Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for ‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.’
“Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” a reimagining of the iconic horror legend “The Mummy” from 1932, debuted in theaters on April 17. “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” has sparked comparisons to the titular director Lee Cronin’s previous 2023 film “Evil Dead Rise” as well as “The Exorcist” and “Poltergeist,” which Cronin cites as inspirations. Cronin’s most recent creation combines the classic possession trope with the aesthetic of the mummy and Egyptian lore, making some shocking visuals despite the stale story.
The film starts off in Aswan, Egypt, where the Kahlil family returns home to find their pet bird dead — a bad omen. The parents go to the cellar, where a sarcophagus contains a mummy. The remains begin moving, starting off the film with a good jumpscare, and the father is killed by a supernatural force.
After, the setting shifts to the Cannon family who are living in Cairo, Egypt. The family is made up of husband Charlie (Jack Reynor), his pregnant wife Larissa (Laia Costa), their son Sebastián (Shylo Molina) and their daughter Katie (Natalie Grace). Katie is friends with a neighborhood kid named Layla (May Elghety), but her parents are unaware of this. One day in the backyard, Katie is visited by Layla’s mother who says she is a magician and lures Katie in with her mysterious tricks before kidnapping her.
Eight years later, the Cannon family, as well as a third child born after Katie went missing, now live in New Mexico. Back in Aswan, a plane crashes and a sarcophagus is discovered in the remains. Inside it, Katie is found. She is wrapped in parchment inscribed with a foreign language and appears to be dead. But as the archaeologists unwrap her, she wakes up. The Cannon family is notified and heads to see her, overwhelmed by their relief, but their daughter is not the same person she was before.
The body horror innate in Katie’s character is by far the best part of “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.” Interactions with her body can get disgusting beyond belief, such as when Larissa tries to clean up her daughter’s decaying body and accidentally rips off a strip of her skin. And watching Larissa and Charlie chase Katie through the crawl space of the house and trying to stop her from chewing on her own flesh is a terrifying image for audiences.
Beyond visceral visuals, the way Larissa tries to pretend everything is okay, despite obvious signs that something is gravely wrong, is very frustrating. The conflict between Larissa, who denies anything is wrong, and her husband, who believes there is something demonic at play, makes for emotional moments. It’s shocking to see how far a mother’s love can go — even when her daughter is clearly no longer human.
While the revolting details make the movie very entertaining, the 2 hour and 14 minute run time stretches the story too thin. It seems that in order to fill the extra time, Cronin added unnecessary twists. The movie rehashes many tropes of possession movies, including the discovery of the possession, the possessed infecting other members of the family and a final battle between the demon and the family. While the film fulfills the possession trope well, it becomes too ambitious towards the end. For instance, the movie feels much more sinister with Katie communicating through teeth chattering and body language instead of speech. The unhumanness of her is what makes her character so disturbing, but once she talks, this interesting aspect of her is lost. Some of Katie’s dialogue is very creepy, but most of it feels over-the-top with jokes that take the audience out of the moment.
Additionally, the film feels too long towards the end. Every time it seems like the movie is concluding, an alternate ending is revealed. What ends up being the actual final scene feels like a forced happy ending, which fails to meet the movie’s emotional stakes. Ultimately, less would have been more.
The film could also have delved more into the tie with its namesake monster, as the film’s worldbuilding more closely aligns with other Christianity-based possession movies than Egyptian folklore. Though it doesn’t reinvent the mummy film nor the possession film, “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” is a gory, vile and fun time for horror fans; from disfigurement to vomit, it’s sure to make viewers retract in disgust.
Ayiana Grana is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer for the spring 2026 quarter. She can be reached at angrana@uci.edu.
Edited by Avani Kumar and Riley Schnittger
