Moby is a serial killer.

The Mummy Murders is not to be confused with The Mommy Murders, a film that is more pornographic yet oddly has less sex than this one. A horror film, The Mummy Murders was directed by Colin Bressler who is best known for who cares. It was written by some guy named Colin Bressler as well as Will Donahue, the latter you may recognize from his one writing credit on 2023’s The Mummy Murders.

Jason Scarbrough plays Joe who is a serial killer who is known as the Mummy Murderer, as well as having a side gig fronting for a band called Moby where he goes under the pseudonym Moby. Joe meets with Alexis (Leila Annastasia Scott) at a cafe where he immediately lets us know he’s a serial killer by ordering a big glass of milk. He offers his story to Alexis, a journalist working on her next story, and the movie is about Joe recounting his story while Alexis comments on it.

The Mummy Murders has a big problem. Conceptually it reminds me of Nefarious in that the film is predominately two people in a room talking to each other. It makes the film very risky because the audience’s reaction is based entirely off of how close they can invest in the characters, keep attention to their dialogue, and follow the story. If the viewer can’t connect with the characters or starts finding the story boring, it’s probably impossible to get them back. And that’s exactly what happens with The Mummy Murders around the 30 minute mark for me.

And then it got me back at the 50 minute mark. It’s neat seeing Joe’s stories and him turning his victims into art exhibits. There is one exceptionally gory scene that I thought was making me nauseous but it turned out that the ramen I had for dinner was just disagreeing with my stomach. Shrimp Tom Yum and turmeric latte are not a good combination of flavors. Jason Scarbrough is a pretty good actor in this film, although he’s not a great serial killer. He constantly feels more like an actor portraying a serial killer, like in a TV documentary reenactment.

Alexis meanwhile makes it hard to keep entertained because she feels like she’s barely invested in the story until about an hour into the movie. At least until the last ten minutes of the film. I will say that the film redeems itself in the last ten minutes, which I have a feeling is long after many have changed channels and given up on the story. It feels like this could have been heavily shortened to make it a short film and it would have been a lot better. Wipe out about 20 minutes and make it an even hour.

Mummy Murders is a great example of what Hannibal would have been if Anthony Hopkins didn’t have much charm.

The Mummy Murders is viewable on Tubi.

Rating: D