A One Mann’s Movies review of “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy”. (2026, 3*, 18).
If on seeing the title of this film you started by saying “Who the f*** is Lee Cronin”, you wouldn’t have been alone! It seems a bit egotistical for Irish writer/director Lee Cronin to put his name into the title of the movie. After all, this is only his third solo feature, after 2019’s “The Hole in the Ground” (5.6 on IMDB) and 2023’s “Evil Dead Rise” (scoring slightly better at 6.5). But the goal here is clearly to put some water between this and the lighter popcorn fare of the Brendan Fraser/Rachel Weisz outing from 1999, and even more much needed water (an ocean’s worth!) between this and the 2017 Tom Cruise shocker.
Given it ‘only’ has a budget of $22 million, Cronin actually does a pretty good job with it. The film has the substance and glossy feel of a bigger budget film. But, having said that, it still has some rough edges to the story that stopped me from rating it any higher.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Reporter Charlie and nurse Larissa Cannon (Jack Reynor and Laia Costa) face family tragedy on assignment in Cairo when their daughter Katie (Emily Mitchell) is abducted. 8 years later, they get a phone call that their daughter has been found. But what happened to her in that time has fundamentally changed her.
Certification:
UK: 18; US: R. (From the BBFC website: “Strong gore, violence, horror”.)
Talent:
Starring: Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Natalie Grace, Shylo Molina, Billie Roy, Veronica Falcón, Hayat Kamille, May Elghety, Emily Mitchell.
Directed by: Lee Cronin.
Written by: Lee Cronin.
Running Time: 2h 14m.
Review:
Positives:
- The film feels over-and-above the quality of a normal ten-a-penny Blumhouse production with high production values and a neat Cairo-based location to kick off with. (There were memories of the “Raiders” basket-chase through the whitewashed streets at one point!)
- The film earns its 18 certificate for gore and a few hands-over-the-eyes moments. These obviously differ from person to person, but a nail-clipping exercise had me suitably squirming!
- The film is relatively low-burn for much of its running time with an ever-building tension that is released in a frenzied finale that goes somewhat over the top! Along the way, there are a few memorable images, mostly served up by Natalie Grace playing the possessed Katie. “Don’t worry Grandma… it’s fun to be dead”! Looking at her picture on IMDB, she looks like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but she plays possessed extremely well.
- The kids have to put up with a lot in this film! Young Billie Roy, playing the younger daughter Maud, is particularly good at being bad: once again, you wonder what effect playing these types of roles have on a young girl. Does she actually say her lines in the script or does she say something different and they CGI the actual words in later!?
Negatives:
- Although there are lots of twists and turns in the plot, I was seldom really scared while watching this, which is really the prerequisite for a good horror film. I compare and contrast it with “Undertone” which I saw last week which, although made for less than 2% of this film’s budget, managed to creep me out far more.
- For most of the film, the typical ‘Curse of the Mummy’ legend is followed, with some nice mythology about containing and managing an ancient curse of the Nasmaranian being developed. Warped as it may be, a certain logic to it still applies. But in the third reel, the script over-reaches itself and starts throwing in left-field concepts that don’t feel consistent. (Refer to the spoiler section below the trailer.)
- The ending feels unrealistic. Again, see the spoiler section.
Monkeys?
There are no “monkeys” in the credits. You’re welcome.
Summary Thoughts:
Despite taking a hammering from lots of other critics, I didn’t think this was a bad film by any means and to tell you the truth I have hovered between 3 stars and 3.5 stars on this one. With a slightly tighter script, that took less liberties with the story, I think this could have had the makings of a classic horror reboot.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ0uv-phsDk.
Spoiler Section:
Don’t read past this point if you’ve not seen the movie.
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NO, SERIOUSLY!
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Plotlines that made me go “hmmmm”
As I said, a few things in the story, particularly in the later reels, didn’t sit well with me. If you have built up a good mythology in the first reel, why make your viewer question things later in the film? Some of the points that just seemed there for shock’s sake:
- The pilots of the crashed plane. Firstly, there are things that pilots wear called seat belts. Surely, neither pilot, where the cockpit was seen to be intact*, would be outside the plane. And to add insult to serious injury, why would one of the pilots be impaled through the head on horizontal branch when the plane is seen to have crashed vertically? (* Also unlikely, given the crash scene.) So many questions!
- Grandma’s death is unexplained to say the least. Surely this would have led to an inquest and an autopsy at the very least, rather than a quick funeral and an open coffin!
- Katie’s powers seem to start off humble and then quickly verge into the supernatural. Gravity defying crawling on the ceiling (an all-too-common horror trope) and bringing Grandma back to life (in particular) were steps too far for me. Less would have been more for me.
The Hollywood ending.
The ending was not to my taste either. Having Katie “saved” and shown to be alive and well and playing with her siblings again felt very twee. And although the pre-end-credits scene, showing ‘The Magician’ (Hayat Kamille) getting her dues, was satisfying from a story point of view, it also felt doubly-unlikely. Nothing in what has gone before has suggested that those handed this curse were going to happily come out of the other side by ‘passing it on’.
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