Mummy Dearest

Watching last night's film--1959's "The Mummy" starring the incomparable Christopher Lee who can be compared to the incomparable Peter Cushing who was also in the film--it occurred to me that the titular mummy could have caused much greater havoc if he were armed. And this is a noticeable trend--as deadly dangerous as say vampires are, does it not occur to them to pick up a machine gun and some grenades and go on an unkillable rampage? No one can possibly get close enough to shove a stake in your heart if you have an AK-47.

Mummies of course became fearsome because deep down we all have a fear of things that are wrapped and preserved. You name it, mummies, Spam, the existing copies of the Magna Carta--all these things inspire fear and dread. (This is why I didn't see that horror film, "National Treasure". That, and the fact that I heard it was awful). A mummy coming to life--now there's some scary stuff!

Though, I can't help but wonder if maybe the mummy would be more scared of us than we are of him. Here he is, all wrapped and stuff, coming alive in a world where no one speaks ancient Egyptian (apparently, that language sounds a lot like pictures of dog-headed people and leaves), motor vehicles are roaming around instead of chariots, and the weather everywhere is absolutely freezing compared to ancient deserts. Maybe, just maybe, someone needs to do a film from the mummy's point of view so we can have a better understanding of the dead that walk among us.