This piece takes a clear look at Lee Cronin’s new take on The Mummy, outlining its setup, the family’s ordeal, the film’s tone and influences, the creative team behind it, and the moments that work versus where it falters. I sketch the plot beats from the kidnapping through the shocking discovery, note the standout performances, and explain why the movie often feels more like an exorcism story than a classic monster picture. I also touch on the production fingerprints and the film’s appetite for gore, then close with the formal rating and runtime details.
It opens by flipping the old formula: the monster at the center is not an ancient pharaoh or a burly museum exhibit but a missing girl returned to her family under terrifying circumstances. The Cannons are an American family transplanted to Cairo for a reporting stint, and the initial calm of family life is shattered when their daughter vanishes from the backyard. That disappearance goes cold, leaving parents and viewers with a slow-burning knot of dread.
Years later the family is back in the United States, trying to stitch their lives together in Albuquerque at the home of Larissa’s devout mother. The father, Charlie, has traded an ambitious career path for a local TV job, and the children have aged into awkward, tense teenagers. Life looks like it might hold together until a phone call yanks them back across the globe.
Authorities in Cairo turn up Katie alive but in an impossible state, found inside a three-thousand-year-old sarcophagus and wrapped in ancient linens. She returns to her parents appearing physically altered and deeply unwell, the kind of arrival that forces a family to confront fears they had tried to bury. The hospital scenes and the first signs of violent behavior set a grim tone that the rest of the movie never entirely lets go of.
Out of nowhere, Charlie receives a call from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. Authorities found Katie alive and mysteriously found in a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus and wrapped like a mummy. Charlie and Larissa immediately fly to meet Katie (now played by Natalie Grace) in the hospital.
Detective Dalia Zaki, the Cairo investigator who first worked the original disappearance, returns to try and untangle what really happened to Katie. Her presence provides a thread of procedural interest amid the supernatural chaos, grounding some of the film’s more extravagant moments. The family dynamic, especially the push and pull between grief and hope, keeps the human stakes front and center.
‘LORNE’ REVIEW: THE MYSTERIOUS MAD GENIUS BEHIND ‘SNL’ TAKES CENTER STAGE IN LAUGH-OUT-LOUD DOCUMENTARY The film’s energy owes a lot to director Lee Cronin’s horror instincts, honed on his previous work. Cinematographer David Garbett’s striking framings and Stephen McKeon’s tense score push the movie into a cinematic register that favors atmosphere over classic monster spectacle.
This isn’t a Universal-style monster reboot; it plays closer to possession horror than pulpy adventure. Natalie Grace’s performance channeling something vicious inside a child draws unavoidable comparisons to genre icons, and the physical effects lean into shock and discomfort. When the movie wants to impress, it reaches for moments that are viscerally disturbing rather than quietly unsettling.
‘THE DRAMA’ REVIEW: ROBERT PATTINSON, ZENDAYA STAR AS LOVEBIRDS FACING UTTER TURMOIL IN TWISTED DARK ROM-COM Producers James Wan and Jason Blum bring their horror pedigree, and the film benefits from that polished genre sensibility. Still, the reliance on gross-out visuals and escalating body horror is familiar territory, the sort of shorthand that substitutes spectacle for sustained dread. The result is entertaining in stretches but rarely transcendent.
Key supporting turns help keep the film grounded when plot logic thins; Veronica Falcón gives a welcome dose of blunt humor as the no-nonsense grandmother. Young Billie Roy shifts chillingly from innocent to malevolent when the story demands it, and those shifts provide the movie with some genuinely effective beats. But the third act strains credibility and pacing, where set pieces accumulate without resolving the emotional core.
‘PROJECT HAIL MARY’ REVIEW: RYAN GOSLING AND AN ALIEN ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE PLANET IN FUN SPACE ADVENTURE The production design and technical craft are solid throughout, delivering a polished and cinematic horror picture even when the script falters. Fans of hands-on, in-your-face scares will find plenty to like, while viewers seeking subtlety or classic monster mythos might be left wanting. The film operates best as a showcase for mood, performance, and gruesome creativity rather than a reinvention of the mummy legend.
‘UNDERTONE’ REVIEW: AN UNSETTLING HORROR FILM THAT’S MEANT TO BE HEARD “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” displays quality film making in an otherwise fairly forgettable version of a revered Hollywood monster. Horror fans may get their fix, but this is far from a must-see.
“Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” is rated R for strong disturbing violent content, gore, language and brief drug use. Running time: 2 hours, 13 minutes. In theaters now.
