REVIEW: LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY
THE GIST
Scary? No.
Gory? A little.
Creepy? More so.
EXPECTATIONS
I love me a good horror, especially R rated ones. After being impressed enough with director Lee Cronin’s efforts in Evil Dead Rise, I was looking forward to see his take on his The Mummy remake/revision.
The trailers seemed good with an interesting storyline. The only reviews I heard was that it was gory. Nice.
CONTEXT
The film is not connected to previous Mummy films made by Universal Pictures. Producer James Wan asked Cronin to make a Mummy film. Cronin then told Wan that he wanted to try something that he was not familiar with, so Wan asked him, "What about trying to make a really terrifying Mummy movie?", and Cronin accepted the offer. Cronin turned down a sequel to Evil Dead Rise(2023) to direct The Mummy.
Cronin wanted to reinvent the Mummy monster and switch it from a pharaoh on a golden sarcophagus to an average person being mummified. Some of the ideas for the film came from Cronin's real-life grief while dealing with the death of his mother, who died the same day he finished Evil Dead Rise (2023). Cronin said that he initially had no interest in The Mummy, but working on the film helped him process the death of his mother, who died before watching Evil Dead Rise, and The Mummy is a response to that. A phone call that Cronin had to make to someone about keeping his mother's false teeth when bringing her home for her wake, inspired a scene in the film.
THE PLOT
The young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace. Eight years later, the broken family is shocked when she's returned to them. However, what should be a joyful reunion soon turns into a living nightmare as she starts to transform into something truly horrifying.
THE EXPERIENCE
It was a bit flat for me. I want to be immersed and scared and grossed out when watching horror films and this really only scratched the surface.
The story could have been more realistic and the characters more fleshed out to make it a better experience.
THE MEAT
The Story: The first third of the movie is itself split into about three different segments laying the groundwork and giving context for the film. This needed to be done but it was a bit odd, not bad, just odd. The rest of the film plays out after this but it never really “gets going”. I was told it was gory but there was only 2 bits that made me wince and both times it was like the movie slammed the accelerator to the floor then steadfastly backed off.
The Cinematography: No wonder the film looked amazing. With David Garbett at the helm, you can’t go wrong. He is quite the seasoned cinematographer who also did Evil Dead Rise.
The Actors: All the actors were pretty decent but the script I feel lets them down. I kept thinking about Ari Aster’s Hereditary and how developed those characters were, this film needed that. I never cared for any of the characters and at a certain point I was actually hoping they would die lol.
The Visual Effects: I can’t fault the visual effects, they just weren’t scary is all. The gory moments were spectacular.
The Soundtrack: There were sporadic moments of score where I was like “that was awesome” but they were always short lived and left me wanting more.
SUMMARY
Bit of a letdown for someone who has seen so many horror films but general audiences will probably like it more.
