Lee Cronin’s THE MUMMY is not here to give you Brendan Fraser quips, sandy adventure, or crowd-pleasing swashbuckling. This is a much gnarlier, wetter, nastier beast – less “booga booga” and more gooey, gory body horror. There are a handful of genuinely butt-puckering moments, but Cronin’s real interest is in making you squirm. I’m more of a ghosts-and-aliens guy than a 12 inches of leg skin gets pulled up after clipping a mummy toenail guy, so let’s just say this movie occasionally had me laughing and dry-heaving at the same time. Talk about the world’s worst hangnail.
The setup is strong. A journalist’s young daughter disappears into the desert without a trace. Eight years later, she is suddenly returned to her broken family – only something is very, very wrong. What should be a miracle reunion turns into a living nightmare as an ancient Egyptian curse infects the household and drags everyone into escalating horror. The film centers on Charlie Cannon, his wife Larissa, their daughter Katie, and the people pulled into the fallout as the mystery around Katie’s return unravels.
The main cast is solid across the board. Jack Reynor plays Charlie Cannon, the journalist father at the center of the chaos. Laia Costa plays his wife, Larissa Santiago-Cannon. Natalie Grace plays Katie, the missing daughter whose return kicks the whole nightmare into motion. May Calamawy plays Detective Dalia Zaki, and Verónica Falcón plays Carmen Santiago, Larissa’s mother. Nobody’s out here chewing scenery for sport. The acting is good, the script is sturdy, and the movie knows exactly what kind of unpleasant ride it wants to be.
That said, this is not one I’m racing back to see again, and it is definitely not cracking my scariest movies of all time list anytime soon. It is a solid film, not a transcendent one. Fans of Cronin’s previous work — especially people who liked the nasty physicality of EVIL DEAD RISE — will probably have a good time, and body horror fans should eat this up like a cursed buffet. But if you’re buying a ticket hoping for the spirit of the Fraser movies, you’re going to leave one sad little adventurer.
Bottom line: THE MUMMY is well-acted, well-written, gross in memorable ways, and worth a look if Cronin’s brand of horror is your thing. I won’t be revisiting it, and I’m not calling it a masterpiece, but I also can’t call it a miss. Grade: B.
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