©Courtesy of Warner Brothers
There will be no treasure hunting or tomb raiding in this Egyptological horror film. The Cannon family never tempted fate or defied any ancient inscriptions warning them to turn back, lest they be cursed. Instead, evil goes out of its way to find them in director-screenwriter Lee Cronin’s possessively-titled Blumhouse-produced Lee Cronin’s the Mummy, which opens Friday in theaters.
Life in Egypt was great for the expat Cannons, until it suddenly wasn’t. Foreign correspondent Charlie Cannon was on the verge of a promotion to a national network news anchor position and his RN wife Larissa Santiago-Cannon was pregnant with their third. Then the creepy neighbor lady abducted their daughter Katie. Of course, the lazy lead detective just assumes her father, or someone else in the family killed her, so he does little to investigate.
[
Despite his innocence, the guilt nearly breaks Cannon and his marriage. About a decade later, the Cannons have relocated to her mother’s rambling desert home in New Mexico, where Katie’s absence still remains keenly felt. Initially, they celebrate when the American consulate finally informs them Katie has been discovered alive. The circumstances are almost as bizarre as her condition. Found encased within a strange sarcophagus that survived a freak plane crash, doctors diagnose the withered and desiccated Katie with locked-in syndrome.
Ominously, strange things start happening once the Cannons bring Katie home, in hopes of nursing her back to full health and consciousness. Maud, the little sister who arrived after her abduction, exhibits particularly distressing symptoms. Meanwhile, Dalia Zaki, an Egyptian missing persons detective, who regrets her former boss’s slapdash handling of Katie’s disappearance, follows clues back to the shadowy “Magician,” who performed the sinister ritual on the innocent girl.
First there was Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992. Then came Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein two years later. Now we have Lee Cronin’s the Mummy. Granted, Cronin successfully reinvigorated the Evil Dead franchise with Evil Dead Rise, but do average everyday movie-goers really recognize him as an equal to Shelly and Stoker? That seems doubtful. However, Cronin’s titular stamp helps differentiate his Mummy concept from its predecessors. Instead of the cursed Im-Ho-Tep eternally seeking his reincarnated lover in Universal’s classic 1932 Mummy, this ancient monster acts more like Pazuzu in The Exorcist.
Instead of the zombie-like relentlessness of prior mummies, Cronin serves up demonic scares and a particularly gory variety of body horror. Frankly, if viewers are not wedded to the established ambiance and trappings expected of traditional mummy movies, Cronin’s Mummy is consistently grabby and often impressively scary. Regardless, it completely outclasses the Tom Cruise Mummy movie.
Jack Treynor solidly anchors the film as Charlie Cannon, credibly depicting his everyman character experiencing a parent’s worst fears, raised to the power of one thousand. Hayat Kamille is massively creepy as the Magician, while May Calamawy is convincingly shrewd and forceful as the intrepid Zaki. Young Natalie Grace also earns tremendous credit for maintaining corrupted Katie’s unsettling ferociousness, while enduring all the practical makeup effects.
©Courtesy of Warner Brothers
Despite the lack of pyramids and tombs, Cronin still finds a way to incorporate enough exotic Egyptian atmosphere to placate old school purists. Reportedly, Cronin identified Fincher’s Se7en as an influence, which is most clearly reflected during Zaki’s gritty investigative sequences. Frankly, if Blumhouse ever greenlights a sequel, Cronin should promote Calamawy to the lead.
This is clearly not the jokey late 1990s Mummy or the broodingly romantic 1930s Mummy. As the title says, its Lee Cronin’s the Mummy. It is super-angsty and at times unapologetic grotesque, but it does what horror movies are supposed to do. Altogether, it is rather satisfying. Recommended for mummy fans receptive to a radically new take, Lee Cronin’s the Mummy opens nationwide April 17th.
Grade: B+
If you liked the review, share your thoughts below!
Check out more of Joe’s articles.
Here’s the trailer of the film.