The Mummy Review: Lee Cronin’s Overlong Horror Fails to Scare
Warner Bros. and Blumhouse have released a new hard-R rated adaptation of The Mummy, directed by Lee Cronin. The studio aggressively markets it as “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” to distinguish it from Universal’s upcoming Brendan Fraser-led sequel and to capitalize on the current trend of promoting directors as pop auteurs. However, this review criticizes the approach as unearned indulgence, noting that Cronin, despite his visual talent shown in Evil Dead Rise, has not yet proven himself as a genius. The film is described as tonally unsure, lacking humor, and fatally unscary. At 134 minutes, it is deemed absurdly overlong for its thin narrative. The plot resembles a generic creepy-child horror story, similar to The Exorcist or The Omen, rather than a distinct Mummy movie. While the studio aims to avoid the failures of the previous Tom Cruise-led Dark Universe by focusing on director-driven projects, this entry feels deeply influenced by other works without establishing its own identity. The review highlights poor prosthetic effects and a lack of genuine terror, concluding that the film is a disappointing entry in the genre that fails to justify its grandiose marketing or runtime.
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The Mummy Review: Lee Cronin’s Overlong Horror Fails to Scare
Warner Bros. and Blumhouse have released a new hard-R rated adaptation of The Mummy, directed by Lee Cronin. The studio aggressively markets it as “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” to distinguish it from Universal’s upcoming Brendan Fraser-led sequel and to capitalize on the current trend of promoting directors as pop auteurs. However, this review criticizes the approach as unearned indulgence, noting that Cronin, despite his visual talent shown in Evil Dead Rise, has not yet proven himself as a genius. The film is described as tonally unsure, lacking humor, and fatally unscary. At 134 minutes, it is deemed absurdly overlong for its thin narrative. The plot resembles a generic creepy-child horror story, similar to The Exorcist or The Omen, rather than a distinct Mummy movie. While the studio aims to avoid the failures of the previous Tom Cruise-led Dark Universe by focusing on director-driven projects, this entry feels deeply influenced by other works without establishing its own identity. The review highlights poor prosthetic effects and a lack of genuine terror, concluding that the film is a disappointing entry in the genre that fails to justify its grandiose marketing or runtime.
The Guardian