Whoa, Radio Silence’s “The Mummy” sequel got here collectively method faster than I used to be anticipating. Sure, those that’ve been carefully following improvement on “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” are doubtlessly bored with the Brendan Fraser jokes at this stage, but it surely’s a testomony to the endurance of director Stephen Sommers’ 1999 “Mummy” remake that we’re even cracking them in any respect. Fortunately, although, it appears like Cronin’s newest horror providing can have little bother differentiating itself from all these different motion pictures about bandaged-wrapped monsters.
Not that this can come as a shock to anybody accustomed to his earlier output. Cronin’s breakout effort as a director, “The Gap within the Floor,” was a “supremely scary Irish horror movie about one creepy child,” as /Movie’s personal Chris Evangelista put it in his evaluate of the film. Equally, his follow-up function, “Evil Useless Rise,” was a fittingly gnarly continuation of the Sam Raimi-created cult demonic possession property that dealt equally closely with themes of parenthood. Now, we’re getting “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” a film that mixes scary youngsters, folks being possessed, and a lot of grossness into one sick package deal.
So say the critics who’ve watched the film forward of its theatrical launch. As /Movie’s Invoice Bria put it on Twitter/X, “[‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’] is a nasty, ugly, mean-spirited & disgusting little s**t of a film. In different phrases, it is a ripper. Performs like if Cronin noticed ‘BRING HER BACK’ after binging ‘THE OMEN,’ ‘THE VANISHING,’ & ‘BRAINDEAD’ after which mentioned ‘guess.’ Bit lengthy within the tooth, however she bites. Onerous.” He isn’t alone in feeling that method, both, as nearly each different early critic response submit out there’s a variation on the identical normal concept.
Critics suppose Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is a gleefully nasty trip (if a tad lengthy)
In case you’re heading into “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” anticipating sandstorms with faces or Dwayne Johnson as a CGI monstrosity like in Stephen Sommers’ “Mummy” flicks (the much less mentioned about director Rob Cohen’s “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” the higher), then you need to most likely regulate these expectations. Cronin’s film, which he additionally wrote, is a much smaller scale affair specializing in a household who’s reunited with their younger daughter, Katie (Natalie Grace), eight years after she mysteriously vanished … solely to find she’s very completely different from the candy little woman they bear in mind.
Nerds of Shade’s Michael Lee affirmed that Cronin’s movie “trades spectacle for intimate home horror, turning household trauma & grief into one thing eerie and deeply unsettling” in his personal response to the film. He additionally emphasised it is a “visceral physique horror [film] with excellent squelching sound design,” very similar to its director’s earlier work. Critic Courtney Howard echoed that sentiment, referring to the flick as a “freaky-as-f*** creepshow” and evaluating Grace’s efficiency as Katie to Linda Blair’s iconic flip because the demonically-possessed Regan in “The Exorcist.”
Journalist Brandon Davis repeated that chorus, calling Cronin’s movie “essentially the most f***ed up film I’ve ever watched in a theater” resulting from its “ghoulish scares and intimately textured violence.” Elsewhere, critic/photographer Tyler Disney described the movie as “pleasant” however agreed with Invoice Bria that it runs “a tad little lengthy.” To make sure, it may be the 133 minute runtime greater than Cronin’s “weird decisions” (to cite critic Aaron Neuwirth’s in any other case upbeat response) that restrict this film’s industrial prospects, even with all of the vital reward. We’ll see if that is the case when “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” hits theaters on April 17, 2026.
