Is The Mummy Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Barely, 3 out of 10. It is a monster adventure with a few jump scares.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
3 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
Gone by the time the credits finish, apart from a mild feeling about scarabs.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: Fine for most kids who can handle flesh-eating bugs and a mummy.
The Mummy runs two hours and four minutes. A librarian, her brother and a treasure hunter go looking for a lost city in 1926 Egypt that is considered a myth. The Medjai tell them to leave, and they keep digging.
The premise, briefly
In 1926 Egypt, a librarian, her brother and an adventurer dig through a lost city and wake a cursed priest.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan beat Imhotep by making him mortal, and Rick stabs him. Beni is devoured by scarabs in the collapsing city, while the others escape with some of his loot and Ardeth Bay waves them off.
The scene you're dreading
The opening, set in ancient Thebes, where Imhotep is buried alive with flesh-eating scarabs. Near the end, the cowardly Beni is devoured by scarabs too. Both happen to villains.
The dog
No dog dies in The Mummy.
The Mummy is an adventure with a few jump scares and some creepy scarab scenes.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
The original reason for the bugs
In Thebes in 1290 BC, Pharaoh Seti I learns that his high priest Imhotep is secretly involved with Anck-su-namun, the pharaoh's mistress. Seti confronts them and they kill him. Anck-su-namun kills herself so Imhotep has time to escape the Medjai, the pharaoh's bodyguards. Imhotep and his priests steal her corpse and carry it to Hamunaptra, planning to bring her back, but the Medjai stop them. The priests are mummified alive and Imhotep gets a curse and a burial while still alive, along with a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. This is the scene to brace for, and it comes at the very start. The scarabs are part of Imhotep's punishment. The Medjai swear to stop Imhotep from ever returning, since his resurrection would give him immortality and power.
In Cairo in 1926, Jonathan Carnahan brings his sister Evelyn, a librarian who wants to be an Egyptologist, a box and a map leading to Hamunaptra, which is now thought to be a myth. He stole the box from Rick O'Connell, an American adventurer who found the city three years earlier while serving in the French Foreign Legion. Evelyn strikes a deal with a crooked prison warden to release Rick, who can guide them there, and she wants the golden Book of Amun-Ra that is supposedly hidden there. At Hamunaptra they compete with an American expedition guided by Beni Gabor, who is Rick's cowardly former Legion colleague. The Medjai ambush both groups, and their leader Ardeth Bay tells them to go. They keep digging. The Americans turn up the Book of the Dead and five canopic jars. Evelyn, Rick and Jonathan find Imhotep's mummified body.
Evelyn reads the wrong book aloud
Later that night Evelyn takes the Book of the Dead out of the rival camp and reads aloud from it, which wakes Imhotep. After a confrontation with him and the Medjai, both expeditions flee to Cairo, and Imhotep spares Beni because Beni speaks Hebrew and can translate. Imhotep follows them to Cairo and unleashes the Plagues of Egypt. He hunts down the Americans who found the Book of the Dead, and each death restores more of his human form and strength. At the museum the group finds Ardeth, whom Dr. Bey is hosting, and learns that Dr. Bey is also a Medjai. They work out that Imhotep wants to use Evelyn as a sacrifice to resurrect Anck-su-namun, and that the Book of Amun-Ra is the only way to stop him. Imhotep and a mind-controlled mob corner them, and Evelyn is taken. Dr. Bey sacrifices himself so the others can escape.
Back to the book
Rick's old friend and pilot Winston Havelock agrees to fly Rick, Jonathan and Ardeth to Hamunaptra. Imhotep conjures a magical sandstorm that brings the plane down and kills Winston. The rest cross the desert on foot to the city. Rick and Jonathan locate the Book of Amun-Ra, and Ardeth meanwhile fights Imhotep's resurrected servants. In the ritual chamber, Rick frees Evelyn. Jonathan commands several guards through the book and sends them after the resurrected Anck-su-namun. Evelyn then uses the book to make Imhotep mortal, and Rick stabs him fatally. Imhotep vows revenge as he decays back into a corpse.
The ending, explained
While the main group deals with Imhotep, Beni steals treasure from Hamunaptra and sets off a booby trap. He is buried in the collapsing city and devoured by the scarabs, so the opening scene finishes its job. Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan escape the city before it falls. Outside they find that Ardeth survived. He says goodbye as they ride off, and they take some of Beni's stolen loot with them. Imhotep is dead again, Anck-su-namun is dead for the second time. Winston and Dr. Bey died earlier on the way.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Mummy scary?
Barely. The Mummy is a 3 out of 10 with low dread, an adventure with a few jump scares and some creepy scarab scenes.
How does The Mummy end?
Evelyn uses the Book of Amun-Ra to make Imhotep mortal and Rick stabs him. Beni is devoured by scarabs in the collapsing city, and the others escape with some of his loot.
Does the dog die in The Mummy?
No dog dies in The Mummy.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Mummy?
No. The Mummy has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Why does Imhotep come back in The Mummy?
Evelyn wakes him by reading from the Book of the Dead at Hamunaptra. In The Mummy, Imhotep then wants to resurrect his lover Anck-su-namun, using Evelyn as the sacrifice.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of The Mummy is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You can find out how The Mummy ends without any scarabs. Install Scaredy Cat and the internet's horror gets blurred before you see it.
