Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Lee Cronin isn’t interested in playing in anyone else’s sandbox. If you hear the title The Mummy and your mind immediately drifts to the dusty, noir charm of 1932 or the swashbuckling, “bi-panic” energy of Brendan Fraser in the late ’90s, you need to recalibrate your expectations immediately. And please, for the love of cinema, don’t even mention that 2017 Tom Cruise disaster that tried to build a “Dark Universe” on a foundation of sand.
The “Lee Cronin” tag in the title isn’t just branding; it’s a warning label. Much like he did with Evil Dead Rise, Cronin has taken a decades-old concept, stripped it of its campy blockbuster armor, and injected it with a visceral, haunting soul that feels strikingly modern and deeply personal. This isn’t an adventure movie. It’s a survival story wrapped in a supernatural nightmare, and it definitely leaves a mark.
Horror with a Heartbeat
Cronin’s vision is unapologetically grisly. If you’re someone who watches horror through your fingers, you might want to bring a friend to hold onto. He leans into the kind of gross-out gore that feels both revolutionary and repulsing, echoing the tactile, wet horror of the Evil Dead lineage. But what makes this version stand out to me is the eerie mystery and the heavy, almost suffocating focus on family dynamics. It’s a chiller that burrows under your skin and refuses to leave, making you squirm in your seat one second and in true Cronin fashion letting out a nervous, shocked laugh the next.
The story kicks off in Cairo, where we meet Charlie Cannon (Jack Reynor), a journalist on assignment. He’s there with his pregnant wife Larissa (the always incredible Laia Costa) and their two kids. Their world is shattered in a way that is every parent’s worst nightmare: their daughter, Katie, is snatched by a mysterious, shadowed woman who literally disappears into a blinding sandstorm. The sheer helplessness of that moment sets the tone for the entire film.
Fast forward eight years. The family has relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, living with Larissa’s mother, Carmen (the legendary Verónica Falcón). The grief hasn’t faded; it’s just become a permanent member of the household. Charlie and Larissa are just trying to keep their heads above water for their other children, while back in Cairo, Detective Dalia Zaki (May Calamawy) is still obsessively pulling at the threads of the cold case.
The Return of the Lost Daughter
The twist comes when the family gets a call that sounds like a miracle but feels like an omen: Katie has been found. But she wasn’t in a hideout or a basement; she was found catatonic inside a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus. Now seventeen and played with a haunting, gutsy intensity by Natalie Grace, Katie is a shell of a human being.
The description of her physical state is enough to make anyone’s stomach turn. When Charlie and Larissa finally see her, they aren’t just met with their long-lost daughter; they are faced with gnarled hands, jagged nails, and skin so dry it looks like ancient parchment. Her stare is blank, a void where a child’s joy used to be. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s also deeply unsettling. Despite the doctors claiming her vitals are “strong,” it’s clear that whatever came out of that tomb isn’t just a traumatized teenager.
Against better judgment—but driven by that desperate, maternal need to heal—they bring her back to Albuquerque. They hope that the “comforts of home” will bring the old Katie back. Instead, they’ve essentially invited a sinister, supernatural Trojan horse into their sanctuary.
A Masterclass in Tension
Once the family is back in New Mexico, Cronin really turns the screws. He has zero interest in playing it safe. He takes the threads of the original Mummy mythosthe curse, the preservation, the eternal life—and weaves them into a wicked tapestry that functions as both a high-brow horror and a rousing “popcorn” flick.
You’ll find yourself gasping at the extremes he pushes, but you’ll also appreciate the craft. The makeup and practical effects are gnarly in the best way possible, and the sound design makes every cracking bone and dry rasp feel like it’s happening right behind your ear. It’s not a movie concerned with being “plausible” in a literal sense, but it is deeply committed to its own internal logic of dread.
The cast is fully all-in, especially Laia Costa, who portrays the agonizing thin line between a mother’s love and a mother’s fear with such raw honesty. It’s a satisfying genre gem that proves Lee Cronin is one of the most exciting voices in horror today. It delights as much as it disgusts, and for those of us who like our horror with a bit of a bite and a lot of style, it’s a total triumph.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is currently haunting theaters. Go check it out and let us know your thoughts on it.
