Writer-director Lee Cronin made an impressive feature film debut in 2019 with “The Hole in the Ground” and followed it up with a fresh and gruesome installment in the “Evil Dead” franchise, “Evil Dead Rise”. However, due to adult responsibilities, I missed his third film in theaters. The mixed reviews and rumors of a troubled production have me concerned.
“Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” opens with an intriguing premise. Television journalist Charlie Cannon (played by Jack Reynor) is living in Cairo with his wife, Larissa (Laia Costa), and their children when their daughter Katie goes missing. Eight years later, Katie (Natalie Grace) is found alive inside a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus. While her parents view this as a miracle, Detective Dalia Zaki (May Calamawy), who never stopped investigating the case, remains suspicious.
Cronin handles the family’s grief with seriousness, lending emotional weight to the first half of the film. Reynor and Costa convincingly portray the desperation of Charlie and Larissa, while Grace evokes unease through her silence, stillness, and a physical presence that suggests trauma. Calamawy imbues Dalia with urgency, the only character willing to question what everyone else desperately wants to accept.
Unfortunately, the title suggests a different kind of movie. Although Katie has recovered from a sarcophagus, the evil inside her behaves more like a familiar demonic possession rather than the classic monster audiences expect from “The Mummy”. While reinvention can be welcome, the film often feels more like “The Exorcist” filtered through Egyptian mythology than a genuine reinterpretation of the mummy legend.
Cronin knows how to provoke discomfort in an audience. The body horror is intense, the sound design is aggressive, and the Arabic dialogue adds authenticity to the Cairo setting. However, the film becomes increasingly repetitive. At 133 minutes, it feels overly long, and several gruesome set pieces seem designed more to elicit shock than to advance the story. Additionally, Charlie’s withheld information generates frustration rather than suspense.
The younger Cannon children, Sebastián (Shylo Molina) and Maud (Billie Roy), along with their grandmother Carmen (Verónica Falcón), add depth to the family dynamic. Still, the screenplay rarely provides them with sufficient development. The film concludes with an ending that feels polished and reassuring, undermining the dark atmosphere Cronin cultivates over two hours.
Overall, “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ features committed performances and memorable grotesque imagery. However, beneath the surface, it reveals itself to be a conventional possession movie that needed sharper logic, tighter editing, and a title that more accurately reflects its content.
Final Grade: C-
“Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD tomorrow.
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