Lee Cronin’s The Mummy: A Supernatural Horror with a Weak Mystery at Its Core

This article contains spoilers for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.

The burning question driving the marketing for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy—What happened to Katie?—is answered by the film, leaving audiences with no lingering mysteries after the credits roll. However, the revelation arrives around the two-hour mark of a 133-minute film, most of which is filled with grotesque imagery. While Cronin’s work delivers the same gleeful gore as his 2023 film Evil Dead Rise, the mystery—and much of the Egyptian lore, Katie’s disappearance, and the Mummy itself—feels unnecessary.

The Cannon Family’s Tragedy

Most of Lee Cronin’s The Mummy centers on the Cannon family: father Charlie (Jack Reynor), mother Larissa (Laia Costa), and their three children. Eight years after their oldest daughter, Katie (played by Emily Mitchell as a child and Natalie Grace as a teen), vanished in Egypt, the couple learns she has been found—alive but trapped in a sarcophagus.

The family brings Katie back to their New Mexico home to reintegrate her with their other children, Sebastián (Shylo Molina) and Maud (Billie Roy), as well as Larissa’s mother, Carmen (Verónica Falcón). Instead of improving, Katie’s condition deteriorates, and rot spreads through the home, infecting the other children and unleashing grotesque chaos.

The Nasmaranian: Egypt’s Ancient Demon

A television reporter by trade, Charlie copes by investigating the sarcophagus that held his daughter and the markings on her bandages. His research leads him to Professor Bixler (Mark Mitchinson), who explains that the markings reference the Nasmaranian, an ancient Egyptian demon known as the “destroyer of families.”

Charlie’s investigation also circles back to Detective Dalia Zaki (May Calamawy, from Moon Knight), who initially probed Katie’s disappearance in Cairo eight years prior. Thanks to a Morse code message Katie taps out while briefly breaking free from the Nasmaranian’s control, Zaki uncovers Layla Khalil (May Elghety), who has ties to a cult led by a woman known only as the Magician (Hayat Kamille).

Layla provides Zaki with a VHS tape showing a horrific ritual: the Magician directs masked individuals to lower a screaming Katie onto a bandaged figure, who spits a concoction into her mouth. The Magician claims the ritual binds the Nasmaranian, asserting that an innocent, young body makes a superior vessel for the demon than an older host.

Egyptian Lore Overwhelms the Horror

As the above details suggest, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is packed with lore. Yet, it feels as though Cronin himself has little investment in it. Despite strong performances from Calamawy and striking visuals, much of the Egyptian segments drag. The Nasmaranian’s backstory, Katie’s disappearance, and even the Mummy’s role often feel like afterthoughts, overshadowed by Cronin’s focus on gore and visceral scares.