Lee Cronin’s THE MUMMY Is a Soulless Evil Dead Movie

The latest installment in Blumhouse’s reimagining of classic monsters has arrived with Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. A very different take on the concept than we’ve gotten before. And while there are aspects that are certainly interesting and worth praising for attempting to do something different, it feels like another notable horror franchise altogether, with a mummy shoehorned in.

Charlie (Jack Reynor) has relocated with his wife and two children to Cairo, Egypt, for his journalism career, with big things on the horizon for them all. But their happy family is rocked when their daughter Katie goes missing. And for eight years, they assumed that she was gone forever.

Now living back in the United States, they receive a call they never expected to get — Katie has been found. But when they’re reunited with her, she is no longer the little girl that they used to know. She’s obviously been through something horrific, and when they bring her home to heal, nothing could prepare them for what horrors are about to be unleashed.

As I mentioned before, this is the third installment in Blumhouse’s reimagining of Universal Monsters, following The Invisible Man and Wolf Man. Unfortunately, the original concept of these films has continued to unravel with this disjointed interpretation of The Mummy.

The film does a solid job setting up its darker tone right out of the gate with a cold open of sorts. So don’t expect the gleeful adventures of Brendan Fraser or the ridiculous Mission Impossible-ness of Tom Cruise. Especially with filmmaker Lee Cronin behind the wheel, who, before this, had made Evil Dead Rise, the film is looking to horrify you with gruesome frights.

And with that, I do think there are some genuinely unsettling moments. Especially when it comes to some of the gross visual gags, it gets really gnarly with things like teeth, nails, and skin. Which will certainly have you squirming in your seat.

But outside of those kinds of fun frights, it’s not really a well-crafted story. Especially when you reflect on the themes explored in the aforementioned monsters mentioned, and how the films aimed to explore deeper topics under the mask of a horror movie. But there’s nothing like that here. And even more frustrating, this film certainly doesn’t feel like a mummy film at all.

This is an Evil Dead movie, and it’s not a good one.

You can’t help but feel this film was originally intended as a follow-up to Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise, and that they just slapped a sequence set in Egypt at the beginning to claim it as “The Mummy”. They’re not doing anything original to make this feel like a self-contained film.

You can see it in the way Katie evolves as the mummy,  how she acts, her dialogue, and the practical effects, even the contact lenses she wears. And it extends to what happens with other characters. It’s just ripped from what was done in Evil Dead. I mean, there’s even essentially a deadite making an appearance.

And while I didn’t love last year’s Wolf Man, I still understood and appreciated the overall themes of fatherhood and how that connected to the character’s transformation. And especially with The Invisible Man, it was such an exceptional story of overcoming an abusive relationship. Which I thought was the whole point of these Blumhouse reimaginings.

It’s also so frustrating to see how careless they were with character decisions. It gets so over-the-top at times, but characters are not reacting the way they should be—especially with all the insane things happening—and it becomes so tiresome. It also leaves a lot to be desired in its performances. Though the actresses who portray Katie are a glimmer of light in this. Natalie Grace, as the older version, and Emily Mitchell, as the young version, both bring warmth and energy to the character. But everyone else seems so disinterested.

The Mummy was a disappointment to say the least. I will give credit to Cronin for having a distinct visual style and admit I did enjoy the overall ambience and look of it. Although I will complain about the overuse of split diopter shots that cheapened every scene they were used in. But if you’re looking for a film with crazy hijinks and a little bit of body horror, you might be happy. If you’re going in expecting a well-crafted story, something that feels constructed with intention, you might be underwhelmed.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is in theaters now