Havoc and terror temporarily reign when a incredibly powerful and evil mummy is unearthed and chanted back to life.

THE MUMMY - Is a combination adventure / horror film, that is made in the spirit of both the Indiana Jones movies and Universal's legendary 1932 "The Mummy," a horror classic. It offers thrills and chills and suspense galore, as the audience follows "this truly, nonstop action epic, filled with dazzling visual effects, top-notch talent and superb storytelling."

The story begins during Egyptian times in the city of Hamunaptra. The High Priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), makes a move on Pharaoh Seti I's beautiful girlfriend, Anck Su Namunand (Patricia Velazquez). When Imhotep is caught by Pharaoh Seti I (Aharon Ipalé), himself, Imhotep winds up killing the Pharaoh. The girlfriend kills herself, with the plan that the priest Imhotep would bring her back to life, by chanting from the book of spells. However, before he can, Imhotep is caught and put to death in a most cruel way. He is wrapped up alive, with flesh-eating beetles in his coffin.

Three thousand years later, two rival parties go to explore this now hidden,ancient city, where the mummy, his cohorts, the treasures, and the sought after book of spells are all buried. One group is led by a woman archeologist, Evelyn 'Evie' Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), after the book of spells, with her brother, Johnathan Carnahan , and guide , Rick O'Connell (Brandan Fraser). The other group consists of a bunch of American mavericks, led by a slimy ex-friend of Rick's, Beni Gabor (Kevin J. O'Connor) on a treasure-seeking expedition.

Everything, of course, is dug up and found, after a fight with the local Arab guardians of Hamunaptra, led by the good-looking Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr). Evelyn Carnahan makes the mistake of reading out loud, you guessed it, the spell that awakens the now incredibly powerful mummy priest, Imhotep. Mayhem, havoc, terror, death, and possession becomes a reality, and it takes incredible courage and fortitude of our heroes, led by Brendan Fraser, to save the archeologist, and defeat the forces of evil. The Priest, after getting all his flesh back, has a plan to revive the spirit of Anck Su Namunand into the archeologist's body.

Fantastic, realistic animation, tremendous special effects really make it seem real. Such scenes as the various stages of the rotted mummy corpse gaining human form, as he goes about consuming the party of mavericks who opened the book of spells box, activating the curse against them. The creepy, flesh-eating beetles really seem real as well, which adds to the horror aspect of the film.

The cast does a great job, portraying their characters, taking part in this rousing adventure, that is both thrilling and horrifying. Brendan Fraser fills the brave, romantic hero role very well, with much aplomb.

Rachel Weisz also stands out as the slightly clumsy archeologist, eager to prove her professional skills, and who shows some courage as well, when the bad priest has her in his clutches.

John Hannah is pretty good as the comical brother, who has a tendency to get into messes, saying the wrong thing, getting a little drunk, etc.

The handsome Arnold Vosloo is wonderfully creepy and evil, making a challenging foe and all around powerful bad guy.

Oded Fehr had many women movie goers wowed by his smooth, brave, incredibly hunky character. Due to his great popularity, his character, Ardeth Bay, has much more screen time in the sequel, "The Mummy Returns," becoming a strong, supporting character.

This movie has a PG-13 rating, because it's pretty scary for children, as everything looks so real and creepy.

Music: Jerry Goldsmith. Exec. Producer: Kevin Jarre. Film Editor: Bob Ducsay. Screen story by: Stephen Sommers, Lloyd Fonvielle, and Kevin Jarre. Screenplay by: Stephen Sommers. Special Effects and Animation by: Industrial Light & Magic.