r/themummy

This is my honest opinion on Lee Cronin’s The Mummy movie. (In advance, I apologise for how much I wrote in this comment), and why did I write so much? For the love of the game, now let’s begin.

I enjoyed Lee Cronin’s The Mummy movie (from a horror-fan perspective), but it lacked in terms of it depicting ancient Egyptian culture like movies before the 2017 Mummy film (Tom Cruise) had done. I’ve been a fan of The Mummy franchise since I was little and from someone with an interest in ancient Egypt and who’s a fan of The Mummy movies (1999-2008), I was quite unsatisfied with these remakes, as they paled in comparison to the previous movies (just my opinion). This was especially due to historical ancient Egyptian inaccuracies, as well as both the Tom Cruise and Lee Cronin Mummy remakes being not that on par with previous films.

Although, after watching Lee Cronin’s The Mummy I found that it slightly made up from the 2017 remake, as Tom Cruise’s Mummy was more-so centred around himself than the actual plot that the previous Mummy movies had. In the 2017 film, the actual Mummy had surprisingly limited screen time in a 2 hour movie, which is staggering, given that The Mummy was meant to be the central premise of said film. On the other hand, Lee Cronin’s remake gave the Mummies more screen time, but it prioritised horror and action over actually developing The Mummy as a purposeful main character. However, it definitely satisfied the gore and horror aspect, as the directors had intended, and the ending tied well to the story!

Prior Mummy movies (1999-2008, if I remember the dates correctly —> the ones starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz) had the help of the Egyptologist Dr Stuart Tyson Smith when directing it. This shows how the original films actively tried to include historical input, while the remakes didn’t. Alongside this, even The Scorpion King Mummy movie had certain accuracies, with the name “Scorpion King” being a reference to a historical king of the Protodynastic Period of Egypt, King Scorpion. Per contra, the whole scorpion transformation and army of Anubis is purely fictional, obviously, but the movie had been inspired by real Egyptian beliefs and important figures while concurrently being supernaturally action-based for entertainment.

Moreover, the 1999-2008 movies showed the importance of rituals and burial practices, as well as the belief in divine judgment of the dead- which were a central element in ancient Egyptian culture. In contrast to this, The later 2017 Mummy movie remake starring Tom Cruise was more of a Tom Cruise-based Egyptian themed Mission Impossible sequel (I don’t know how else to describe it).

The 1999-2008 films were peak cinematic masterpieces. They maintained a cohesive plot, included historical ancient Egyptian accuracies, albeit with a few minor flawed details, depicted historical beliefs and deities, curses being laid upon those who genuinely deserved it, said curses being unleashed when discovered and read aloud, while also including comedy weaved throughout. For instance, Benny and Jonathan’s characters made the films all the more enjoyable and comedic rather than serious, adventure films, especially in the (1999) scene where Benny is shouting out different faiths in their native languages when he sees Imhotep (lol).

In the 1999 film, it showed Imhotep being cursed with the Hom-Dai and being the only known person to have this curse bestowed upon them. This was the worst of all ancient curses and was the consequence of him having an affair with Anck-su-namun (Pharaoh’s mistress) and both of them murdering the Pharaoh and using dark magic from the Book of the Dead. Imhotep was a real historic person from the period of the 3rd Dynasty of Old Kingdom (around 2600 BCE). He served under the pharaoh Djoser as his vizier and high priest and was also an architect.

Whereas, in Lee Cronin’s remake, instead of showing visuals/information of historical importance to the culture that the movie was supposed to embody, it prioritised the aspect of possession. The remakes of The Mummy had the potential to show us the ancient history of Egypt while following a plot that would tie it to past movies, but failed to do so. This shift means the film fails to capture what made the earlier movies so memorable and distinctive.

I do also wish that they’d have made this Mummy movie less demonic. While prior Mummy movies have shown the Mummies being awoken and trying to kill the characters - such as Anck-su-namun trying to kill Evie in the 1999 movie after Imhotep tries to resurrect Anck-su-namun - the killings held a purpose. Imhotep and his priests - Priests of Osiris, whom served as Imhotep's bodyguards into the afterlife and who’d been buried alongside him, had been resurrected through a reading of the curse - had set out to kill anybody who tried to prevent them from successfully resurrecting Anck-su-namun, as well as assisting Imhotep in conquering the world. This is for sure just for the plot and hadn’t happened in real life, but the film had still managed to embed pieces of history into the movie, and had remained respectful of the culture and history (which I will later discuss further), while dusting it off with comedy.

Whereas the 2026 film showed the Mummy as being possessed by an evil force and transferring the “evil” to more alive hosts and trying to torment and kill everybody. At one point in this film, the demon possessing Katie even somehow manages to transfer itself to Sebastian, Maud (Katie’s younger siblings), and later on Abuelita (the grandma) and possesses them all simultaneously. In contrast, earlier film characters like Benny and Jonathan had humour that set the tone and was deliberate. Thus, losing its premise as a sequel to the Mummy movies and just becoming a horror-movie with very loose ties to ancient Egyptian history.

Furthermore, the 2026 film lacks the well-integrated, natural comedy that was seen in earlier movies. There are comedic scenes in it, such as when Charlie and Larissa (Katie’s parents) were seen struggling to carry Katie (who was wheelchair-bound in the scene) up the stairs, only to see Charlie carry Katie from the chair into her bed later on. This feels unintentional and quickly breaks the tension created by the prior jump scare scene. Although, some people might prefer the horror direction of Cronin’s remake, which is expected, but I’m just discussing why it shouldn’t have been a sequel to The Mummy. On its own, especially being titled differently, it would’ve been a hit.

Continuing on from an earlier point, in one of the scenes in the 1999 film, it was revealed that Imhotep had been ‘condemned not only in this life but in the next’, which depicts the importance of reincarnation and the afterlife in ancient Egypt and mummification, as seen in The Book of the Dead (a real ancient Egyptian book that guides the deceased through the underworld to the afterlife). Additionally, when Imhotep was cursed, the curse was described as such “The Medjai would never allow him to be released. For he would arise a walking disease, a plague upon mankind, an unholy flesh-eater with the strength of the ages, power over the sands, and the glory of invincibility." While mummification in ancient Egypt was more about guiding the deceased through to the afterlife, not creating monsters, the curse loosely reflects the fact that punishments in death were seen as more detrimental than punishments to the living. It was more about being denied proper burial and having your name erased (which meant losing existence in the afterlife). Also, during the cursing of Imhotep (1999) and some of his priests with the Hom-Dai, some of the embalmers wore Jackal head masks, which was was accurate in terms of ancient Egyptian culture where clay masks were worn during mummification processes such as the Open-mouth ceremony (a process used to “open” parts of the body that were used/enjoyed in the life and would be required in the afterlife). There are more accurate details in previous Mummy movies, primarily the the 1999-2001 Mummy movies, but these are what I remember from the top of my head.

Now, in the scene (in Lee Cronin’s The Mummy film) where Kate chokes out Abuelita with Abuelita’s cross necklace (which is blasphemous), it leans more into demons being afraid of God (very Exorcist-esque) and is not something seen in prior movies. Before this scene, it also showed Abuelita praying, resulting in Katie lashing out, again like in the Exorcist). In the 1999 film, Benny had recited religious prayers in numerous languages when in the presence of Imhotep in a humanoid form, only for Imhotep to offer him gold after (clearly undisturbed and unharmed from the recitals, which is quite funny to watch). It was disappointing to not see much reference or representation to Egyptian history at all and the references that were made showed those who were mummified and resurrected as being monsters looking for reckless carnage.

In conclusion, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy movie is more for horror movie fanatics rather than fans of the original franchise, as it emphasises possession and shock over the storytelling and cultural depth that had once defined earlier movies. I watched this movie today with my best friend and my mum and genuinely haven’t been this scared by a horror movie in ages. The jump scares and gore were very in your face, and the cuts from unsettling scenes to happy music playing really left my mind reeling.

Once again, sorry for how long this comment is. :D

Written by: .AgentRed

Lee Cronin's The Mummy is now playing in theaters. It's mega gross and blatantly rips off Sam Raimi without remorse. But it's also too long, poorly written, and the acting is so bad. If you have the chance to see it, don't.

I get that a lot of people want characters from the earlier films—like Ardeth Bay—to come back, but I’m not totally sold on that idea.

Honestly, I think it’d be more interesting if they moved away from ancient Egypt and explored a different culture with mummification traditions, like South America. It feels like the original duology already showed pretty much everything you can do with ancient Egypt, and going back again risks just feeling like a rehash.

If they were going to shift settings, Peru (Andean cultures) would probably make more sense than going full Aztec/Mesoamerican. I know the scrapped Mummy 4 was supposedly heading in an Aztec direction, but historically, the Aztecs didn’t really practice mummification—cremation was more common. The Andes, on the other hand, actually had well-documented mummification practices, especially with royalty.

Curious what you guys think—stick with Egypt for nostalgia, or go somewhere new?

In The Mummy Returns we see the Scorpion King looking at the Army of Anubis as they destroy Thebes when suddenly his soul is ejected from his body and as his body continues to have what looks like a spasm due to his spirit being ejected. My question is what became of his body after the Army of Anubis disappeared back to the Underworld?

edit: My theory is this: There were some warriors who defended Thebes who somehow survived the battle against the Army of Anubis that looked around the city to make sure the threat was over. The Thebes Warriors then found the Bracelet of Anubis but didn’t dare touch it right away and next to it they saw the body of the Scorpion King. After a mass mummification and burial of those who didn’t survive the attack the Warriors did one thing the Egyptians never did which was they put the Bracelet back on the wrist of the Scorpion King then burned his body. Upon making sure nothing remained of the fallen enemy The Warriors were surprised to see the Bracelet didn’t melt in the fire.

Carefully The Warriors would put the Bracelet in a secured box and came to call the Bracelet The Bracelet of Anubis guarding the Bracelet at all costs with at some-point they then would rebrand themselves as Medjai which the modern day Medjai got their name from.

I saw the movie last night, and while I don't 100 percent agree with this review, at least Lee Cronin did something a bit different with the monster, though it does feel like he's sort of stuck in Evil Dead mode as a director. If you saw the new movie, what did you think?

https://preview.redd.it/ijyz2v6y3nvg1.png?width=461&format=png&auto=webp&s=71a6bc7d0c9f421fdb9b6451a93792a89a1bf3a7

Poster Smoking mummy