- Date of Release: 17 April 2026
- Genre: Horror
- Language: English
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Lee Cronin's The Mummy
Introduction
I don’t often have the privilege to say that the cold open of a film is disconnected from its main plot. But the new English film Lee Cronin’s The Mummy had that distinction. This isn’t as if all the threads are slashed out – you see a faint thread holding the narratives together, but my primary issue remained with its tonal inconsistency. A family of four enjoying their time on their way home, suddenly encountering a tragedy, only for the Chekhov’s gun to be revealed – may have sounded like a great concept on paper, but I can’t help but think that the atmosphere of horror that was so crucial to kickstart the narrative, just doesn’t arrive. It is a fundamental flaw wherein the hook in the horror film isn’t in sync with the atmospherics of the drama – thereby creating an instant disconnect in me that only meant that I was playing catch up along the way. And did I mention on how instantly derivative the ‘horror factor’ appeared even when it tried to deviate from the original film The Mummy? (And no, Brendan Frazer ain’t a part of this film). The end result – it felt middling!
Story & Screenplay
Written by Lee Cronin (the name says it), Lee Cronin’s The Mummy suffers from an identity crisis right from the start – does it wish to be an emotional drama surrounding a family with a dash of body horror thrown in? Or a mytho take on the mummies with a dash of the supernatural? Or a straight out body horror film being a mild derivative of Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise (2023)? Or a straight up supernatural horror on the lines of The Exorcist (1973)? The answer remains vague, and it just reflects poorly on the ultimate end product.
Other than the tonally inconsistent cold open, the start isn’t all that bad even as you are introduced to the protagonist Charlie (Jack Reynor) – living with his wife Larissa (Laia Costa) and his two children, Sebastian (Shylo Molina) and Katie (Natalie Grace) in Egypt. And one day when Katie is suddenly kidnapped by The Magician (Hayat Kamille), it triggers a chain of events with a subtext of child trafficking, along with the needle of suspicion pointed on Charlie and his family. And yet when the drama takes an eight year leap and the setting changes to New Mexico, one is accustomed to the fate of Katie who has been mummified in a sarcophagus – marking a return of the Chekhov’s gun from the cold open.
And oddly, here is also where the dilemma in the film starts, even as Katie begins her frightening antics – including weird crawls, or her nails being clawed out while peeling off a part of her leg. It remains clear that a force has taken over her body, making it difficult for people around her to cope with the newer intimidating version of her. And yet, this is where the writing falters too. It fails to evoke an emotional core that needed to tie the drama, particularly on behalf of the parents who have reunited with their daughter but at what cost? In fact, this sole ingredient would have elevated the drama while adding purpose to the horror. But sadly, this wasn’t the case!
The horror in itself wasn’t bad – it had its moments of shock with a dose of gore to accompany the narrative. But, I wish the atmospherics had a better role to play by design – simply because the events got weirdly repetitive. This had a spiralling effect on the drama that didn’t fully justify its runtime of 133 minutes – wherein it easily could have been 25 minutes shorter. Another drawback remained on how the writing was deliberately designed to spoonfeed details to the viewers. Unlike Evil Dead Rise, wherein the idea was to keep the reasoning vague while just focusing on the horror, the creative decision to delve in the past with respect to Katie and her mummification wasn’t required. All it needed was a vague exploration of the supernatural, to truly get under the skin of the viewers. But alas!
The same is reflected in the climax too – an over simplification of the supernatural, with ample amounts of gore and blood and disgust thrown it. The writing couldn’t get any more convenient with the turn of events, something that fails to account for a high, even as I just went through the motion, keenly awaiting the drama to be mummified! And that, summarized the writing here that squandered its potential of a solid horror film.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues remained pretty flat while being devoid of a strong emotional core, only adding a layer of authenticity based on the setting of the drama. The BGM is decent but it doesn’t fully elevate the impact of the drama, or the horror element in it. The cinematography is more focused on the gore, but very little condiment of emotions with respect to the characters – which then felt flat. The frames also don’t quite account for an ambience that was essential to cater to the gore, thereby flattening it.
The editing pattern just doesn’t account for the lags in the narrative, particularly given how the events get repetitive. The drama had no business to be 133 minutes long, and the slog remained a byproduct of it – particularly given how the emotional core was non-existent. Director Lee Cronin misses the mark here with a sense of filmmaking that didn’t quite focus on the characterization, and meandering with the world building that felt repetitive and hollow after a point. While the gory horror was decent, it didn’t fully reach its zenith, thereby summing up the outing as ‘middling’.
Performances
The performances are a mixed bag by the members of the cast. May Elghety as Layla is decent here, while having very little to do. Veronica Falcon as Carmen is pretty impressive here, particularly when she shifts gears to her gory side towards the end. Hayat Kamille as The Magician needed to be more menacing and intimidating here, than what she actually delivers. Shylo Molina as Sebastian and Billie Roy as Maud have their moments to shine. May Calamawy as Detective Dalia is sincere and earnest while delivering a well restrained act.
Both Laia Costa as Larissa and Jack Reynor as Charlie fail with their respective characters, simply because they couldn’t account for a strong emotional core that would have tied the threads of the characters together. They remained pretty flat and bland with their acts. But the one actor that stands out is Natalie Grace who as Katie is outstanding to witness here. She uses her body movements and expressions to such good effect, while creating moments of horror that was pretty decent. If only the writing would have allowed her character to bloom a bit, as opposed to making her repetitive!
Conclusion
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is a derivative and bland drama that mummifies its own horror potential. It has its moments but the lack of a strong emotional core fails to add purpose to the gore, thereby making it a rather middling watch. Available in a theatre near you.