The Threat of the Mummy is part
supernatural fantasy and part socio-political satire. Writer-producer-director
Christopher P. Jacobs has always been interested in ancient Egypt, and was
first inspired to start his screenplay when he heard that a remake of The
Mummy was scheduled for release in 1999. He rewatched the old classic
“mummy” movies of the ‘30s and ‘40s, intending to write a low-budget horror
quickie, heavy on the camp melodrama. That changed, however, as the plot
developed and various contemporary issues began to work their way in. The
characters soon took on lives of their own with a more realistic approach, and
heavy comic exaggeration gave way to more tongue-in-cheek satire. Jacobs admits
the possibility of some subconscious influence/inspiration from the ubiquitous
college campus movies, as well as Anne Rice’s The Mummy, an old Star
Trek episode (“Space Seed”), and other speculative fiction involving
revivifications, reincarnations, and possessions. He also thoroughly researched
the script’s historical aspects, since as an aficionado of ancient history
(especially Greece, Rome, and Egypt) he is always annoyed by movies that go
beyond poetic license to make obvious factual errors in the periods they claim
to portray. Although he finished a 95-page first draft in only a couple of
months, the script sat on a back burner until a Fall 2000 beadwork exhibit at
the North Dakota Museum of Art included a number of ancient Egyptian artifacts,
and then Hollywood’s big budget blockbuster sequel The Mummy Returns
came out in May 2001. That gave Jacobs the urge to produce his own mummy movie,
since he had originally written it with the idea of shooting locally on a
minuscule budget using available locations with a volunteer cast and crew. The final shooting script wound up being 111
pages, including new scenes added during production.