Kharis is the name of a mummy who comes to life in a series of films that were follow-ups but not sequels to 1932’s The Mummy which starred Boris Karloff as the briefly seen mummy in the beginning and later as Imhotep who desperately searches for the Scroll of Thoth and Princess Ankh-es-en-Amon who is within the body of a mortal woman...in the first film featuring the Kharis character which was called The Mummy's Hand (released in 1940), the character was played by actor Tom Tyler...three subsequent films featured Lon Chaney Jr. as Kharis... The Mummy's Tomb (1942), The Mummy's Ghost (1944), and The Mummy's Curse (also 1944),...the iconic image that is remembered of the mummy is usually the version played by Karloff...however, the Kharis films (1942’s The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Ghost 1944, and The Mummy’s Curse 1944) are remembered for the stereotype of the foot dragging mummy that plods along while performing his deeds of doom...the films featuring Kharis also introduce the idea of tana leaves being used for the mummy's survival...3 tana leaves are used to keep his heart beating, and 9 are used to stimulate him to action (which usually involves killing some poor sap)...some of the Kharis films lift scenes directly from the original Mummy movie...it took eight years for a second mummy film to be made unlike sequels to Frankenstein and Dracula...in the Kharis films, Kharis is a living mummy in search of Princess Ananka...more mummy films have been made including ‘The Mummy’ film which was made in 1958 starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing...in that one, three archaeologists in Egypt search for the 4,000-year-old tomb of Princess Ananka and are warned of grave consequences if they defile her tomb...of course, they don’t listen and go ahead with the expedition which leads to attrition...one is overcome by madness and later killed in the sanitarium by the mummy, and as the others take up their lives in England, the mummy that they brought with them begins a series of murders that take place...a great mummy film is 1967’s ‘The Mummy’s Shroud’ starring Andre Morell, Maggie Kimberly and John Phillips...the movie is where a group of archaeologists unearth the hidden tomb of Kah-to-Bey which is hailed as a miraculous find...they of course ignore the menacing warnings of the tomb's guardian...the archaeological party move Kah-to-Bey to Cairo and place him next to his slave and protector, Prem...Phillips plays Stanley Preston, a self-important blowhard to gets his comeuppance...Kimberly plays Claire who is a noted linguist and warns that two of the four explorers will not survive...and she is correct...she hesitates when asked to read the writing on the shroud for fear of awakening the mummy and bringing him back to life...when the guardian reads the words on the shroud on Kah-to-Bey out loud, Prem comes to life and destroys those that have defiled his master...I made the mistake to see ‘The Mummy’ movie that came out last year I think with Tom Cruise and that had to be the most god awful thing I ever sat through...I was hoping Kharis would be angered and take revenge on anyone who had anything to do with that dreck.
Swan Lake- Opening theme from the 1932 film 'The Mummy'...also opening theme of 'Dracula'
