Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (2026)
directed by Lee Cronin
Rated R for just all of the gore and violence and terror, some cussing
For fans of curse/cult movies, gore, and the 2013 film Mama (a story about child(ren) being reunited with their parent(s) after an extended separated period of…difficult circumstances) I do think this is for fans of The Mummy franchise broadly, but you do have to be open to the interpretation of what a mummy’s curse could be. It is fair to say that this interpretation is too similar to a possession-type of story, but I personally like the choice and see it as a solid choice when trying to make a modern take on a mummy.
My rating. Better Be Brave. This one has some intense gore, violence/self-harm. Evil Dead Rise(2023), also directed by Lee Cronin, has similar levels of these elements as well, so I was expecting it, but this is definitely way gnarlier than Brendan Fraser’s masterpiece, so viewer beware!
Some thoughts. Can’t stress enough how different of a mummy movie this is from what most people expect. I think it worked and I really enjoyed it, but it is a very loose interpretation of the source material. Beyond that, there are some other valid criticisms of the movie, but they were not make or break for my experience.
First, this movie is too fucking long. And it is not the sort of runtime where it’s hard to find room to cut–this thing could have 25 minutes easily cut. It also doesn’t totally land the story. Lol I promise I really did like this movie and I do recommend it! It’s just the first hour and twenty minutes are so intense and scary and fucked up, the kind of stuff that is unfathomable to experience from any aspect, that by the culmination, when everything’s been revealed, you’ve just seen “the monster” a bit too much and it is not as powerful.
All that being said, go see this in a dark theater or watch it at home in a dark room and let yourself have fun and be scared! I know I don’t usually present so many critiques, but I really did have such a good time seeing this one. I am not a parent, but a movie about parents losing their child in a some way and the repercussions of that will always be frightening to me. Big Pet Sematary(1989) vibes here, in more ways than one.