SOCIAL SPOTLIGHT

 

Actors don’t just light up the screen — they light up the feed. Social Spotlight takes a look at how today’s stars promote their movies through the platforms that matter.

This round we have an Instagram post from The Chain star Joe Keery....

THE NUMBERS: HIGHEST PAID OF SEASON 36

 

As another season of Last Resort Films gets ready to come to a close, we are going to look at the highest paid talents of Season 36 in this latest edition of The Numbers. 

T-10. Chloe Grace Moretz - $12 million

- Fading Star - $12 million

T-10. Jared Leto - $12 million

- Gray - $12 million

T-10. Russell Crowe - $12 million

- The Song of Roland - $12 million

9. Glen Powell - $13 million

- Fletch - $13 million

8. Jacob Elordi - $15 million

- Assassin's Creed: Eternal - $15 million

7. Dwayne Johnson - $15 million

- Donkey Kong Country - $15 million

6. Vin Diesel - $15 million

- Lobo - $15 million

5. Timothee Chalamet - $15 million

- Gray - $15 million

4. Chris Evans - $16 million

- The Bounty Hunter - $16 million

3. Sydney Sweeney - $18 million

- The Chain - $18 million

2. Jason Momoa - $20 million

- Boba Fett - $20 million

1. Ryan Gosling - $20 million

- Stretch Armstrong - $20 million

Release: Tales from the Crypt

 

Tales from the Crypt

Genre: Horror

Directors: Michael Dougherty (Fangs of Fate), Bryan Bertino (The Last Supper), Ti West (Drawn to Death), Til Death Do Us Part (Andy Muschietti)

Writer: Joshua Collins

Based on the television series and EC Comics property

Cast: RJ Cyler, Diedrich Bader, Dan Fogler, Sam Worthington, Katheryn Winnick, Logan Miller, Kathryn Newton, Ryder Allen, Christopher Meloni, Anna Akana, Emilia Clarke, Christoph Waltz, Asher Angel, John Kassir (voice)

Budget: $32,000,000

Domestic Box Office: $30,770,563

Foreign Box Office: $18,139,592

Total Profit: -$11,300,995

Reaction: Even with a brand name attached, horror (or really any genre) anthology films are tough thing to sell to modern audiences on the big screen.

"As an anthology, Tales from the Crypt is predictably uneven, with strong premises that don’t always stick the landing. Some segments feel rushed, while others overstay their welcome, and the tonal shifts between horror and comedy don’t always blend smoothly. The cast is game—particularly Dan Fogler and Emilia Clarke—but a few stories lean too heavily on familiar “twist” endings. It’s fun in spurts, but lacks consistency." - Robert Avery, San Jose Mercury

"The biggest problem with Tales from the Crypt isn’t any one segment—it’s the format itself. By returning to a patchwork anthology, the film abandons the stronger, feature-length storytelling approach of earlier entries in favor of a hodgepodge of half-ideas that never fully develop. None of the segments feel fresh or inventive, leaning heavily on familiar “ironic punishment” beats without adding anything new to the formula. Even the Crypt Keeper’s presence, while nostalgic, can’t mask the sense that this is a step backward for the property. What should feel like a revival instead plays like a retread." - Cooper Wilson, The Earl Hays Press

"Tales from the Crypt is a bloody, darkly comedic return to form, capturing the spirit of the original series with a modern edge. The anthology structure works well, with “Fangs of Fate” and “Drawn to Death” standing out as especially creative and satisfying entries. The Crypt Keeper remains the film’s MVP, delivering pun-filled transitions with infectious energy. While not every segment lands equally, the film’s mix of horror, humor, and moral irony makes it a consistently entertaining ride." - Owens Poppins, RogerEbert.com

Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, sexual content, and language throughout.

TOP 10 Joshua Collins Adaptations

 

Sherman J. Pearson here for another Top 10. Writer Joshua Collins has had a better original/adaptation balance than most since he joined the LRF ranks back in Season 21 - almost 50-50. This time around, I decided to look at his adaptations.

Top 10 Joshua Collins Adaptations

10. Gigantor

9. Knight Rider

8. Watch Dogs

7. Tales from the Crypt

6. Krueger

5. ThunderCats

4. Calvin and Hobbes

3. The Flintstones (w/ Lon Charles)

2. EarthBound

1. Nineteen Minutes

Now Showing: Tales from the Crypt

 

Tales from the Crypt

Genre: Horror

Directors: Michael Dougherty (Fangs of Fate), Bryan Bertino (The Last Supper), Ti West (Drawn to Death), Til Death Do Us Part (Andy Muschietti)
Writer: Joshua Collins
Based on the television series and EC Comics property

Cast: RJ Cyler, Diedrich Bader, Dan Fogler, Sam Worthington, Katheryn Winnick, Logan Miller, Kathryn Newton, Ryder Allen, Christopher Meloni, Anna Akana, Emilia Clarke, Christoph Waltz, Asher Angel, John Kassir (voice)

Plot: Before the film starts, we get a great callback to the shows opening, as the credits roll, we get a tour of the iconic creepy castle of the Crypt Keeper.

The camera pans into a dimly lit alley, where the unmistakable sound of growls and jeers echoes. Our host, The Crypt Keeper (voiced by John Kassir), steps into view, holding a dog leash, which is attached to a dog-skeleton. Crypt Keeper says "Now play dead, Spot!" when the dog doesn't move, Keeper says, "Good boy!"

"Welcome, boils and ghouls, to tonight’s tail-wagging tale of terror. It's a story about loyalty, betrayal, and a beastly bite of karma. I call it... 'Fangs of Fate.'"

*FANGS OF FATE*

Marcus "Mad Dog" Malone (RJ Cyler) is a seasoned hustler in the grimy underworld of illegal dog fighting. His prized pit bulls had dominated the ring for years, but lately, his luck had turned sour. Too many losses. Too many bruised egos. He needed an ace in the hole.

That’s when he heard whispers about a black-market auction. Word was they had something special—something that could turn the tide.

The auction was held in an abandoned warehouse, its air thick with desperation and greed. Under flickering fluorescent lights, Marcus spotted it—a dog unlike any he’d ever seen.

The beast was massive, with jet-black fur that shimmered like oil and eyes that burned an eerie shade of amber. When it growled, the room seemed to tremble.

“What’s the breed?” Marcus asked the auctioneer (Diedrich Bader), a wiry man with a permanent sneer.

“Exotic,” the man replied, grinning. “It’s got a killer instinct like nothing else. Yours for $10,000.”

Marcus didn’t hesitate. He shelled out the cash and named the beast "Lucifer."

Lucifer would live up to his name. In the ring, he was unstoppable. No dog could match his speed, his ferocity. The winnings poured in, and Marcus reveled in his newfound dominance.

But then came the fight against a dog called "Goliath." Goliath was eerily similar to Lucifer—black fur, glowing eyes, and a savage growl that shook the cage.

The battle was brutal. Teeth gnashed, blood sprayed, and the crowd roared. For the first time, Lucifer faltered. Goliath lunged with a feral howl, pinning Lucifer to the ground. When the dust settled, Lucifer lay defeated.

Furious, Marcus dragged Lucifer back to his van.

“You worthless mutt!” he screamed, kicking the dog. Lucifer snarled but didn’t fight back. His glowing eyes dimmed, and he slinked into the shadows of the van.

That night, Marcus chained Lucifer in the basement, muttering curses as he went to bed.

Around midnight, Marcus was jolted awake by a chilling sound. A Full Moon peering through Marcus' bedroom window as a low, guttural howl echoes through the house.

“Stupid dog,” he muttered, grabbing a bat.

As he descended the creaking basement stairs, the growling grew louder, deeper. At the bottom, he stopped cold. Marcus attempts to holler at the dog to 'shut up or I'm selling you to the Chinese restaurant down the block'

Lucifer was no longer chained. Marcus prepares for a fight, holding his bat up as a defense weapon. Lucifer stood on both legs, bigger than ever before. Growling, snarling, setting his sights on Marcus.

“Wha—what the hell are you?” Marcus stammered.

The creature lunged. Marcus attempted to swing the bat, but it only broke across Lucifer's face. Marcus screamed as claws ripped into his flesh. Teeth sank into his shoulder, and a searing pain shot through his body.

Marcus wakes up, and realizes he's somehow still alive, but his body felt wrong. His muscles bulged unnaturally, his senses were razor-sharp, and his skin prickled with an insatiable itch.

In a mirror, he saw the truth. His face was no longer human, but a werewolf: Fangs, Fur, glowing eyes.

Lucifer sat in the corner, now back to his dog form, watching with a knowing gaze.

The black market auction was buzzing the following night. In the center of the room stood a new cage: Marcus.

The auctioneer grinned at the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight’s special item—an exotic breed guaranteed to dominate the ring. Bidding starts at $20,000!”

Lucifer sat nearby, tail wagging as his amber eyes gleamed with amusement, as bidders shout out their numbers.

"Looks like Marcus bit off more than he could chew. Now he’s the one on a short leash. Careful what you bargain for, my friends, or you might find yourself in the doghouse... permanently!"

Crypt Keeper laughs, and introduces the next segment:

"The next course on the menu this evening, is a deliciously twisted tale of betrayal, revenge and a killer appetite for Justice. Bon appétit, my frightful foodies. I call this little slice of terror: The Last Supper."

*THE LAST SUPPER*

A beat-up pickup truck is driven by drifter, known as George (Dan Fogler), while George seems to carry himself well, he does seem to be haunted by the idea that someone is watching him. He once stalked and killed a college girl, Amanda, who turned down his advances. He killed her, slept with her corpse and left her in the woods, never being caught.

The truck starts to break down in a rural area. While most houses are few and far apart on this road, he goes door to door looking for help, but is finally answered by home owners: Frank (Sam Worthington) and Ginger (Katheryn Winnick).

While Frank and Ginger are welcoming to George's presence, there does seem to be something off about them. George notices they do have Christian imagery around their house, so he does try to relax. Frank hones in on a ring George is wearing and gets suspicious, but keeps quiet.

George settles onto a chair in the living room, Ginger offers him some "Stuffed Eggs," implying as Christians, they can't call them Deviled Eggs. On the TV, George notices a news report about how. Amanda's killer is still at large. George changes the channels and Frank brings up the ring, complimenting it, and George saying "man when you're a drifter like me, you can find the most bizarre things out there in the world." When George asks to see it, he notices the engraving on the ring was a message to Amanda from him. George tries to cover, saying the ring was for his own daughter, but she didn't want it. Frank says 'but you said you found this' and George dismisses Frank's suspicion, saying 'Yeah, I found it buried in the dirt at my daughter's house.'

George excuses himself to the bathroom and walks out to the front porch. He makes a phone call to an unknown person, saying he’s safe and a god-fearing couple are putting him up for the night. He tells them too bad he can’t risk leaving witnesses alive. “I’ll just feed them some BS about going to heaven, some stupid crap like that they’ll like.” With their backs turned to him, he points a ‘finger gun’ at them and mimes shooting them.

Frank meets Ginger in the kitchen and shows her the ring, Ginger wants to break down and cry, but Frank tells her they can't let him know that they know...or let him leave. Ginger agrees, "just like the rest of them"

The dinner feels tense and awkward, but the couple do their best to host George as they both play cat-and-mouse not giving away too much, but also curious about each other. Frank makes a confession, something silly he thinks God would easily forgive him for. He asks George if he has anything he’d like to confess. George declines. Ginger leads the table to prayer, mentioning their daughter not by name, but praying for her. The details get George’s attention, but he brushes it off.

George is ready for bed, but Ginger seduces him. Frank stands in the doorway watching, George notices and is about to say something, but Frank smiles, nods and walks away. With that approving nod, George relaxes and sleeps with Ginger. While they have sex, Frank is setting up a kill-room in the barn.

The next morning, George walks into the living room and sees framed pictures of Amanda on the walls and the tables. A home movie is playing on the TV, showing Amanda and her parents on a vacation. Just as George realizes what he walked into, Frank sneaks up and subdues him with Chloroform.

When George wakes up, he's strapped down in the barn. Ginger and Frank stare at him in the barn. "You like our museum? It's not the Lourve, but it is something, ain't it?" Frank asks. George looks around and sees mangled bodies hanging from the rafters of the barn. Ginger points at a few of the bodies, identifying their names and their crimes. Frank says they fill the cracks the law leaves behind.

Frank asks if Ginger wants to do the honors, offering her a chainsaw. Ginger cranks it up, "Where should I start?" She points the saw blade at different parts of George's body. "Eeny...meeny..miny..." she points it at George's crotch, "Moe"

"That's gonna be a real good juicy cut baby," Frank says.

George screams as Ginger begins the cut.

In the final scene, Frank and Ginger are enjoying a cooked meal of George's flesh. "What should we do with the rest of him?" Ginger asks. "Feed him to the pigs," Frank says.

We see the Crypt Keeper putting a dead person's head in the microwave. "Now wasn't that simply a dish to die for? I guess you could say George got his just desserts. You know what they always say, kiddies. Revenge is a dish best served George."

Crypt Keeper laughs. "That's not all, kiddies, we're about halfway through. If you're still alive that is."

"While you've been enjoying the last stories, I've been painting my masterpiece," he shows the audience a self-portrait. "This reminds me of our next devilish doodle. A tale of passion, ambition and a few sketchy decisions. A starving artist who should have left well enough alone, but he penciled himself into a corner. I call this chilling creation: Drawn to Death."

*Drawn to Death*

Derek Sanderson (Logan Miller) is at the end of his rope. Once a promising artist, he now scraped by on commission work, hawking uninspired sketches to uninterested passersby. His dreams of fame and fortune felt as faded as the paint peeling from the walls of his tiny apartment. He is a janitor at a huge corporation and gets treated like crap from employees and especially the CEO (Christopher Meloni). He gets rejected by his crush, a coworker named Darlene (Kathryn Newton).

One gray afternoon, while perusing a dusty flea market, Derek stumbled upon an ornate, leather-bound sketchbook. An Asian seller (Anna Akana) tells Derek about the sketchbook. Its cover was engraved with swirling, eldritch symbols that seemed to writhe under his fingertips. The vendor, a stooped old man with eyes like smoldering coals, grinned as he handed it over for a pittance.

"Careful what you create," the salesperson says, his voice like rustling paper. "Every masterpiece demands a price."

That night, he tested it out, sketching a simple apple. Moments after his pencil left the page, the fruit appeared on his desk, vivid and real. Stunned, Derek bites into it. Curiosity outweighs caution as Derek pushes forward. He sketched a wad of cash. A sinister grin is lays on his face.

Derek's descent into depravity begins the next day. A rival artist, whose gallery opening Derek had envied for years, became his first human subject. Derek drew a grotesque caricature of the man, slouched and lifeless. The following morning, the artist’s death was all over the news—an apparent stroke.

"Unfortunate," Derek said with a smirk, but deep down, he reveled in the power at his fingertips.

As weeks passed, Derek uses the sketchbook to climb the social ladder. Darlene finds herself madly in love after he sketched their romance, they have sex everywhere in the office, on the ride home and to the mansion he drew in place of his apartment. He drew his tyrannical boss throwing himself out of the window, and Derek promoted to CEO of the company overnight.

Derek is at a coffee shop. He draws himself as the "1000th customer" so he gets a free cup of coffee. On the TV is a press conference for The Governor. Derek overhears some female patrons saying "I would fuck whoever put a bullet in that asshole's head."

Derek quickly draws the Governor being shot at, and instantly on live TV, gunshots are heard, the Governor falls over and crowds scream.

Derek reveals to them that he called on the hit, they believe him when they see the drawing, and he has a threesome with the girls.

A few years later, Derek is bored. He's got everything he could ever ask for at his fingertips, money/fame/power. He's married to Darlene and has a son: Matthew. He is frustrated with his boredom and takes it out on Darlene and Matthew. He knows even if Darlene tries to leave, he would just draw her back to him.

When Matthew witnesses Derek beating on his mom and then on him, Matthew comes across Derek's sketchpad. As he looks through the pictures, he notices things Derek drew had come to life.

Matthew draws he and his mother escaping the house as it becomes engulfed in flames, leaving Derek to die in the blaze. Suddenly the house begins to catch fire. Derek finds Matthew holding the sketchbook, asks what he drew. Matthew tosses the sketchbook at Derek, he flips through it. Darlene and Matthew scramble to escape the house, as Derek scrambles to try to stop the fire, but it's too late: He catches fire and dies.

The sketchbook on the other hand, the only thing left unscathed.

We see the Crypt Keeper dressed in a wedding gown, "I guess you could say Derek's dreams of being a famous artist went up in flames," he says, followed by his signature laugh.

"And now for our final fright of the night kiddies tells the story of a young bride mourning the loss of her dear ATM. But don't worry, she's not just burying the past. She's digging herself into a nice deep hole. I call this tale: Till Death Do Us Part.

*Til Death Do Us Part*

Caroline (Emilia Clarke) is a serial gold digger who preys on wealthy men: and they turn up dead after a while, so she can steal their money. After just another funeral for the husband she had killed, she sits out on the big pool deck at her new mansion as the fellow landscaper/pool boy, Evan (Asher Angel), and very young man just trying to get through college, works on her yard.

She flirts and seduces Evan, after which she reveals to him what she does. Evan asks if she's ever afraid of being caught, and she assures him that nobody would ever suspect her. She says she plans on marrying her next victim, wealthy billionaire, Victor (Christoph Waltz), and will cut Evan in on the money.

Caroline meets Victor at a wealthy elite party, where she lays on the charm and successfully gets Victor to agree to marrying her immediately. Victor has some charm and charisma himself, even has his own kids who he talks to on the phone from time to time.

He may be an old man, but he's not too far gone. Victor is well liked among his community: charitable, helpful and respectful toward Caroline. Traits even Caroline didn't see in the few husband's she's had before. In a way, she pities him, but she knows what has to be done.

She tells Evan to give Victor a respectable death. Evan demands a higher percentage and after an argument, she agrees to a 50/50 cut. One evening before Caroline goes out, she puts her makeup on, telling her reflection that a 50/50 cut won’t be so bad when she flees town before the kid realizes his balls dropped.

Evan is about to do the deed while Caroline is out, setting up the stage for a break-in gone bad. But before Evan can succeed in the hit, Victor catches him and points his gun at him.

Victor reveals to Evan that he knows all about Caroline and her plan. "I was born during the day, but I wasn't born yesterday. You'd think after the death of her 2nd husband they would have gotten her by now."

Evan is scared, tries to talk Victor out of killing him, Victor assures him he's not going to kill him, and there's nothing Evan can give him either. He offers to double what she was gonna give him to pull off a hit on her.

When Caroline arrives home, she rehearses her reaction and phone call to the police. She walks in the house to find Evan sitting alone in a chair in the quiet mansion, Evan tells her 'he did it' and offers to show her where the body is. She follows him out to her car, he pops open the trunk. "Where's his bod.." she asks before she is knocked out and placed in the trunk by Victor and Evan.

Caroline wakes up, tied to an anchor on Victor's yacht. Victor and Evan step into her vision. "Why do you think it was so easy for me to agree to marry you?" Victor asks her, wanting to end her reign of terror. Caroline tries to negotiate for her life with Evan, but Evan turns her down, "Why should I split it when you'll just have me killed a week later?" Evan asks her.

"But you're different, Evan. I love you," She says.

"You don't love anyone but yourself," Evan sneers, he let's the anchor drop. Caroline watches the chain unravel. She tries to give a final offer to Evan, but the anchor pulls her under the water.

Evan looks overboard, impressed with how it looked, "Wow, just like in the cartoons!" He says, but there's the sound of a knife being shoved into his back. Victor stares at him with a cold look, "You know how I got so rich, Evan? I got paid a lot of money for taking out scumbags like you. First rule of being a hitman? Watch your back." He shoves Evan into the water. “You should have stuck with mowing lawns, kid.”

Victor cleans up the blood off his yacht and drives the yacht away. As he drives the boat, he gets a call from one of his kids: his granddaughters birthday is near. He speaks to her like a sweet grandfather, asking her how old she's gonna be and acting wildly impressed. Evan's dead body sinks into the watery abyss.

The Crypt Keeper reappears, "Looks like Caroline and her boy toy learned the hard way that greed doesn't float. I guess they're anchored down now," he laughs.

"Well that's about all the tide we have today, kiddies. I'll see you next fear!" He says, with one more iconic maniacal laugh. 

PRESS X: MASS EFFECT

 

I'm Alex Kirby and welcome to another outing of Press X. This time around we are moving on to the science fiction epic of Mass Effect. Here, we don’t just ask if the latest video game adaptation is faithful — we ask if it levels up, glitches out, or just needs a hard reset.

Back in 2007, BioWare dropped the most Star Wars-but-not-Star Wars space opera since… well, Star Wars. Mass Effect was a third-person RPG-shooter hybrid that gave players the vast, character-driven universe of Star Wars with the interplanetary exploration of Star Trek. Originally an Xbox 360 exclusive (later ported to PC and PS3), it put players in command of Commander Shepard and the starship Normandy, racing against time to stop a machine race called the Reapers.

But what really made Mass Effect revolutionary wasn’t just the sci-fi spectacle, it was the choices. Games had flirted with “moral decisions” before, but rarely with consequences. In Mass Effect, your calls mattered. Botch a loyalty mission? That squadmate might not make it out alive. Spare someone else? That act of mercy might come back to burn you two games later.

Before Mass Effect, choices in games were smoke and mirrors. You picked the nice option or the mean option, the dialogue shifted, and the story rolled on unchanged. BioWare changed that forever. Here, choice wasn’t a flavor, it was the foundation. Other games let you play a role; Mass Effect made you live with it.

With its epic scope, richly diverse characters, and a universe rivaling anything in sci-fi, Mass Effect has always felt like the kind of story that could leap from console to cinema. But here’s the catch: the very thing that made Mass Effect legendary might be the exact thing that makes a movie adaptation lose its soul.

In the games, every choice mattered. You didn’t just watch Shepard’s journey, you shaped it. Walk the path of Paragon and you were the noble Jedi type; lean Renegade and you veered toward ruthless Sith energy. Your Shepard wasn’t just “Commander Shepard”, they were your Shepard. Translate that to film, and suddenly those decisions aren’t yours anymore. They belong to a director, a screenwriter, and a studio hoping they get it right.

So the question becomes: did director Rian Johnson manage to capture the Mass Effect experience without getting crushed under the weight of its choice-driven design? And did GRA-winner Seth Overton’s screenplay walk the tightrope, giving us the lore fans crave while knowing exactly what to leave behind in the jump to the big screen?

The good news is that Johnson and Overton’s Mass Effect does enough to make audiences curious about the universe: giving newcomers a digestible entry point while letting longtime players point at the screen and go, “That’s from the game!” The adaptation doesn’t stray far from the first game’s story, instead streamlining it to fit a feature runtime.

The film follows Commander Shepard (Henry Cavill), who is dispatched with Ashley Williams (Rebecca Hall) to the colony of Eden Prime, where they discover a Prothean artifact and clash with the Geth under rogue Spectre Saren Arterius (Javier Bardem). After Ashley vanishes in the artifact’s energy, Shepard fails to convince the Citadel Council of Saren’s betrayal and inherits command of the Normandy from Captain Anderson (Andre Braugher). With a new crew—including Garrus (Tom Hardy), Liara (Alicia Vikander), Wrex (Dominic Purcell), and Joker (Seth Green)—Shepard pursues Saren, haunted by visions of the ancient Reapers. The climax sees the team attempt to stop Saren from destroying the Citadel, but the victory is left ambiguous, closing on Shepard and Ashley in a dreamlike exchange about humanity’s place in the galaxy.

As a film, it feels more like a prologue than a complete story. The plot is thin. Too much setup, not enough payoff. A TV series might have been a better fit, giving the world-building and choice mechanics more time to breathe. Critics praised the cast and Rian Johnson’s direction, but struggled to name any truly memorable moments. Cavill was strong, Bardem menacing, the Normandy crew engaging, but the story itself never quite delivered the epic highs fans were expecting.

Still, audiences showed up. The film pulled in $672M on a $203M budget, making $231M in profit. Gamers, sci-fi fans, and anyone promised a “Star Wars/Star Trek hybrid—only better than Johnson’s Star Wars” filled theaters, proving the gamble paid off. Thin plot or not, Mass Effect laid the foundation for a franchise, and fans left theaters ready for more.

While I fall somewhere in the middle on this one, I’m glad Mass Effect paid off. It proved this franchise had legs, and future installments could build on the foundation. Too often, ambitious setups collapse under their own weight, with filmmakers bailing before they deliver on the promise. (The Amazing Spider-Man comes to mind: so much groundwork, then an unceremonious bow-out.) If Mass Effect had flopped, it probably would’ve met the same fate.

I just wish we got a taste of the steak in this first movie instead of filling up on the endless free bread basket.

I must be starving. Mom swore off cooking for me, and I can’t boil water without risking an insurance claim on the kitchen.

Director's Cut: The Mummy

 

The Mummy - Director's Cut

Genre: Horror/Adventure

Director: Francis Lawrence

Writer: D.R. Cobb

Based on the 1932 film

Cast: Rami Malek, Sofia Black-D'Elia, Jamie Dornan, Ian McShane, Thomas Kretschmann, Kristin Scott Thomas, Josh Stewart

Plot: In 1921, as foreign archaeologists search the Egyptian desert for tombs overlooked by centuries of grave robbers, Joseph Whemple (Ian McShane) leads an expedition beyond the established excavation sites outside Cairo. Days from the nearest settlement, surrounded by limestone cliffs and wind-carved ruins, Whemple’s team uncovers a sealed passage beneath the desert floor. The hieroglyphs identify the chamber as the burial place of Imhotep, a high priest whose name has been violently chiseled from the surrounding walls.

Inside rests a black sarcophagus bound with chains and religious seals. Dr. Muller (Thomas Kretschmann) examines the mummy and discovers that Imhotep’s organs were never removed. Deep scratches score the coffin’s interior, with broken fingernails still embedded in the wood. Imhotep was wrapped and buried alive, denied the rites that would have allowed his soul to enter the afterlife. Beside the sarcophagus stands a smaller casket covered in warnings that anyone opening it will share Imhotep’s fate.

Whemple orders the casket left untouched, but his assistant Norton (Josh Stewart) returns to the chamber after nightfall. He breaks the seals and finds the Scroll of Thoth inside. As he reads its words aloud, the expedition’s electric lamps flicker and die. Sand leaks through the stone ceiling despite the still air outside. Imhotep’s eyes open beneath his wrappings. By dawn, the desert camp has been torn apart. Tents burn in the morning wind, equipment lies scattered across the sand, and a trail of dark footprints leads from the tomb before disappearing among the dunes.

Ten years later, Cairo has become a city divided between antiquity and modernity. Motorcars push through streets crowded with carts and livestock. Electric signs glow over European hotels while calls to prayer carry above tiled rooftops and narrow bazaars. Museums and foreign collectors compete for the relics being pulled from the desert. Among Cairo’s wealthiest antiquities dealers is Ardath Bey, the modern identity assumed by Imhotep (Rami Malek).

For a decade, Imhotep has sold artifacts removed from his own tomb and other forgotten burial sites, using the money to build a convincing human life. As Ardath Bey, he wears tailored European suits beneath traditional Egyptian robes, entertains scholars in a mansion overlooking the Nile, and moves comfortably between Cairo’s colonial institutions and its ancient religious sites. His restored appearance is only a disguise. When he is alone, his fingers sometimes shrivel into blackened claws. Grains of sand fall from his cuffs. Beetles move beneath the skin of his throat before his flesh tightens over them again.

Frank Whemple (Jamie Dornan), now an archaeologist himself, arrives in Cairo hoping to solve the disappearance of his father. He joins Professor Pearson (Kristin Scott Thomas), an accomplished Egyptologist accustomed to negotiating between foreign museums, government officials, and private patrons. Ardath Bey offers to finance their search for the lost tomb of Princess Ankh-es-en-amon, providing directions to a buried valley far beyond the familiar sites at Giza and Saqqara. His knowledge is so exact that Frank wonders whether Bey has visited the tomb before. Pearson accepts his help, unwilling to sacrifice what may be the discovery of her career.

The expedition crosses the Nile and travels into the desert, leaving Cairo’s noise and electricity behind. Beyond abandoned temples and villages slowly being consumed by sand, Frank and Pearson locate a staircase descending into solid rock. The tomb below is untouched. Painted walls retain their vivid blues and golds, and the air carries the sealed dryness of a room unopened for thousands of years. Reliefs show Imhotep standing beside Ankh-es-en-amon, carrying her body into a forbidden temple and reading from the Scroll of Thoth. The final images depict royal priests wrapping him alive as punishment for attempting to raise the princess from the dead.

The museum begins changing after dark. Sand gathers inside locked display cases. Scarabs crawl from the mouths of statues and disappear into cracks in the floor. Water runs down the walls of a sealed gallery even though Cairo has seen no rain. Frank discovers materials recovered from his father’s abandoned camp, including a notebook filled with increasingly frantic warnings about the Scroll of Thoth. The final entry ends in the middle of a sentence.

Helen Grosvenor (Sofia Black-D’Elia), a half-Egyptian woman assisting Pearson with the recovered collection, moves uneasily between the European scholars who regard Egypt as an object of study and Egyptians who see the tombs as part of a living inheritance. Handling the princess’s possessions awakens something inside her. Mirrors briefly show her dressed in Ankh-es-en-amon’s royal robes. She wakes barefoot on the museum floor with hieroglyphs traced across her arms in dust. At night, she wanders through the galleries speaking a dialect unheard for thousands of years. From behind the columns, Ardath Bey watches her with reverence and desire.

Imhotep enters Helen’s life through his identity as Ardath Bey, presenting himself as a cultivated patron interested in her knowledge of both Egyptian and European society. He takes her through Cairo’s older quarters, where temples have been built into later streets and ancient stones remain buried beneath homes and markets. His manner is gentle, but electric lights dim when he enters a room and nearby clocks stop. Helen feels she has known him before. Whenever he calls her Helen, she hears the name Ankh-es-en-amon beneath it.

The curse spreads beyond the museum. People connected to the excavation are found in locked rooms, their bodies dried and twisted as though centuries passed over them overnight. Scarabs pour through a fashionable hotel dining room before vanishing beneath the doors. A narrow market street is swallowed by a wave of sand despite the clear sky overhead. Frank follows Ardath Bey after one of the deaths and sees him reflected in a darkened shop window—not as a wealthy collector, but as Imhotep’s wrapped and rotting corpse walking beneath the modern clothes.

Pearson studies the carvings from the tomb alongside the records of the 1921 expedition. She realizes that Ardath Bey did not merely discover Imhotep’s burial place or inherit the relics sold in Cairo. Ardath Bey is Imhotep, his present-day cover identity constructed over ten years while he searched for Ankh-es-en-amon’s reincarnated soul. Each unnatural death restores another part of his body, allowing the dead priest to pass more convincingly among the living.

Helen’s visions become nearly constant. Cairo dissolves around her into the ancient capital she remembers from Ankh-es-en-amon’s life. She sees Imhotep as he once was and recalls loving him, but she also remembers awakening on a funeral altar while he tried to pull her soul back into her dead body. When she rejects Ardath Bey and insists she is not his princess, the calm human facade finally cracks. His skin splits along his cheek and brow, exposing dried flesh and linen beneath.

A supernatural sandstorm descends on Cairo, blotting out the afternoon sun and turning the city’s electric lights into dim shapes within the dust. Imhotep abandons the Ardath Bey identity completely. He takes Helen and carries her through the storm, moving beyond the city and across the desert toward the tomb where he was buried alive. Frank and Pearson follow the wall of sand as it travels away from the Nile.

Deep beneath the desert, Imhotep prepares to repeat the ritual that caused his condemnation. Helen lies on a stone altar surrounded by canopic jars, hooked embalming blades, linen wrappings, and the Scroll of Thoth. Imhotep intends to mummify her while she still lives, preserving the body before using the scroll to force Ankh-es-en-amon’s soul fully into it. As he begins, he speaks only to the princess, refusing to recognize the frightened woman before him as Helen.

Caught between two lives, Helen remembers Ankh-es-en-amon’s love for Imhotep and the terror of his refusal to accept her death. She calls upon the Goddess Isis, not as the princess but as herself. The name reverberates through the chamber. A statue of the goddess opens its eyes, and white light cuts through the darkness.

The Scroll of Thoth ignites in Imhotep’s hands. The youthful face he wore as Ardath Bey collapses as three thousand years return to his body at once. His skin tightens against bone, his eyes sink into blackened sockets, and ancient wrappings force their way through the remains of his modern clothing. He reaches toward Helen as his fingers break apart. The desert wind tears through the chamber and scatters his body into dust.

Frank frees Helen while Pearson searches for a way out of the collapsing tomb. They escape into the predawn desert moments before the entrance disappears beneath tons of stone and sand. In the distance, the first lights of Cairo glow along the Nile, the modern city continuing as though nothing has happened. Helen looks back toward the buried chamber. For an instant, she hears Imhotep whisper Ankh-es-en-amon’s name from somewhere beneath the dunes. The rising wind carries his voice away.