We’re in a bit of a renaissance of the classic universal monsters, updated for a modern audience. We had The Invisible Man in 2020, Wolfman at the beginning of 2025 and now onto the The Mummy. Revitalized by Lee Cronin, who’s biggest film prior was Evil Dead Rise, a different corner of the Evil Dead universe which recieved heavy praise from horror fans. Despite that success after testing, it was decided to rebrand this name with Cronin’s name attached to stop the confusion with series of films that stars Brendan Fraser, which are especially less horror focused and more fun for all the family, something this film certainly isn’t.
After their young daughter is kidnapped in Eygpt, 8 years later she is found in a sarcophagus and returned to her family, but she is far from the young girl she was, and has been altered supernaturally. Her father and a detective must work across the globe to find out what happened to her, and return her to her normal state.
I was really excited for this film going into it. It gave me the same sort of optimism I had going into The Invisible Man a few years ago. I’m a big fan of the old school Universal monsters, and I love the idea of putting a modern twist on a classic. The Invisible Man delves very much into being a psychological thriller mixed with a horror and is extremely effective, where as Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is just a straight up horror. For me, where this film struggles is the lack of depth this film has, it’s an impactful set up but ends up not going anywhere with it. I won’t be original citing that this film feels very similar to Evil Dead Rise with a hint of The Mummy about it. I’m almost confused as to why they even bothered putting that name on it, I think that purely brings in a level of expectation. The production name for the film was Resurrected which I think is a better fit honestly.
I think you’d have to do a couple of things with this film. First thing for me would be to have more of an impact on the parents dealing with their daughter returned to them, or even seeing it more from the point of other children, seeing them dealing with the emotions of the scenario, I think that point is particularly what the film would need to step it up. The other thing I think the film needs is a more tie in to that Egyptian culture, we move very quickly out of Eygpt at the beginning, and dip back there with the detective investigating what happened.
There’s some really good use of split diopter shots in this film, something Lee Cronin utilized previously in Evil Dead Rise as well. Generally I don’t like the use of them, find that they are in the film because they can and are generally a better idea than the execution. However, in this film, I thought they were really effective, and the film in general has decent cinematography from David Garbett.
The cast do an okay job. I haven’t particularly been a fan of anything Jack Reynor’s been in, and felt his performance has been fairly basic. This film didn’t particularly change my mind on that, there are multiple times in the film where he does this wide eyed stare which I found really unnatural and an odd choice. I haven’t seen Laia Costa who plays his wife and the mum of the film, I think she not only has a little bit emotion to convey but is slightly more enganging when she’s onscreen. May Calamawy I have been a fan of since her appearance in Moon Knight, her characters story and arc in that series left me wanting more of Scarlet Scarab, and I really hope we do. Again, I’d like to have seen more of her in this film, her character doesn’t do much investigating really, until she’s handed clues from Jack Reynor’s character.
Overall, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy works as a decent horror particularly if you enjoyed his previous film, Evil Dead Rise. The film has many similarities, but lacks any real impact from the story to set it apart from being much more than just good, despite it having one moment in particular that made me whincing in my seat. With the horror genre having a peak, this film lacks any elevation to take it to the next level.
What did you think of Lee Cronin’s The Mummy?
Let me know in the comments. We are just around the corner from the start of the summer movie season, so be sure to follow @floodersfilms on most social media to keep up to date with the latest reviews.
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