The Mummy

It reviews better than it plays — admired more than it is enjoyed.

• “Its qualities are almost entirely abstract and visual, with colour essential to its muted, subtle imagery. Christopher Lee looks tremendous in the title role, smashing his way through doorways and erupting from green, dream-like quagmires in really awe-inspiring fashion.”

  Staff (Not Credited), Time Out · 80

• “The Mummy is one of Hammer’s classics, cleverly fusing the human pathos of the original Universal film with the creature-centric physicality of the sequels the latter inevitably yielded.”

  Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine · 75

• “If you loved Universal’s Mummy but wished it had more Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, here you go.”

  Scott Beggs, Slashfilm · 65

• “Alternately corny and magical, scary and comic, naive and perverse, elegant and clumsy, The Mummy is always stylish and atmospheric, and Cushing and Lee became enduring world stars.”

  Philip French, The Guardian · 60

• “This remake really can't compare with the 1932 original and Lee is given no chance to flesh out his character in the haunting manner that Boris Karloff did, but for fairly standardized movie horror, this flick isn't half bad.”

  Staff (Not Credited), TV Guide Magazine · 60