Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Lee Cronin.
Mummies have been around since…well…maybe forever? Some Asian cultures were way ahead of the mummy curve and jumped into mummification nearly 14,000 year ago.
Mummies are definitely part of our collective consciousness. Whether it’s the goofy mummy from Hotel Transylvania, or the super sexy and sumptuous mummy from 1971’s Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, mummies have captured our attention.
While we’re all trying to use mummies to better understand our connection to the afterlife and the meaning of life on this mortal coil, it’s really Hollywood that can’t get enough of our bandaged brethren. Want proof? There are nearly 5,000 — 4,832 to be precise — mummy films. So it makes perfect sense that the man who brought you Evil Dead Rise and The Hole in the Ground, would try to unfurl the mummy lore.
Lee Cronin’s take is weirdly original and derivative all at the same time. While the film is somewhat a victim of the 4,800 mummy films that preceded it, it’s also a rather inventive run at a fairly common film formula. Don’t worry there’s some Egypt, hieroglyphics, and a scarab or two.
The film follows the perfect nuclear family with Mom Larissa (Laia Costa), Dad Charlie (Jack Reynor), their son Sebastian (Shylo Molina), and their daughter Katie (Emily Mitchell). Charlie takes as a job as a reporter in Egypt. While everything appears ideal on the surface, the family’s daughter Katie has been targeted by an Egyptian women.
Of course, this is not your run of the mill Egyptian neighbor. This particular woman has a half buried pyramid on her property and she just might be hiding the remnants of a real life MUMMY. As the woman ratchets up her interest in Katie, she slowly begins plying her with Egyptian candies and the promise that Katie will be allowed to play her daughter of the same age.
Katie is eventually abducted amidst a roaring and suspenseful haboob. Her father does everything he can to find her, but as the downdrafts of a decaying thunderstorm close in around him, it’s clear that Katie may be lost to the sands of time.
Following this tragic loss the film jump cuts to eight years later, and we’re reintroduced to the family as they’ve relocated to New Mexico where Charlie has taken a job with a local TV station. The family has dealt with their grief and reassembled as a pristine nuclear unit. That is until Katie is discovered alive in Egypt!
Sadly, this is not the Katie that was abducted eight years earlier, nor is the family the tight unit that they present in public. A horribly grotesque Katie — think Charlie from Hereditary crossed with Zelda from Pet Sematary — is reunited with the family in New Mexico.
Katie is not OK and neither is the family. As Mom and Dad race to determine the origins of Egyptian spell, the third act of the film unwinds with brutish gore, tracheostomy via scorpion, and a whole lot of skin peeling.
Should you see Lee Cronin’s The Mummy?
According to our peers in the horror community, this may be an unpopular sentiment, but the answer is a resounding “YES.” Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is pure popcorn chomping fun. Mind you it’s not as grizzly as his wildly brutal take on the Evil Dead series, but there are some wince-worthy and gore-filled moments.
What makes the film tick is an authenticity among the characters. While the characters are a pinch thin, and Cronin doesn’t spend tremendous amount of time with exposition and family backstory, he does give audiences enough to chew on throughout the two hour and fourteen minute run time. To be sure, this is well outside of the length of a normal horror film, but Cronin adds a really enjoyable subtext of Egyptian mystery
By giving audiences an engaging thrill ride of a story, The Mummy is able to hold your attention while at the same time meting out dribs and drabs of a pre-Christian ancient tale of demonic possession. Balancing out mystery-based story telling with gobs of glorious gore, and a story that’s been told way too many times before, is a real feat.
In fairness, the final act unfolds clumsily in the vain of a 1970s Kung Fu revenge film. Cronin tries to button up far too many loose ends and when the film should be coming to natural close, he opts for yet another unnecessary series of scenes.
Cronin excels at making the Mummy a truly compelling and new telling of the hieroglyphic tale. There’s many that accused Cronin of making Evil Dead 2 in the desert, or an Exorcist/Mummy crossover, but the truth is he was able to rework a dusty tale into a refreshing horror outing. Trust us, Tom Cruise tried and failed miserably.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is available for streaming everywhere, and it’s Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 14, 2026.