Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (2026) (4K Ultra HD Review)
Director: Lee Cronin
Starring: Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, Veronica Falcón
RATED: R/REGION 0/2:39/2160P/NUMBER OF DISCS 1
AVAILABLE FROM Warner Bros.
When I heard The Mummy was being directed by Lee Cronin, I had one simple hope: give me an ancient undead monster, a mountain of gore, and enough chaos to make archaeologists reconsider their career choices.
To the movie’s credit, when it decides to get messy… it gets messy.
Cronin clearly hasn’t forgotten how to stage a bloody set piece. The gore is nasty, creative, and occasionally makes you wince in the best possible way. Horror fans looking for practical carnage and gruesome imagery won’t leave empty-handed. There’s also a sneaky little Evil Dead connection tucked away for eagle-eyed fans, and it’s the kind of wink that made me grin without feeling forced. Nice touch.
Unfortunately, those moments are separated by what feels like enough downtime to excavate an actual Egyptian tomb.
This movie is long, and boy, does it know it.
There are stretches where everyone is talking in hushed voices, slowly wandering through ominous locations, and staring intensely at ancient relics as if glaring at them long enough will make the plot move faster. I kept waiting for the mummy to remember it was the star of the movie and start wrapping people up like overdue Christmas presents.
The biggest problem isn’t that it’s slow—slow burns can be fantastic. The problem is that there just isn’t enough happening between the genuinely great horror moments. The body count feels surprisingly low for a movie about an unstoppable ancient evil, and the lulls desperately needed more kills, more suspense, or just… something to keep the momentum alive.
It’s frustrating because whenever Cronin cuts loose, you can see the movie I wanted. The scares hit harder, the gore flows, and the mummy becomes the terrifying force of nature the film keeps promising. Those sequences absolutely deliver.
Then someone decides it’s time for another ten-minute conversation.
The production values are excellent, the atmosphere is thick enough to cut with a machete, and Cronin once again proves he has a terrific eye for horror imagery. There are shots in this film that are genuinely stunning. They just occasionally overstay their welcome.
In the end, The Mummy feels like it was constantly caught between wanting to be a thoughtful supernatural epic and wanting to be an all-out monster movie. Personally, I would’ve happily traded fifteen or twenty minutes of brooding for another half-dozen spectacular mummy attacks.
Still, there’s plenty here to enjoy. The bloody moments absolutely satisfy, the Evil Dead nod is a fun little reward for horror fans, and when the film embraces its monstrous side, it’s a blast. I just wish it had done that more often. Sometimes the best way to wake an ancient curse is with a little more carnage and a much higher body count. After all, if you’re going to unleash an immortal mummy… let the poor thing earn its paycheck.
Extras
- DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
- DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
- Audio Commentary by Writer/Director/Executive Producer Lee Cronin
- The Making of Lee Cronin’s The Mummy – Director Lee Cronin reveals his striking vision for a terrifying new mummy tale of heart and horror. Explore the film’s claustrophobic atmosphere and meticulous filmmaking as it delivers emotion and relentless terror
- A Bloody and Grotesque Spectacle – Blood, bugs and toenails fuel this inside look at the film’s wild SFX and practical filmmaking magic! Cast and crew also reveal how Natalie Grace transforms into a demon-possessed vessel through intense prosthetics and chilling physicality.
- Possession and Ancient Demons – Explore the story’s Egyptian roots and demonic rituals. Detective Zaki and the family investigate Katie’s disappearance as the cast reveals the visceral reality of filming possession and terror while building the film’s many unforgettable scenes.
- Deleted Scenes
- 4K BLU-RAY Subtitles: English, Parisian French, Latin Spanish, Castilian Spanish, Finnish, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Czech, Complex Chinese
- BLU-RAY Subtitles: English, Parisian French, Latin Spanish
