Lee Cronin's The Mummy [Movie Review]

Lee Cronin's The Mummy [Movie Review] | I read mixed reviews about the movie. Some were all in, while others decided it wasn't their cup of tea. Some even said it went totally off track for the Mummy franchise. 

I couldn't handle the conflicting drama, so I watched it for myself. Where would I stand once the credits rolled?

SYNOPSIS

Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026) Trivia

• Starring: Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Natalie Grace & Verónica Falcón
• Director: Lee Cronin
• Producer: James Wan, Jason Blum & John Keville
• Production Company: New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, Blumhouse Productions & Wicked/Good
• Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Release date: April 17, 2026
• Running time: 133 minutes
• Rating: MA
• Country: United States
• Language: English
• IMDb: 6.5/ 10
• Tomatometer: 46%
• Metascore: 46%
• Lee Cronin cited Poltergeist (1982) and Seven (1995) as primary influences on the film. 
• To avoid brand confusion, producer Jason Blum added Lee Cronin's name to the title. Though initially hesitant, Lee joined the project after James Wan pitched it as a pure horror film, famously choosing this "risk" over directing an Evil Dead Rise sequel. 
• Prioritizing authenticity, the film features an Egyptian cast for its Cairo scenes. Stars May Calamawy and Ahmed ElGhety led the ensemble, with ElGhety doubling as a consultant for Egyptian colloquialisms. 
• The "skin strip" scene used grueling practical "slip-skin" effects on actress Natalie Grace. Its dental horror was so intense that some test audiences reportedly walked out during the "teeth removal" and "chattering jaw" sequences.

The movie brings us to Cairo. Beneath the scorching sun, a family returns home to find the air heavy with a wrongness that chills the bones. As soon as they are inside the comfort of their home, the youngest child screams when she sees that their bird is dying. The mother picks up the bird and crushes it inside her tattooed arms.

Under their home, in a cellar built atop a buried black pyramid, a couple descends into the dark. There, a basalt sarcophagus holds a mummified secret. The husband asks if "it" has risen. The wife replies that it has not. Their relief is short-lived. The mummy stirs, a supernatural force strikes and the man falls dead before his horrified wife.

In another part of Cairo, an investigative reporter Charlie Cannon lives a life of noise and color with his pregnant wife, Larissa and their two children, Katie and Sebastian. Unbeknownst to them, a woman known only as the Magician, a figure of terrifying, ethereal grace, lures Katie away with sweets and a smile. This Magician is the same woman whose husband died beside the sarcophagus.

When Charlie realizes Katie is gone, he pursues the Magician, but a sandstorm swallows their trail, leaving him to scream into the wind.

Eight years pass without a word. The Cannons are now in Albuquerque, living in the quiet, Catholic home of Larissa’s mother. Sebastian is a teenager and they have a new daughter, Maud. 

Outside Aswan, a plane crash reveals the same basalt coffin. Inside is Katie. She is alive, mummified in ancient parchment, but exists only as a catatonic shell. Detective Zaki, the officer who interrogated the Cannons years prior, contacts Charlie about the discovery. The Cannons fly immediately to Cairo to bring Katie home.

Back in New Mexico, the bandages begin to slip, revealing ancient script etched into her skin. A local professor delivers a chilling verdict that Katie isn't just a victim - she is a vessel. She carries the Nasmaranian, a family-destroying demon bound only by the sacred scripture on her wrappings.

As the bindings unravel, the house becomes a slaughterhouse. Katie’s siblings fall into a dark trance and her grandmother meets a grisly end at the jaws of desert wolves that have suddenly appeared in the compound. Meanwhile, in Cairo, Detective Zaki uncovers a VHS tape revealing the ritual’s soul-crushing truth. The demon requires a living host to stay buried, and a child provides the longest "sentence".

With the demon’s power peaking and the family’s sanity fracturing, Charlie faces an impossible choice to save his daughter from the rot within.

How will they contain the Nasmaranian without jeopardizing the family?

MY REVIEW

What I Like:  

• I like the fact that it is not the continuity of the Mummy series.
• Gross factor is the best - be warned!

What I Don't Like:

• Can be a bit long, running at 133 minutes.

Will I Watch It Again: Yes, I would. 

Overall: 4.5/ 5.0

The pictures are taken from multiple sources on the Internet. Thank you.

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