The "Los Angeles Times" was positive, although the film otherwise gained mixed reviews and the box-office was modest. When the film opened at New York's RKO Mayfair theater, a reviewer for "The New York Times" was ultimately unimpressed:"For purposes of terror there are two scenes in "The Mummy" that are weird enough in all conscience. In the first the mummy comes alive and a young archaeologist, going quite mad, laughs in a way that raises the hair on the scalp. In the second Im-Ho-Tep is embalmed alive, and that moment when the tape is drawn across the man's mouth and nose, leaving only his wild eyes staring out of the coffin, is one of decided horror. But most of "The Mummy" is costume melodrama for the children."