If it walks like “Evil Dead” and talks like “Evil Dead,” it’s “Evil Dead,” right? Well, no. It’s “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.” As the marketing leading up to the film’s release will tell you, no, this is not the comedic, action-adventure tone of the 1999 film (or even the 1932 original film). It’s something different, yet extremely familiar. Kudos to Cronin for not giving the audience the tightly bandaged, slow-walking classic monster film people have come to expect from this character. But the spirit of this film is pieced together from fragments of the director’s previous Deadite installment, 2024’s “Evil Dead Rise,” a possession-style horror with an ever-grittier edge.
The benefit of crafting an Evil Dead installment is that there are decades of lore and templates to use as a playground. Start with a set number of characters who either venture into or are within a confined space. One of those people, unfortunately, comes across the book of the dead, opens it, and all hell breaks loose. “The Mummy” tries to deviate from that formula slightly by introducing drama involving a small family. However, it becomes very apparent that the film really wants to get to all the horrific things it can put people through – quickly discarding the simple, but relatable premise like a sprinter in the blocks when the starting gun goes off. Flesh gets torn away, jokes get delivered in a malevolent tone, and the demonic antagonist exists mainly as an expository avatar.
JACK REYNOR as Charlie Cannon and NATALIE GRACE as Katie Cannon in New Line Cinema’s, Atomic Monster’s and Blumhouse’s “LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY.” A Warner Bros. Pictures Release.
Charlie Cannon (Jack Reynor) and his wife, Larissa (Laia Costa), have a good life while temporarily stationed in Cairo with their three children. As a TV news anchor, Charlie is hoping for a prime position at a New York-based station. Well, the lucky day comes, and he gets the good news – but not before a terrible thing happens. His daughter Katie (Emily Mitchell) is abducted by a local magician (Hayat Kamille) right out of their backyard. A CGI-induced sandstorm obstructs any lead Charlie might have in the immediate search for her. The family is understandably devastated, and with no leads, they pack up and move to Albuquerque.
Eight years later, Charlie and Larissa have had another daughter, Maud (Billie Roy), and their teenage son, Sebastian (Shylo Molina), is wondering why the family has taken no vacations. At least Larissa’s mother, Carmen (Verónica Falcón), is there to somewhat spruce things up with moments of quick wit and humor. One day, the Cannon family gets an unexpected call from Dalia (May Calamawy), a Cairo detective with a never-give-up attitude concerning Katie’s disappearance. Well, Katie is alive (thankful for this), but it depends on what your definition of that is. It’s not as though Charlie and Larissa’s daughter was found hysterical, shaken, and aged over what one could imagine would be one of the scariest ordeals a child could go through. Katie was found inside an ancient sarcophagus and not in the best condition (to say the least).
She’s unable to communicate other than a persistent hiss, she’s deathly thin from starvation, and her skin has the consistency of a wet towel. But Charlie and Larissa are just happy to have her back finally. No questions asked, they try to integrate her back into the family unit slowly. Just a few days back in Katie’s bedroom, which has been kept in pristine condition, should cure what ails her, right? Well, no. A resounding no. Things go wrong almost immediately, as it’s clear that something is controlling the young girl who once enjoyed learning Morse code with her father.
VERONICA FALCÓN as Carmen in New Line Cinema’s, Atomic Monster’s and Blumhouse’s “LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY.” A Warner Bros. Pictures Release.
“The Mummy” is a tale of two films that come together to serve as a master of getting to the cruelty. On the one side, Dalia’s character is busy on the other side of the world, working feverishly to track down who took Katie and for what purpose. The reasoning ties back to the film’s prologue, tying back to an Egyptian family’s generational plight to keep a “destroyer of families” at bay by trapping it inside living bodies. Well, it’s gotten out and happens to be frolicking around an obscure part of New Mexico.
With a two-hour-and-change runtime, Cronin strives to make his version of “The Mummy” feel familiarly dramatic. But the second ingredient of the film is not as interested in diving further into the montage of grief as a broad overture. There’s something to be said about the pain of losing someone for a second time. Katie is in full “Exorcist” mode, contorting her body, and acting so aggressively that Charlie has to put padlocks on her bedroom door.
Powerlessness in the space of parenthood is a theme ripe for thematic enrichment as the film’s nasty occurrences unfold. At the heart of the matter, two families are at the mercy of something greater than themselves and have to take a course of action to rectify it. But “The Mummy” feels an innate pressure to “get to the good stuff,” involving a pedicure gone wrong and menacing happenings during a wake. To his credit, Cronin knows how to up the ante when it comes to the grossout factor of gore and guts. “The Mummy” is drenched in yellowish-gray tones, giving it a real dour atmosphere of dread. But the film’s conclusion undercuts the ongoing trauma the Cannon family is sh – as if it’s giving them an apologetic reprieve. It’s a tonal whiplash from the possession, broken bones, and severed vocal cords the audience witnessed 15 minutes earlier.
The thing is, “The Mummy” would be a cool stretch of the Sam Raimi “Evil Dead” mythos. The film definitely wants to be. It has the same bluntness, set pieces such as recorded voice-overs giving background information on the curse’s origin, and even a few uneasy laughs. The film shows flashes of trying to be more than a punishing companion piece to Cronin’s previous film, only to furiously unravel into a pile of bones and dust.
