By Dan Skip Allen 

When I was a kid, I watched the Boris Karloff version of “The Mummy” from Universal Pictures. It’s pretty cool at the time. Karloff was amazing in the role as he was as the monster in James Whale’s Frankenstein films as well. Later in the 90s, Universal Pictures reimagined this character for a whole new generation of filmgoers. The film starred Brendan Fraser in a star-making role as Rick O’Connell.  In another reboot, Universal Pictures launched what they called The Dark Universe and rebooted The Mummy Once again. This time, starring Tom Cruise and putting the cart before the horse. This didn’t work out, and this idea failed miserably after a photo with a bunch of actors who were going to play other Universal Monster characters leaked, and film fans weren’t happy about it. Now Jason Blum bought the rights to the Universal Monsters and is giving creators a chance to put a whole new spin on these classic characters Ala “The Invisible Man” in 2020 and “The Wolf Man” in 2025. Now it’s Lee Cronin’s (Evil Dead Rise) at reimagining another Universal Monsters character with his version of “The Mummy. It is another good one with Blumhouse and Atomic Monster behind it from a production standpoint. 

This version of “The Mummy” is a mix between a horror mystery and a detective story. The detective story centers around a missing girl named Katie (Emily Mitchell, Natalie Grace). She has a friend at the end of the yard who gives her things, but it’s all a ploy to kidnap her for an evil plan. A young Egyptian Detective Dalia Zaki (May Calamawy) is tasked with trying to figure out what happened to this little girl. The story flashes forward 8 years, and the girl is eventually found, but the family who lost her in the first place has to deal with what has happened to her. She has come back to them a changed teenager in ways they didn’t expect. The father, Charlie (Jack Reynor), and mother Larissa (Laia Costa) and two other children have to deal with the repercussions of what this girl turned into.

This film has two distinct stories, which I was a fan of. One was the detective investigation angle of the story, mostly involving the Calamawy and Raynor characters to an extent. I over how little pieces of information were found in the context of the story that helped the film move ahead. These clues provided needed verisimilitude to the movie. The second part of the film was a straight-up horror film. The family that lived in a house on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico, had to fight for their survival against the supernatural forces that had taken over their daughter. The creature has abilities that make her a very dangerous and formatable character. Mind control and so forth that give the creature more power. There were a lot of gruesome scenes in this part of the story. Which I came to expect from a Lee Cronin film.

With any horror, I know you’re going to get some crazy scenes where you want to close your eyes or wince in agony from the gross out nature that they can have. This one is no different than others in that regard. Cronin had one specific scene where the mother was trimming the toenails of the girl that was found, and it was pretty disgusting. Skin peeled off its leg and the entire toenail as well. That’s just one example of some of the gross out horror. This movie is loaded with scenes that made me cringe. After seeing Cronin’s Evil Dead film, I now know he’s going to keep ramping up the gruesomeness with each new movie he does. And this one is no different. That’s why I go see these movies. They have to make me squirm in my seat and want to cover my eyes. I did that a lot during this film.

Jack Reynor is an actor I’ve come to know from movies like “Sing Street”, and “Midsummar”. He’s now graduated from a teen heartthrob to a parent who is a television news reporter and father of three kids. I didn’t buy him in this role. He seemed to still be a little young for a character like this. He did a good job trying to be who this character was, but I personally didn’t believe in him as the character.  Even the wife seemed unbelievable in her role. The only character I truly cared about in the context of the film was the Egyptian detective played by Calamawy. She brought strength and believability to this role. She commanded the scene every time she was in front of the camera. I truly cared about what happened to her more than any other character in the movie. The kids were okay, but I was more annoyed by them than anything. 

The setting of the movie was fascinating to me. First, it started out in Egypt and eventually moved to New Mexico. The house that half the film was in had a spookness to it. The stair creaked, and with the sound design, every noise was loud and noticeable. There was a lot of banging going on. The house was its own character in a way. It had hidden passageways that helped the story. The make-up and hairstyling were pretty good as well. Especially on the girl that became the monster. There was a lot of blood and gore to go around in this film. All of these technical aspects helped make the movie that much better from a creepy point of view.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy made me feel uncomfortable in a good way. That’s the way a horror movie is supposed to make you feel. It had a lot of creepy visuals and horror scenes. I absolutely was cringing at multiple scenes in the film. Especially the toenail and skin peeling scene. Cronin knows how to create an audience by making them not watch what’s going on screen. The cast was okay, but I would have liked to see more established actors in the roles of the parents. Now, I did like Calamawy as the lead detective. She brought a sense of dramatic flavor to the film. As a whole, I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. Blum and Wan, as producers, gave this film to people who know how to market and lead from a producer standpoint. That was important. I think people will flock to see this reimagining of the classic Universal Monsters character. 

4 stars