#14 - The Mummy (1932)
Another one of the great Universal monster movies. After the success of Dracula and Frankenstein, every studio wanted to get in on the horror craze, but this movie really cemented Universal as the leader of the pack and Boris Karloff as a star. While Karloff became instantly famous after Frankenstein, this movie really showed off his skill as an actor much more.
In a lot of ways, this movie is basically just Dracula with a mummy instead of a vampire. Imhotep is more sympathetic than Dracula, but the basic elements of the plot are the same - a monster with the power to control men's minds rises from the grave and is brought into modern society. In both movies, the monster also has the hots for the leading lady and wants to kill her. Both films do the "intense glowing eyes" thing when the monster is using it's powers. Even the exact same music is used over the opening credits of each film, too - a haunting version of the theme from Swan Lake.
Even though they are very similar, I like this one better than Dracula. This is mostly due to Karloff being a better and more sympathetic actor than Bela Lugosi, but also because it doesn't feel quite as "stagey" as Dracula does. Not the best Universal monster film, but certainly deserving of it's classic status.
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