When Indy gets that statue to lower its arm and hence open a doorway, and Marion enters that room full of mummies ... are they moving around? As in "alive" (if mummies can be alive). It is hard to tell, because there certainly is motion, but I can't figure out if they are moving on their own.
shareI always assumed they were just falling on Marion and then her freaking out and moving around caused them to appear to be moving themselves (plus the snakes and dust and other stuff around them).
shareBut are they making sounds?
I don't have the movie here, but I think I remember that they were "growling".
If memory serves, they inserted some spooky sound effects like distant screams and howling it is just and adventure movie so you could always just chock it up to dramatic exaggeration or imagination. But, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the corpses are indeed possessed with souls of the dead since at the end of the film we see the flying souls or angels or whatever it is come flying out of the Ark (sorry if I just spoiled the ending, I'm assuming you've watched the entire film before).
shareIt's all in Marion's head. There are ghoulish sounds played over top of John Williams' score for this scene but they aren't actual sounds that the mummies are making, just Marion's imagination. The movement is also just in her head, claustrophobia, etc...
It appears this way to the audience because it's really the only way to convey her terror and disgust, being surrounded by a dozen, two thousand year old corpses.
-Rod