(N.B. This report is from Izzy, a colleague of the Gothic Institute. Enjoy, Karnstein)
The wierd thing about Universal Studios' classic monsters was they were really, really fucking slow. With the exception of Dracula, the Wolfman and the Phantom of the Opera, if you were suddenly set upon by a legion of Karloff Frankenstein Monsters and Chaney Junior Mummies, if you broke into a light jog, you'd be home and dry. You're In Like Flint the second you pick up the pace and move in the opposite direction from the lumbering masses of decomposing skin, bandages and scales following you. It's always a funny sight to see scream queens back themselves into corners as the Mummy or the Creature from the Black Lagoon staggers towards her, arms upraised making low growling noises that sound like the noise mean dogs make when you get too close.
It actually never occured to me how dumb it is for the Creature From The Black Lagoon to make noise - kinda like the shark roaring in Jaws. But the Mummy is a different story. I guess a Mummy can make noises, if not speak, whilst in Mummy form. I mean when Im Ho Tep becomes human, yeah, sure he can speak, but when Kharis is dragging his leg behind him, can he speak? I mean, he never did, but could he? What would he say - "fuck you, Zucco, shove your Tana leaves up your ass and do your own dirty work?" How come every damn time you motherfuckers wake me up, the same damn thing happens? I fall in love, then that punk Banning sets fire to me?"
But, all that's irrelevant. What I really want to know is, who is the Universal Studios executive who decided to give Kharis a (semi) permanant limp and a broken (sometimes) arm? It's quite possibly the stupidest movie decision of all time, surpassed only by Greedo shooting first. The coolest thing was, whenever the Mummy had to walk up some stairs or carry Peggy Moran, his broken leg and arm miraculaously healed themselves. Something just occured to me - that bastard Kharis was pretending to have these injuries so the government would give him benefit! That cheating motherfucker! Mabye he's a single Mummy...
In Universal's 1932 "The Mummy," this new gothic horror irrevocably entered human consciousness as Im-Ho-Tep, played by Boris Karloff. Im-Ho-Tep is a man whose soul journeyed across thousands of years in the hope of reuniting with the woman he loves. Eight years later, Universal introduced a new character, Kharis, who would inspire a four-film series (and was played by Lon Chaney Jr. for three of those films). Unlike Im-Ho-Tep, who is able to assume a near human form and pass through society as the Egyptologist "Ardath Bey," Kharis is cursed to remain a hideous mummified corpse. Kharis is also distinguished by an addiction to the substance that sustained his existence, a brew of mysterious tana leaves. By controlling tana leaves, the humans around Kharis can control him, forcing him torturously to commit unspeakable acts of violence. His undead body is repeatedly mutilated as he is forced into one attack after another.
Although Universal's Kharis disappeared in "The Mummy's Curse" (1944), a new Kharis walked again in Hammer's "The Mummy" (1959). "The Mummy" was made by the same team that made "Horror of Dracula" and "Curse of Frankenstein," and, like those two films, it starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Together, these three films launched Hammer's two decade long reign over gothic horror. Hammer went on to produce "The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb" (1964), "The Mummy's Shroud" (1967), and "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb" (1971).
Since the disappearance of the Universal and Hammer Mummies, artists have reincarnated a number of Mummies. Yet, in the dark world of gothic horror today, Mummies may get less attention than other manifestations of terror. Perhaps they have been overlooked too carelessly. True, they lack the seductive presence of Vampires or the bestial passions of Lycanthropes, but they more than make up for it with undying obsession. Mummies are the mythic representation of human attachment, addiction, and inescapable longing. Our desperate needs that will not die are made manifest in a mummified corpse. Like all gothic monsters / heroes, the Mummy expresses uniquely some inescapable truth of the human condition. We at the Gothic Institute believe that Mummies will exist in our dreams and nightmares for millennia to come.
Founded in 1997 by Doctor Karnstein, the Gothic Institute was created to explore those human experiences illuminated by the various gothic art forms.
Copyright 1997-2004 by Karnstein
karnstein@geocities.com
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