I SAW LEE CRONIN'S THE MUMMY

There's confusion regarding Lee Cronin's The Mummy, coproduced by James (Saw/The Conjuring/Aquaman) Wan, where some have presumed it's another Universal variant of the Imhotep (Kharis) series, when, in fact, the writer/director's ominous opus creeps from WB/New Line Cinema and AMC. Others have dismissed the picture as a throwaway, since they're anticipating a revival of the Brendan Fraser, Mummy series, perceiving the latter as the foundation of all such Imhotep adventures. In truth, the Frasier track is a comedic, johnny-come-lately, name-lifting homage to chapter plays, more than Universal monster lore. Really, folks, open thy eyes and get with the program! 

Maybe it would have helped if Cronin's creation carried a differentiating title (like Mummified, The Disinterred or The Entombed), but why not accept its obvious designation: another horror movie with a mummy motif, underscored by a demon-possession angle? No matter its label, Cronin's flick deserves better than the sight-unseen derision it's received, for his product is gruesome and scary and more than holds its own with his previous successes, A Hole in the Ground and Evil Dead Rises. 

Here's the premise: Little Katie Cannon (played at the outset, and later in flashback, by Emily Mitchell), is kidnapped in Cairo (after being lured by a strange woman, portrayed by Hyat Kamille), much to the consternation of her journalist dad, Charlie, played by Jack Reynor, and her mom, Larissa, played by Laia Costa. Eight years pass, and Katie, enacted at this stage by Natalie Grace, is found swathed in a lead-lined sarcophagus (after such is tossed from a crashed plane), alive yet catatonic in her preserved, adolescent state. Katie is transported to Albuquerque to her family's home, joined by her siblings, portrayed by Billy Roy and Shylo Molina, and her grandmother, played by Veronica Falcon. However, Katie is a ghost of her former self, administering an evil that permeates Grand Guignol ghoulishness (we're talking full-blown, Braindead/Dead Alive gruesomeness here) and an apparent intent to infect the world, all for the despicable joy of it. In the meantime, a detective, Dalia Zaki (May Calamawy), digs for answers and an Egyptologist, Professor Bixler (Mark Mitchenson), offers insights, but as one knows, the supernatural is damn tricky to crack, let alone disown. 

Cronin's story marches in step with Zach Cregger's Weapons and W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" (with a smidgeon of Snow White stirred in), but it's most reminiscent of Richard Matheson's "Bobby," a spectral-child tale (in its own right, a "Monkey's Paw" pastiche), first featured in Dead of Night 1977 and remade for Trilogy of Terror II. (Passages from The Exorcist and The Omen sagas also manifest within the framework, once the story progresses.) 

A great deal of the movie's impact comes from Grace, with her Katie capturing a giddy repulsiveness comparable to Alyssa Sutherland's in Evil Dead Rises. Without question, dear, demented Katie is the stuff of nightmares. With this said, I can't help but contrast her to Miko Hughes' Gage in Pet Sematary. However, while wee Hughes does churn the chills, the lad doesn't reach the freakish or brutal summit of Stephen King's novel. Grace, however, is allowed to detonate her creaky fiendishness without restraint, delivering one gross-out move after the other, so it's easy to forget she's just a girl in monster makeup.

Horror fans--monster fans--would be wise to rally around this one, but even if it fizzles at the box office, it's destined for a cult following. I'm at least glad to have seen it on an IMAX screen, where its loathsome decimation was magnified to the fullest, mind-warping measure. Do yourself a favor and buy a ticket, or hell, stay closed-minded and miss out. That next Fraser Mummy isn't too far off or so Universal's publicists have dared to spout.