Cast and Crew: Jerry Goldsmith (Score); John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J. O’Connor, Oded Fehr, Jonathan Hyde, Erick Avari
What It’s About: Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) recruits condemned soldier of fortune and ex-Legionnaire Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) to guide her to the ancient city of Hamunaptra. Can they beat another expedition to the fabled city, avoid death at the hands of a fanatical Egyptian cult sworn to keeping the secrets of Hamunaptra buried, and survive those very secrets?
Why Watch it Today?: King Tut’s burial chamber was unsealed today in 1923. Tales of the curse of the tomb eventually lead to Universal’s The Mummy and an entire new sub-genre of horror and today’s remake of the 1932 horror classic. Easily the most entertaining “re-imagining” of Universal’s back catalog of horror films as modern blockbusters, Stephen Sommers sets the film in 1923, with the emphasis on Indiana Jones style action rather than the original’s “what if Dracula starred Boris Karloff and didn’t suck” brand of romantic horror.
Other Choices: In additional to the 1932 original, Hammer’s 1959 version is quite nice, or for a completely tangential (but funny) choice, how about Bubba Ho-Tep? If you’d like to see Egyptian ruins, but avoid any supernatural complications, there’s always Death on the Nile.
The League of Dead Films 
Ha, I still remember being in the theater when someone shouted out, “The mummy hates pussy!”
My film like that is Halloween H20, which will always feature a woman yelling “CUT HIS HAND OFF AND GIVE IT TO HIM. CUT HIS HAND OOOOFFF GIRRRL. CUT HIS HEAD OFF. CUT IT OFF!” Then there was the screening of As Good As It Gets with a guy making clicking noises the entire film.
“what if Dracula starred Boris Karloff and didn’t suck”
I see what you did there. Very much appreciated.
Thank you sir. Best thumbnail sketch of that film League of Dead Films Industries could come up with. 🙂