy. The three must work through their family problems while putting down another mummy.
Notes: The third in a series that was loosely a remake of the Universal Mummy series. This series doesn’t mention the animated series, and in fact mentions that Rick put down the same mummy twice, which might seem to negate the animated series. However, I’m choosing to overlook it since the animated series and this film are both meant to be continuations of the first two films and other than the one remark, there is no other contradiction. In this film, the O’Connells visit Shangri-La, from the novel Lost Horizon. This film follows The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai and is followed by a 2016 film called the Mummy currently in development at this writing. This film has been referenced on Saturday Night Live, the Tonight Show, and more.
GHOSTBUSTERS II (FILM)
Release Date: June 16, 1989 (Setting is five years after Ghostbusters, in December - January 1)
Series: Ghostbusters
Horror Crosses: Mummy (remake)
Non-Horror Crosses: Sherlock Holmes (Modern Film Series)
The Story: After having been shut down due to the mess they made of the city when they destroyed the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the team has gone in separate directions with new jobs. But when a supernatural slime under the city starts bringing the ghosts back, the team reunites.
Notes: The film would seem to contradict the animated series, in that the series has the team continue to operate over the past five years, while the film implies that the team went under shortly after the fight with Zuul. It’s been suggested that perhaps due to the slow nature of lawsuits, it took five years to shut them down, and they had only been out of business for a few months. The fact that Slimer shows up a few times in the film, hanging out at the firehouse, and helping in the final battle, would indicate that the animated series did happen before this film. The main supernatural villain of this film, Vigo, is based on Dracula. More specifically, he’s inspired by the historical Vlad the Impaler. In the Horror Universe, Vlad the Impaler is the Count Dracula from Bram Stoker’s novel. Vigo might have been another Son of the Dragon, but it’s doubtful that he was a soul clone. Vigo is quoted as saying just before his execution “Death is only the beginning.” This quote was also said by Imhotep in the 2000s remake of the Mummy and by the villain in the 2000s film Sherlock Holmes. I have done a lot of research to find the source of that quote historically, and have found none. It seems to originate from this film. Viggo of course was an occultist who studied how to return from the dead with great power. Imhotep did as well, and so did the villain from Sherlock Holmes (though in the last instance it was a hoax, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t still quite the scholar in the occult). I can only conclude that in the Horror Universe, this is an ancient quote from some ancient text of the occult, regarding resurrection. That then provides a link between Ghostbusters and the Mummy, both of which are already in the Horror Universe. It also provides a link to the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film. The 2009 film works for Horror Universe canon, but the sequel must be a divergent timeline. A third Ghostbusters film is currently in development at the time of this writing. This film has been referenced as fiction or paid homage to numerous times in other films and on television. It has also been spoofed on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, The Van, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Saints Row IV.
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