The Mummy as the fictional character first made his on-screen appearance in the 1932 Universal film The Mummy, which starred Boris Karloff as Imhotep, a 3,700-year-old cursed mummy accidentally brought back to life. Karloff’s Mummy established the character as a horror icon the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster.

For decades, The Mummy has been remembered as a slow-stalking, moaning vengeful killer, similar in gait to Frankenstein’s Monster. Universal’s Mummy films from the 1940s ramped up their horror movie line and secured the Mummy’s as an iconic cinematic monster, ready to make appearances with 1950’s comedians Abbott and Costello, in Scooby-Doo cartoons, and on cereal boxes.

In the late 1950s, the British production company Hammer began making their own string of Mummy remakes of Universal’s 1940’s offerings, but for over fifty years, The Mummy laid dormant at Universal, until 1999, when the studio once again resurrected The Mummy. This time, the bandaged figure was alive in all his full-color CGI glory in The Mummy and then again in 2001 with The Mummy Returns.

This weekend sees the release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the threequel to the 90’s franchise reboot starring Jet Li as a different kind of mummy.

Here’s a look at Universal’s line of Mummy movies and the undead it’s resurrected.

The Mummy
Special Edition (1932)
Directed by Karl Freund
Boris Karloff, Zita Johann
Universal Home Video
Release Date: July 8, 2008

In this original Mummy film, Boris Karloff plays the Egyptian mummy Im-Ho-Tep, who’s accidentally brought to life by British archaeologists 3,700 years after being buried alive. Once revived, Im-Ho-Tep sheds his funeral wrapping and takes on the persona of Egyptologist Ardath Bay with the intent to reunite with the reincarnation of his long lost love, Princess Anck-es-en-Amon, the young Helen Grosvenor. Unfortunately, in this lifetime, Helen’s in love with someone else, and while she is mesmerized by Ardath Bay, in order for the lovers to reunite in their ancient roles, Helen will have to die and be reborn as Im-Ho-Tep was.

This 1932 black and white Universal horror classic was greatly inspired by the discovery a decade prior of King Tutankhamun’s tomb and the supposed curse it contained. Universal was making a name for itself in the horror/monster genre and thought that The Mummy would be the perfect follow-up vehicle for Karloff, who had at the time just gained recognition playing the iconic Frankenstein’s Monster in Frankenstein.