My quick rating - 6.5/10. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy feels he tossed his memories of The Exorcist into an Egyptian tomb, sprinkled in what he learned making Evil Dead Rise, and said, “You know what this needs? More nightmare children.” Surprisingly, that recipe works pretty well, even if it occasionally forgets to fully crank the chaos dial.
The movie gets moving fast. We open with a happy family singing in the car, which in horror terms is basically a giant flashing sign that says, “Enjoy this while it lasts.” Mom already looks one chorus away from losing her patience, but things take a turn when the family gets home and finds their pet bird mysteriously dead in its cage. Because apparently cursed family drama likes to arrive early.
From there, The Mummy starts layering in creepy family business best left for audiences to discover. Let’s just say if creepy basements already make you uncomfortable, this movie may have you reconsidering ever walking downstairs again. Most people store old furniture or Christmas decorations. This place feels like someone casually hid a sarcophagus downstairs and hoped nobody would ask questions.
Things escalate when young Katie (Emily Mitchell) encounters the not-so-friendly neighborhood “magician” next door. She hands Katie a nectarine, which turns into a wonderfully unsettling moment with a bug popping out and heading straight into Katie’s mouth. That scene should have you eyeballing every piece of fruit sitting in that bowl on your kitchen counter.
Soon after, Charlie (Jack Reynor) discovers Katie has vanished, leading to a frantic chase through the streets of Cairo as a sandstorm swallows the city whole. Then comes the gut punch. An eight-year jump forward shows the family trying to move on in Albuquerque, New Mexico, now with a younger daughter while carrying the weight of what happened.
Of course, horror movies love reopening old wounds. After a mysterious plane crash in Egypt uncovers an ancient coffin, investigators find a mummified girl inside. And unless this is your first horror flick, you already know it is Katie (Natalie Grace).
This is where The Mummy becomes properly unsettling. Katie’s makeup is deeply disturbing, from the cracked skin to the teeth and especially those horrifying fingernails. The sound design deserves credit, too. That constant teeth chattering? Absolutely not. Straight-up skin-crawling material. Cronin clearly learned a few tricks from Evil Dead Rise, bringing over the same nasty energy of possessed people saying awful things at maximum taunting levels.
The kids are, without a doubt, the main stars, and the special effects certainly add to the fright more than the flashy CGI effects. In fact, this reimagining feels far less like a traditional mummy story and more like an Evil Dead cousin wearing ancient wrappings for Halloween.
Still, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy never quite goes as hard as it feels like it wants to. Several scenes tease full horror insanity before easing off the gas, especially an open-casket moment that feels like it stopped just short of legendary gross-out status. The movie also runs a bit too long and lands one good ending before oddly deciding it needs another.
Even with those flaws, Lee Cronin delivers a creepy, brutal horror mashup that works more often than not. Just don’t go in expecting old-school mummy adventure. This version would much rather chatter its teeth at you in the dark and ruin your sleep schedule.
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