I didn’t like this movie for about a hundred reasons. Most of them have to do with the age-old issue of how to reboot a classic movie. Classics are well known and beloved for a reason, mostly having to do with their themes, characters, and meaning. The original Mummy is about the past, obsessive love, and the dangers of forbidden knowledge.  Lee Cronin’s The Mummy abandons these themes entirely in favor of family drama and more standard demonic possession. 

• Directed by: Lee Cronin
• Written by: Lee Cronin
• Starring: Jack Reynor. Laia Costa. May Calamawy

The Problem With Reboots

Look. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is a fine enough movie. It’s full of body horror and interesting visuals. The characters are likeable enough. However, at the end of the day, this didn’t need to be a mummy movie. I can’t say there is nothing that connects the two. There are some light attempts to tie the history of Egypt to the modern kidnapping.  It’s just a passing line however. Before we know it, we’re out of Egypt and back to Arizona with an incredibly unwell Katie, the subject of this iteration. 

There is also an attempt to show the duality of Katie. She’s locked in her body while the demon is possessing her. We do see some light parallels to the original with the two identities in one body, but it’s never given enough space to breathe. 

Maybe It’s a Me Issue

Ultimately, I got bored about fifty minutes in. The possessed kid is creepy. The premise that this family would not seek more intense medical help or supervision before they do is mind-boggling. The mom and dad argue about how best to care for her as if she’s not eating scorpions and headbutting grandma.   I get that caretaker guilt and guilt in general is a theme, the parts just done come together well enough.

Cronin is trying to balance a demonic possession with parental guilt, but it doesn’t work. Because Katie starts so far gone, it strains credibility. I actually think Cronin is trying to balance too many elements. The possession, the investigation, all of these elements unwind for the characters to demonstrate what the audience already knows: Katie was kidnapped and possessed by a demon. 

The Lore

Somewhere around the beginning of the third act, we get the info dump. A family is charged with containing a demon by locking it in an innocent child.  Katie was their most recent host. Of course the family recorded this, so we get to watch it.  Why? Who knows. We already know she’s possessed and that she needs the bandages to contain her. 

By the time we get to the end, the demon has possessed most of the house, grandma is back from the dead, and Charlie, the dad, is ready to sacrifice himself for his kid. ‘Cause that’s what this is about: how far a parent would go for a child. The ending is solid. I didn’t hate it and it makes sense with the themes and structure. There’s just not enough material to support getting there.

Pacing

So, let’s talk about pacing, because in a movie that has this much skin removal, it’s hard to imagine that I was bored, and yet.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen all this before. It gets compared to The Exorcist in reviews, and I get that. There is a lot of Evil Dead in here too, as well as Insidious. All three of those are better movies than Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. Especially his Evil Dead Rise, which covers some of the same ground interestingly enough.

They both touch on the twisting of the family unit in different ways. Cronin has a lot to say about familial guilt and codependency. I’m just not sure if The Mummy was the proper vehicle for him to work through those themes. 

Final Thoughts

I’m glad I watched Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, even though I didn’t love it. It’s risky to take on a property that’s been watched and reworked since 1932 and make it your own. Cronin will no doubt go on to direct and produce many more successful films in his distinctive style, and I look forward to seeing them, even if this one didn’t quite land for me.

The Mummy is available on streaming.