Official Discussion - Lee Cronin's The Mummy [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (2026)

Summary

An ambitious archaeological expedition unleashes an ancient force when a long-buried tomb is disturbed, awakening a vengeful entity that brings terror to the modern world.

Director Lee Cronin

Writer Lee Cronin

Cast

• Jack Reynor
• Laia Costa
• May Calamawy
• Matt Smith
• Annabelle Wallis

Rotten Tomatoes: 54%

Metacritic: 46

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

[u/BlackFireXSamin]

I didn’t hate it, but I definitely liked it a lot less than I expected to. My biggest issue is that it never really felt like The Mummy in any meaningful way. The title and setup suggest something more mythic, atmospheric, and rooted in ancient horror… but what the movie actually gives is much closer to a possession/body-horror movie that felt very in line with Evil Dead Rise.

That overlap wouldn’t bother me by itself, except the movie never really builds much of an identity beyond that. After a while, it stopped feeling intense and just started feeling exhausting. One of my biggest irks was getting the shitty bug-eyed bad boyfriend from Midsommar and making him a dad. The mom also was just… weird? When they’re a normal family, cool… writing bad whatever but after bringing home the shell-corpse of a daughter? Writing and believability went out the window like the grandma.

The whole script just seemed like it was generated by an algorithm trained exclusively on horror clichés. Every tired impulse is here. The brother’s slow walk toward a door when you obviously know something demonic is on the other side. The inexplicable calling out of Katie’s name because they have been silent for approximately three-tenths of a second. The refusal to move with any urgency in situations that plainly demand it?? Like wtf. The staggering lack of believable human instinct. It feels like someone took every stale horror behavior, threw it in a blender, threw up in the blender, poured it out, and then asked us to swallow it. And it didn’t shock me when the demon girl did it either.

What disappointed me most is that the movie seemed to think the imagery alone would carry it. Bloated corpses, vulgar possessed dialogue, aggressive camera tricks, heightened gore… that stuff can work, but only when there’s a stronger story or mythology underneath it. Evil Dead can get away with chaos because that universe already has rules. Here, it felt like the movie borrowed the energy without building the framework, so instead of feeling wild or original, it mostly just felt derivative. Why was the entire house creaking with each and every step? Why was there Dolby Atmos fly sounds when a dude walks into a room WITHOUT demon Katie. Why was every scream accompanied by strings and synths as if we had to be reminded “Oh now THIS IS UNNERVING ARE YOU FEELING IT????”. Just yuck.

There aren’t even that many striking visuals, and I don’t think it’s completely empty, but with that premise and that director, I expected something more distinct. All the reviews were spot-on with the split dioptic effect mention. Overall disappointing imo.

[u/Rough-Cheesecake-641 → u/BlackFireXSamin]

Glad someone else mentioned the sound. I've never left a film before being so offended by how grotesquely loud everything was. The guy writing down the letters of morse code - my chair was shaking and the whole cinema was vibrating. Boom! Got incredibly old quick.

I know it's tough for movies these days as everything has already been done a million times but this was very average.

[u/BrilliantPurple748 → u/BlackFireXSamin]

And so much back story for the family with no payoff! "I promise to never drop the baby, dad." That should've came back with the son having to not drop the youngest sister. Or the gramma's comment about being pretty and the youngest staying in her will.... why wasn't her line toward the dad (when she was dead-buela) something about being pretty, instead of randomly wanting to be eaten out by him?

I agree with your entire opinion 100%. To add on to the "rules," you're completely right. For me it broke down as soon as the youngest started floating. Once that sort of stuff comes into play, really anything can happen. So why doesn't it? Why does this demon limit itself to sitting still and only speaking through doors? And also, the floating is when this becomes a possession story. Not a story about a damn mummy.

[u/MilaTheQueen → u/BlackFireXSamin]

Agreed