The Mummy and Dracula need no introduction as far as horror is concerned. The latter is a true symbol of all horror since 1897 when he was introduced to the world thanks to the Irish author Bram Stoker although the former’s popularity unlike that of the latter is not directly due to literature even though similar characters before that came in novels like The Jewel of Seven Stars (by co-incidence written by the man who created Dracula) as well as The Ring of Thoth by (Sir) Arthur Conan Doyle. Hundreds of movies have been made about both the characters although it was not until 1992 that for nearly the most part, a Dracula movie was faithful to the book that Bram Stoker authored which was the character’s debut. Because of its attempted faithfulness to the book, the film was titled Bram Stoker’s Dracula When a new Mummy movie was released in 1999, it seemed to have some references to Dracula mainly in terms of the fact that there is an undead person with a strong romantic tone to him despite his monstrosity. I am a fan of both these movies and while I have normally often compared Dracula with Beauty and the Beast (which I still believe on some level, consciously or unconsciously may have inspired Dracula), I recently noticed similarities between Dracula and The Mummy which I wish to share with all of ye.
- As is known Dracula was based on a historical Romanian ruler Vlad Teppes whose title was Dracula meaning ‘Son of the Dragon’ (which was a generational title that his family before him bore) and he was fought to protect his land from Turks. Imhotep on the other hand was also taken in a manner of namesake from a real person of the same name who is credited with helping to build the first pyramids of Egypt.
- The start of each movie is set hundreds of years ago except (unlike Bram Stoker’s novel that introduced the title character) Dracula is of royal blood and Imhotep was just an advisor to a person of royal blood. Also, Imhotep is not married unlike Dracula but is involved in a secret affair with Ank-Su-Namun who is the wife of the Pharoah Seti.
- Dracula’s wife, Elisabeta, takes her own life because she believes he died in battle, falsely reported by his enemies, despite his victory. In response, Dracula becomes a vampire and renounces God as he seeks revenge for her damned soul. Ank-Su-Namun also commits suicide to escape her husband’s bodyguards after she and Imhotep kill him due to their affair being discovered by him. Imhotep attempts to resurrect the princess but is stopped by the Pharaoh’s guards and is mummified. Unlike Imhotep, Dracula’s transformation into a vampire is not shown on screen, and his priests remain loyal to God despite his actions although their fate is not known after Dracula falls from grace and transforms into the undead.
- Dracula opens with a war involving the triumph of the eponymous character whereas a war in The Mummy only happens after explaining Imhotep’s origins and concerns the main protagonist rather than the titular character. However, unlike Dracula who faces success and failure at the same time because he won the war but failed to save his wife from killing herself which results in his transformation into a vampire, Rick O’Connell’s entire army is wiped out and his enemies abandon him during the battle when they sense Imhotep’s presence even though they are sworn to prevent his return
- Renfield is an insane inmate in Dr Jack Seward’s asylum who is thought to have a link to Dracula although while Rick O’Connell is captured as an inmate as well following his discovery after the war that he lost, he is released by Evelyn and her brother Jonathan thanks to the latter knowing about Rick due to a book that he stole from him that can guide them to the Lost City of Hamunaptra.
- It is an interesting notion that Evelyn’s brother is named Jonathan and one of the title characters of Dracula is Jonathan Harker although unlike Harker, Evelyn’s brother is just a supporting character.
- Beni, a treacherous ally of Rick, eventually teams up with Imhotep. This parallels Jonathan Harker, who unknowingly takes Dracula as his client, discovering that his predecessor, Renfield, went mad after working with Dracula. In the original novel, Dracula exclusively communicates with Renfield, who never meets the vampire until much later, but Dracula promises Renfield rewards of rat and insect meat, similar to Imhotep promising Beni gold and treasure in exchange for his service. Both Beni and Renfield meet their demise, with Dracula killing Renfield for revealing his presence to the heroes before his own demise, and Beni being consumed by scarabs after the Mummy’s death.
- Dracula appears in both an elderly and youthful form in addition to taking on the humanoid forms of bat and wolf although he can also transform into a full wolf and into thousands of rats (as is known blood rejuvenates his youth). Imhotep is unable to take on any animal form given his fear of cats which Egyptians consider sacred although he seems to be made up of scarabs which are also his close minions and (some of whom) are partly bound to him
- Dracula fears all things holy in Christianity, like Sacramental Bread, Holy Water, and the Crucifix. Imhotep, on the other hand, dreads cats due to their sacred status in Egypt (as mentioned earlier). Surprisingly, Dracula and his kind can endure the presence of crucifixes to some extent, as they can melt or burn them, despite being repulsed and weakened by them although this introduced power by them is not present in the book which introduced the character. It is an interesting notion that when Beni encounters Imhotep, in attempting to protect himself attempts to rely on the protection of various worldwide holy objects including a crucifix to no avail but is spared by Imhotep whom he later goes on to serve after the Mummy recognizes his fluency in ancient slave language
- Dracula primarily rests in a Transylvanian soil-filled coffin and while he can be active during the day, his powers are weak. Imhotep remains deceased as long as the Book of the Dead, which can resurrect him, is inaccessible.
- Dracula’s main sustenance is blood which makes him younger while Imhotep devours human flesh although it does not seem to rejuvenate him, and he already seems quite young although his age is presumed to be between his 30s and his 50s.
- Ardeth Bey the chieftain of the Medjai warriors can be seen as a counterpart to Abraham Van Helsing who is Dracula’s sworn enemy although Helsing does not lead any team which are sworn to protect the world unlike the Medjai who are devoted to ensuring that Imhotep does not return to the world, something that stretches back as far as when their ancestors served the King who was killed by Imhotep for which they mummified him alive (and in the process, his great love killed herself due to participating in the King’s death) and thus swore to protect the earth from his unholy existence. Also, Bey first views Rick and his team as a threat rather than allies and constantly attempts to stop him in order to ensure that he knows nothing of Imhotep until the end of the movie before which they team up to stop Imhotep although he still maintains that Rick, Evelyn and her brother leave Hamunaptra or die once Imhotep is defeated.
- Like Dracula is worshipped and supported by an evil gypsy party, Imhotep too has those who look up to him although his most trusted and important minions apart from the scarabs that he is bound to (as well as humans who worship him) are his undead henchmen
- What is not part of the novel that introduced Dracula is that he believes Mina to be the reincarnation of his centuries dead love Elisabeta and seeks her out Imhotep believes Evelyn to be the reincarnation of Ank-Su-Namun in the same way although unlike Mina, she does not remember a past life. However much like Mina puts Dracula out of his misery at the end of the book following his mortal wounding at the hands of Jonathan Harker and Quincy Morris (the latter of whom dies shortly after) Evelyn plays a huge part in rendering Imhotep mortal so that Rick can kill him.
- Dracula won three Oscars for costume design, sound editing and makeup while The Mummy received none although at least in the category of sound, it did receive a nomination.
THE END