Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is Not For The Faint of Heart…It’s Terrifying

Through the years, there have been over a dozen films centered around “The Mummy,” from the 1932 Boris Karloff series of films to the latest one in 2017 starring Tom Cruise.  For my generation, the one that sticks to the memory are the Brendan Fraser films from 1999 – 2008.  Regardless of what version audiences have seen, there is bound to be a jump scare moment or two.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is more than a jump scare or two.  It is down right disgustingly terrifying. In this iteration, Charlie (Jack Reynor) and Larissa (Laia Costa) are an American journalist and medical professional working in Cairo.  Both parents are so consumed with work that they fail to notice their daughter Katie (Emily Mitchell) has made a creepy new friend. After Katie is kidnapped, she’s gone for a full eight years,  turning up in an ancient sarcophagus, at the site of a mysterious plane crash.  when the parents bring Katie (now played by Natalie Grace), she is far from the lively, lovable child they once knew and then the murderous shenanigans kick in.

From the hieroglyphic flesh peeling bandages to the almost Exorcist like body invasion of Katie, this film is absolutely terrifying in the most disgusting manner one can imagine. So much so, that I had really hard time falling asleep for a few days after screening it.  But, as I have stated numerous times over they years, I am more of a thriller than horror doll.  Mistakengly, I delved into this film thinking it was closer to the the previous iterations of the franchise.  Ya’ girl got selective amnesia and forgot Lee Cronin is the same dude who brought us Evil Dead Rise and The Hole in The Ground.. Cronin does not waste time with a lot of fluff and gets right to the heart of the matter, with a few chuckles along the way if you can imagine that.

The performances (by a mostly female cast) are fantastic,  Especially from Natalie Grace, Hayat Kamille (The Magician), Veronica Falcòn (Carmen Santiago) and May Calamawy (Detective Dalia Zaki).

Cronin is relentless with the body horror showing flaps of skin pulled off, appendages chewed upon, and chattering of Katie’s teeth to a scene in which a character just starts ripping theirs – makes my next dentist appointment one filled with anxiety at the very least. Not to mention, when Katie starts talking and singing, it is absolutely blood curdling time!

At times, feeling like a creepy, gross update of “The Exorcist” complete with black vomit, this mummy could have stayed entombed just a little bit longer for my palate.  However, horror fans will live their entire life at the gore and jump scares waiting to engulf them during this cinematic experience.