When Katie (Emily Mitchell) goes missing, it takes eight years for her to reappear in a three-thousand-year-old sarcophagus, and she is worse for the wear. As the family struggles to find the best way to help her readjust to society, they discover that the medical diagnosis may not be accurate. “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” (2026) asks what really happened to Katie. If you are prepared to be grossed out, see older people and children go through the ringer and enjoy the mummy aesthetic mixed with signs of possession, this movie is for you, but Cronin kind of loses the plot on the way without a consistent, relatable protagonist and an end that feels like an afterthought.
I spent my own money to see “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.” For some reason, Warner Brothers is inconsistent with screening movies for critics, and in their case, it does not mean that the film is not good, just not as good as it could be. It started with the last installment of “The Conjuring Universe,” so I did not care, but with “They Will Kill You” (2026), it is a bit of a problem because I want to report about the most entertaining or best films premiering every weekend, not the ones with the best taste. It may have made the cut on April 17, 2026, but I still do not have a time machine. Anyway, the movie has a lot going for it though it never fully comes together.
“Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” is a mean-spirited movie that signals early that no one is getting out of this predicament safely. There is a mysterious Egyptian family, a weird mix of fun with one killjoy head, Detective Dalia Zaki (May Calamawy, whom you may recognize from “Moon Knight”), a young woman detective determined to work in the missing person division, and a loving, likeable family that had everything going for it. It starts in Cairo, Egypt, and young Katie is probably the best and brightest in a family that kind of expects things to work out. She is an intense striver and wants her dad, television journalist, Charlie Cannon (Jack Reynor), to get his crap together to help her study. On the other hand, she accepts candy from strangers so…. Charlie is supposed to be ambitious and care more about his career than his family, thus planning a big move to New York, but other than not quizzing his daughter and watching his segment on television, that storyline gets underdeveloped though resurfaces later and is unnecessary. Mom, Larissa (Laia Costa), is pregnant and vaguely working in the medical field (pink scrubs) when Katie goes missing.
The tragedy seems to have the effect of bringing the family together because fast forward to eight years later, they are all living at grandma’s house in New Mexico. Son, Sebastian (Shylo Molina), is a teen, and little sister, Maud (Billie Roy), gets along with him. Grandma, Carmen (Veronica Falcón), is a former salon owner and is devoted to her grandbabies. When Katie is found, the parents return to Egypt to retrieve her and bring her back home as recommended so they should probably sue for malpractice. The tension emerges because Larissa thinks she can take care of Katie (Natalie Grace) despite all evidence to the contrary. Thanks to the miracle of makeup and Grace’s acrobatic skills, Katie looks like Charlie from “Hereditary” (2018) if she got older and makes Reagan seem like a well-adjusted young lady. Cronin makes the family a little too stupid. Larissa says that she will take care of Katie then disappears long enough for Katie to weave her sinister influence throughout the house thus beginning the process of corrupting the other children and seems to inflict the most physical abuse on grandma. The children were the first to be suspicious, and grandma should at least have learned to stay out of arm’s reach, so it feels like a disservice to the characters’ earlier mindset, but because it makes it creepier, let’s sign a waiver. The authorities should at least raise an eyebrow over the possibility of elder abuse.
If “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” works, it is because the mythology is decent and solid. Whatever ails Katie is reminiscent of Dracula’s old school powers in the way that sandstorms stir up, coyotes get attracted to the house and her snacking habits. The mummy part of the title seems as if it is mostly for aesthetics and exploiting franchise purposes, but the idea of a black pyramid, mysterious writing on the strips found wrapped around Katie and her decomposing look make it feel more substantial than superficial. The possession angle is not accidental, and considering demon possession films can be a little stale, Cronin deserves some credit for coming at it sideways and inventing some lore though deciding to cut away just when a professor is about to give some answers or at other inopportune times does hurt the pacing of the film and the ability to root for characters stuck on stupid. The analog horror was fun with VHS tapes and cassettes playing spooky lore.
If you think that it is cool to finally have a mummy film shot in Egypt, it is not. It is shot in Ireland and Spain. Ok. Fine. It is cool to have the family in two separate desert regions at least within the film’s universe. There are Egyptian characters, and here is where a protagonist would come in handy. It is not Jack because his discovery and search only move the plot forward minimally. It is not mom, who takes a backseat until the denouement, which is too late for a final girl to emerge. It could have been the detective, especially as the investigation changes her demeanor. She ditches her hijab so it could be a sign of loss of faith, but she is relegated to the margins until everyone comes together. Apparently, Cronin may have been in love with the idea of three people coming together like a pyramid, but audiences really need a single through line, and it is missing. Any of the other girls or women in the family could have fit the bill, but they are there to be fodder. Katie would have been a provocative choice since she has lucid moments when she can communicate. If Seb was not such an afterthought, he could have worked too.
Cronin is great at the broad strokes of horror, but not the details of the story though he had great ingredients to work with. “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” could have been better with a bit more focus and without dividing the family, which felt perfunctory. No one needed to be stupid for the nasty bit of work to get the jump on them. Also, there was an undercooked theme of the family keeping secrets which gets busted wide open with no long-term consequences that felt like a pulled punch. While grody to the max, it would have been awesome if Cronin had someone to help him bring it together.
