Lee Cronin’s The Mummy Review: Stylish Gore, Weak Mummy Identity

Blumhouse’s latest attempt to resurrect a classic Universal Monster arrives with a significant identity crisis. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy positions itself as a franchise reinvention yet shares little DNA with the Boris Karloff original, the Brendan Fraser adventure saga, or even Tom Cruise’s failed Dark Universe launch. Instead, the 133-minute horror feature plays like a possession film wearing bandages, earning a 6 out of 10 rating from critics who praise its technical audacity while questioning its narrative foundations. Despite striking visual compositions and uncompromising gore, the film hitting theaters April 17, 2026, ultimately raises the question of whether brand recognition justifies such a radical departure from monster movie conventions.

A Radical Departure from Mummy Lore

The film’s central tension stems from its title’s promise versus its actual content. While marketing materials leverage the iconic Mummy branding to attract audiences familiar with the franchise, Cronin’s execution draws far more from The Exorcist than from any previous incarnation of the wrapped monster. Reviewers note that without the specific plot point of a child discovered inside a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus, virtually nothing in the narrative would suggest a mummy movie at all.

This approach follows Blumhouse’s recent pattern of reimagining classic monsters through contemporary horror lenses. Leigh Whannell’s 2020 The Invisible Man successfully translated H.G. Wells into a meditation on abuse and gaslighting while maintaining the core concept of an actually invisible man. However, Whannell’s subsequent Wolf Man faltered by substituting supernatural lycanthropy for a vague virus called “hill fever,” departing too radically from the titular creature. The Mummy risks similar audience disappointment by offering a possession narrative rather than a bandaged antagonist, though Cronin compensates with sheer stylistic excess that Whannell’s latter film lacked.

The director also imports significant DNA from his previous works. Echoes of Evil Dead Rise appear in the visceral body horror sequences, while the plot structure mirrors his 2019 folk-horror film The Hole in the Ground, which similarly featured a young child returning from disappearance fundamentally changed in horrifying ways.

The Cairo Abduction and New Mexico Aftermath

The narrative opens with the Cannon family residing in Cairo, establishing immediate geographic distance from traditional Egyptian tomb settings. Charlie Cannon, portrayed by Jack Reynar, works as a foreign correspondent journalist harboring ambitions of landing a prestigious New York morning news position. His wife Larissa, played by Laia Costa, works as a nurse while pregnant with their third child. Their existing children include Seb (initially Dean Allen Williams, later Shylo Molina following a time jump) and young Katie (Emily Mitchell).

This domestic tranquility shatters when Katie undergoes abduction by a mysterious figure identified only as the Magician (Hayat Kamille). In a deliberate fairy-tale evocation reminiscent of Snow White’s poisoned apple, the Magician offers Katie fruit before the kidnapping, establishing the film’s supernatural leanings early. Eight years later, the surviving Cannons have relocated to a sprawling, isolated New Mexico compound owned by Larissa’s mother Carmen (Verónica Falcón), attempting to rebuild their lives while raising new daughter Maud (Billie Roy).

The narrative engine ignites when authorities discover Katie alive, now portrayed by Natalie Grace, sealed within an ancient sarcophagus. Her return initiates the film’s primary horror arc, as her skin appears pale and sagging, her behavior oscillating between catatonic rigidity and violent outbursts. Meanwhile, an Egyptian detective played by May Calamawy investigates the circumstances of the original disappearance, creating a bifurcated narrative structure that eventually converges on the family’s escalating nightmare.

Technical Mastery Meets Narrative Bloat

Where The Mummy succeeds unequivocally lies in its visual craftsmanship. Cinematographer Dave Garbett collaborates with Cronin to deploy an aggressive aesthetic vocabulary heavily featuring split diopter shots that would make Brian De Palma envious. The camera frequently assaults the viewer with intentionally jarring close-ups of gnashing bloody teeth and petrified facial expressions, cultivating an atmosphere of sustained dread that hovers over the majority of the runtime.

The technical team stages several highly charged set pieces demonstrating significant craft elevation over standard Blumhouse productions. A particularly striking plane crash sequence, glimpsed from a distance rather than shown directly, showcases Cronin’s ability to suggest scale through restraint. The body horror elements escalate throughout the 133-minute runtime, with Katie’s skin eventually peeling away like bloody wallpaper while various family members endure grievous bodily harm accompanied by uncomfortable squelching sound design.

However, this runtime becomes problematic as the narrative progresses. Despite the film’s considerable length, significant character development feels missing, suggesting tension between Cronin’s artistic intentions and producer demands. The filmmaker appears to have aspired toward Hereditary-style emotional depth and family drama, while studio notes seemingly pushed for increased viscera at the expense of psychological complexity. This results in a middle section that sags under the weight of its own ambition without delivering sufficient character insight to justify the extended duration.

Cast Performances and Character Flaws

The ensemble struggles against underwritten material that prioritizes shock value over human behavior. Jack Reynar delivers physically committed reactions, bugging his eyes appropriately at the surrounding chaos, yet the screenplay provides minimal material beyond the opening sequence establishing Charlie’s career ambitions. Laia Costa’s Larissa repeatedly makes increasingly irrational choices, ignoring obvious supernatural warning signs regarding her returned daughter in ways that strain credibility.

Natalie Grace delivers the film’s most technically impressive performance as the changed Katie, capturing both physical monstrosity and moments of genuine pathos. However, the screenplay’s clarity regarding her supernatural infestation from the opening scenes undermines the family’s delayed reactions. As Katie begins levitating and spouting profanities in classic demonic possession fashion, the narrative increasingly resembles The Exorcist, making the film’s mummy trappings feel like afterthoughts or marketing mandates rather than organic story elements.

The supporting cast includes strong international representation, with Verónica Falcón bringing gravitas to the grandmother role and Hayat Kamille maintaining menace as the Magician. May Calamawy’s detective provides necessary exposition while offering a grounded counterpoint to the supernatural hysteria consuming the Cannon family.

Release Information and Final Verdict

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy represents a frustrating near-miss that will likely satisfy hardcore horror aficionados while disappointing franchise purists. The film’s unflinchingly nasty third act reportedly caused walkouts at early screenings, suggesting effective genre filmmaking even when the narrative foundation proves shaky. However, the final ten minutes reportedly suffer from obvious test-screening reshoots and unnecessary franchise setup that undermines the preceding nastiness.

Key Release Details:

• Theatrical Release: April 17, 2026
• Runtime: 133 minutes
• Studio: Blumhouse Productions
• Director/Screenwriter: Lee Cronin
• Cinematographer: Dave Garbett
• Critical Rating: 6/10 (/Film)

Principal Cast:

• Jack Reynar as Charlie Cannon
• Laia Costa as Larissa Cannon
• Natalie Grace as Katie Cannon (older)
• Emily Mitchell as Katie Cannon (younger)
• Shylo Molina as Seb Cannon (older)
• Dean Allen Williams as Seb Cannon (younger)
• Billie Roy as Maud Cannon
• Verónica Falcón as Carmen
• Hayat Kamille as The Magician
• May Calamawy as The Detective

Ultimately, Cronin’s film succeeds as a delivery system for blood and guts while failing to establish why this story required the Mummy moniker. The director deserves credit for attempting something distinct from the franchise’s previous iterations, and the production certainly surpasses Cruise’s aborted Dark Universe entry in terms of coherent vision. Yet the absence of classic mummy mythology—no ancient curses, no resurrection rituals, no Imhotep-style tragic romance—leaves the enterprise feeling like a possession film wearing borrowed bandages. For audiences seeking visceral thrills, the April 2026 release offers sufficient grue. For those seeking the melancholic grandeur or swashbuckling adventure traditionally associated with the character, this particular sarcophagus remains empty.

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