Episode Description
Lee Cronin's The Mummy review, Blumhouse's R-rated possession horror reviewed, with full spoilers, ending explained, and a spoiler breakdown of what actually happens to Katie Cannon.
Arthur and Meaghan sit down to review Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026), the Blumhouse and Atomic Monster reimagining from the director of Evil Dead Rise. Starring Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Natalie Grace, Shylo Molina, Billie Roy and Verónica Falcón, this is not a Brendan Fraser sequel; it's something much gnarlier.
We cover first impressions, where the tone breaks down, the wheelchair scene everyone's talking about, the viral May Calamawy wound-prosthetic premiere moment, Natalie Grace's incredible physical performance, and a full spoiler breakdown of the demon, the Magician, the possession, and the ending. Plus Meaghan's Frédéric Bourdin impostor-case spiral, why this feels more like Evil Dead with a mummy filter, and a look ahead at Evil Dead Burn (July 2026), Brendan Fraser's Mummy 4, and Mārama.
⚠ Full spoilers begin around the 22:00 mark.
What we're reviewing
- Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026) — directed and written by Lee Cronin, released April 17 by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Produced by Jason Blum (Blumhouse) and James Wan (Atomic Monster) with Cronin's Wicked/Good (formerly Doppelgängers)
- Rated R, a standalone reimagining (explicitly not connected to the Brendan Fraser films or Universal's 2017 Dark Universe attempt)
What worked
- The mummy design itself — wrappings as skin, a containment spell written on the underside, genuinely unsettling every time she's on camera
- Natalie Grace's physical performance (a 22-year-old actress playing a mummified, demon-possessed child)
- Practical effects across the board — prosthetics designed by Arjen Tuiten, gore work that went viral when May Calamawy wore a wound prosthetic to the April 9 LA premiere and the clip pulled 20 million views
- Sound design — teeth-tapping, shifts in chairs, small details that amplify every serious moment
- The house itself — secluded, colonial, almost a character in its own right
- The kid actors, consistently (Cronin proved this in Evil Dead Rise too)
What didn't
- The wheelchair-up-the-stairs scene (goes on for almost two minutes, never explains why no one just carries the chair)
- Unwanted camp — the little girl pulling out her teeth and inserting Abuela's dentures is supposed to be unsettling, lands as funny
- Silly musical cues dropped on top of brutal deaths
- The split-diopter shot is used so often it stops being an effect and starts being a distraction
- The Egypt setting feels shoehorned in once the film relocates to New Mexico — the mummy stuff never fully integrates with the possession story
- 40 minutes of denial from the parents that Katie is obviously not okay
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