The Blumhouse/Atomic Robot riffs on Universal’s classic monsters thus far have been an interesting experiment. I don’t think anyone saw the success of Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man coming, nor perhaps that his follow up, The Wolf Man, would land with a thud. With the third riff comes a bit of drama, not least Universal punting it off to Warner Bros. to avoid brand confusion with some big-budget rebootquels on the way. Thus, we have Lee Cronin’s Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, which in a lot of ways is the most different of the bunch. It’s much more like Cronin’s previous Evil Dead Rise than anything starring Brendan Fraser and Imhotep. But that’s really why I think it works as well as it does.
Unlike any of the previous Mummy films in the main canon, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy eschews action-adventure for pure supernatural body horror. This movie is grotty and proud of it. It also carries on a theme for Cronin in putting normal families in the gnarliest horror stories possible. And like Evil Dead Rise, the horror aspects here come with a devilishly comedic tone. It maybe pulls a few punches, but not as many as one might expect.
The story begins in Egypt where news correspondent Charlie (Jack Reynor) lives with his wife, medical professional Larissa (Laia Costa), two kids, and a third on the way. One afternoon, a mysterious woman (Hayat Kamille) abducts the daughter, Katie, and the Cairo police—including young officer Dalia (May Calamawy)—have no idea where she is.
Eight years pass, the family has relocated to Albuquerque, and out of the blue, people find Katie (played as a teen by newcomer Natalie Grace). Only, our poor girl isn’t quite what they remember. She shows signs of mistreatment and malnutrition as well as a strange skin condition. Katie can’t speak and is mainly catatonic aside from occasional violent spasms. As Charlie and now-Detective Dalia try to piece together what happened, the true nature of Katie’s dark presence begins to infect the house, the family, and maybe even the world?!
One of the biggest issues with Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is the story is almost at odds with itself. It tries to at once evoke things like The Exorcist and Evil Dead and supernatural mysteries like Sinister and Insidious. (Not surprisingly, those second two from producers Jason Blum and James Wan.) The plot doesn’t need to be as complex as it tries to be, but it often feels like Cronin needs to justify it being a movie about a mummy, sort of, so needs ancient curses and cults. Half of it goes nowhere. I’m not sure it needs that stuff, and I think it ultimately gets in the way of what really works.
Once Katie gets to Albuquerque—to a massive old house, perfect for horror—and the gross and uncanny stuff really starts, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is a hell of a lot of fun. Multiple times during my press screening, the audience emitted loud, involuntary noises as a result of the splatter. At its best, the movie evokes Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive or the darkest parts of Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist. And, yes, Evil Dead. I keep coming back to that because that really is what it felt more like.
I really need to take a moment to shout out Natalie Grace’s performance. Almost the totality of it is under heavy makeup and requiring physical contortion. She’s the highlight of the entire film, perfectly understanding the part she’s playing. She makes Evil Katie relish in the wickedness in just the right way. I loved watching her every reptilian tongue flick and rigor mortis twitch. Great stuff.
Whether or not the movie is “scary” certainly depends on taste and preference. I find gross-out splatter effects more fun than scary. If body horror and gore isn’t your thing, then you’ll likely keep your face behind your hands. If you enjoyed Evil Dead Rise, I think you’ll enjoy this.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.