First Reactions To Lee Cronin's The Mummy Have Critics United

Whoa, Radio Silence's "The Mummy" sequel came together way quicker than I was expecting. Yes, those who've been closely following development on "Lee Cronin's The Mummy" are doubtlessly tired of the Brendan Fraser jokes at this stage, but it's a testament to the staying power of director Stephen Sommers' 1999 "Mummy" remake that we're even cracking them at all. Thankfully, though, it sounds like Cronin's latest horror offering will have little trouble differentiating itself from all those other movies about bandaged-wrapped monsters.

Not that this will come as a shock to anyone familiar with his previous output. Cronin's breakout effort as a director, "The Hole in the Ground," was a "supremely scary Irish horror film about one creepy kid," as /Film's own Chris Evangelista put it in his review of the movie. Similarly, his follow-up feature, "Evil Dead Rise," was a fittingly gnarly continuation of the Sam Raimi-created cult demonic possession property that dealt equally heavily with themes of parenthood. Now, we're getting "Lee Cronin's The Mummy," a movie that combines scary children, people being possessed, and lots of grossness into one sick package.

So say the critics who have watched the movie ahead of its theatrical release. As /Film's Bill Bria put it on Twitter/X, "['Lee Cronin's The Mummy'] is a nasty, gruesome, mean-spirited & disgusting little s**t of a movie. In other words, it's a ripper. Plays like if Cronin saw 'BRING HER BACK' after binging 'THE OMEN,' 'THE VANISHING,' & 'BRAINDEAD' and then said 'bet.' Bit long in the tooth, but she bites. Hard." He's not alone in feeling that way, either, as just about every other early critic reaction post out there is a variation on the same general idea.

If you're heading into "Lee Cronin's The Mummy" anticipating sandstorms with faces or Dwayne Johnson as a CGI monstrosity like in Stephen Sommers' "Mummy" flicks (the less said about director Rob Cohen's "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," the better), then you should probably adjust those expectations. Cronin's movie, which he also wrote, is a far smaller scale affair focusing on a family who's reunited with their young daughter, Katie (Natalie Grace), eight years after she mysteriously vanished ... only to discover she's very different from the sweet little girl they remember.

Nerds of Color's Michael Lee affirmed that Cronin's film "trades spectacle for intimate domestic horror, turning family trauma & grief into something eerie and deeply unsettling" in his own reaction to the movie. He also emphasized it's a "visceral body horror [film] with superb squelching sound design," much like its director's previous work. Critic Courtney Howard echoed that sentiment, referring to the flick as a "freaky-as-f*** creepshow" and comparing Grace's performance as Katie to Linda Blair's iconic turn as the demonically-possessed Regan in "The Exorcist."

Journalist Brandon Davis repeated that refrain, calling Cronin's film "the most f***ed up movie I've ever watched in a theater" due to its "ghoulish scares and intimately textured violence." Elsewhere, critic/photographer Tyler Disney described the film as "enjoyable" but agreed with Bill Bria that it runs "a tad little long." To be sure, it might be the 133 minute runtime more than Cronin's "bizarre choices" (to quote critic Aaron Neuwirth's otherwise upbeat reaction) that limit this movie's commercial prospects, even with all the critical praise. We'll see if that's the case when "Lee Cronin's The Mummy" hits theaters on April 17, 2026.