Review: The Mummy of Canaan by Maxwell Bauman

​Not-so-dead, see

By Alex Carrigan

Now that we’re in spooky season, it’s easy to get caught back up in the culture of horror and horror media. It’d be one thing to let October be the month of pumpkin spice and autumn colors, but a lot of people choose to let themselves go head first into horror, myself included. Having a guilty pleasure love of horror films and a fascination with finding new ones, I was curious to see if I could find a piece of horror fiction unlike anything I normally come across. ​
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Maxwell Bauman’s The Mummy of Canaan thankfully came into my lap right before the 31 Days of Halloween began. In his novella, Bauman follows a group of kids on their birthright trip through Israel as they deal with a bizarre horror. Someone has awoken the mummy in Joseph’s Tomb, and now the mummy craves Jewish blood and organs so he may become whole again. The story follows the mummy as he infiltrates one group of obnoxious Jewish-Americans wearing the skin of one of their companions in order to pick them off one by one. Meanwhile, the mummy is also pursued by a detective and archaeologist who realize the connection between the mummy's disappearance from the tomb and the spree of dead American kids appearing throughout the city. 

The first thing I found notably chilling is the titular mummy. Mummies do not have a fair reputation in media. In most media, they’re slow, lumbering, groaning monstrosities that constantly fall apart, usually for a sight gag. Unless they’re trying to kill Brendan Frasier, they’re not doing much else nor do they have cool powers or sex appeal like vampires or werewolves. It certainly doesn’t help that zombies have overwhelmed mummies in popularity and media exposure, shunting mummies to be primarily Abbott and Costello antagonists instead of actual horror threats.

But the mummy in this story really carries the tale. We get to see into his mind and realize that he’s a serious fish out of water, confused by tour buses, the English language, and Golda Meir. He’s thousands of years old, and despite his mission, he’s still quite stuck in the past. He’s desperate to find the tomb of his former wife, and knows killing these asshole birthright kids will help him find her. Fortunately for him, it’s a slasher story, so there’s plenty of opportunities to isolate and brutally kill these Americans, all the more appealing if their organs allow him to eat shawarma and swim in the Dead Sea. 

What should be a by-the-numbers slasher is elevated by the setting and atmosphere. As someone who was raised Catholic, I was worried I’d be confused by numerous Israeli and Hebrew elements in the story, and that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the story as much. However, Bauman makes the story quite accessible to non-Jewish readers, explaining parts of Israeli history to develop the setting more. It’s really rare to see a horror tale with such a bend towards a religious culture that isn’t Christianity, and I felt like I was learning a lot and understanding everything as it occurred. 

While the novella is good fun and a camp read, there are some elements that are a bit lacking. For one, the birthright kids are not as developed or distinct as most victims in horror stories. I’m not expecting them all to have complex backstories or character arcs, but there weren’t many moments of the kids without the mummy, so some of them started to blur together in my mind. Most of them are predominately characterized by how obnoxious or dumb they are, and it would have helped to differentiate them a bit more. Likewise, I feel the cop and archaeologist could have had more moments where they’re not just reacting to the latest murder, especially if it meant we could have had more opportunities to learn more about the mummy or how the modernity of Israel clashed with the ancient civilization the mummy originated. 

Despite this, The Mummy of Canaan is a fun, gory read for Halloween. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect to have seen made into a movie back in the 1980's with some questionable production values and effects, but that still slated to be a cult classic for just how damn weird it is. I was hooked and desperately wanted to see where it went, and really, that’s all the story had to do. We had to go along on the tour bus and see all these sites in Israel aware that someone was going to be ripped open or torn asunder at each one. And honestly, that’s way more fun and unique than most modern slashers, so it's definitely worth a read for anyone looking for a bloody new story this month.

The Mummy of Canaan is available for pre-order now and will ship later in October.