PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I am not a fan of mummies, which surprises me because when I was a kid, one of my favorite exhibits at the Toledo Museum of Art was the mummy that was on display. I don’t remember what it looked like or if it was even real, but it was fascinating and something I always looked forward to seeing. Now, though? No, thanks. I generally avoid mummy movies but after enjoying 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, written and directed by Lee Cronin, I was intrigued about Lee’s newest flick, a reimagining of The Mummy. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is a lot like Evil Dead Rise in that, as a filmmaker, Lee was able to take the bones of a well-known and beloved story and craft something completely unique to his brand of storytelling.
The young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace. Eight years later, the broken family is shocked when she is returned to them, as what should be a joyful reunion turns into a living nightmare.
To celebrate the film’s home release, I chatted with Lee about his use of gore, bringing something new to the story, horror movies, and more!
PopHorror: I loved The Mummy so I’m super excited to hear about it today. I was impressed and not prepared for the level of gore in the movie. Did you intend to catch audiences off guard with it?
Lee Cronin: That’s good, no one’s phrased it that way before. I think, for me, making a horror movie you’re always looking to catch an audience off guard, whether it’s tonality or whatever the genre tools that you’re putting at play. I think one of the interesting things with this movie was I always knew it would be noisy and maybe even a little divisive at times, and I was okay with that because I was trying to do something unexpected. And then within the bigger concept of something unexpected and a different Mummy movie, I was definitely going to push the boat out visually and horror-wise in relation to the experience that you were going to have, so I think you’re always trying to, with any movie, somewhat catch the audience off guard, and you’re hoping that when you do that you make them lean in rather than lean away. That’s the balancing act you’re trying to strike.
PopHorror: I’m definitely leaning into it.
Lee Cronin: Love to hear it!
PopHorror: Back-to-back, you took on the treasured Evil Dead franchise and one of the most classic figures in horror with The Mummy. Did you put any pressure on yourself knowing how beloved both of those are?
Lee Cronin: I think the pressure of making a movie is almost enough on its own because there are really hard things to actually get over the line and finish and get green-lit and make and all of that world. I’ve talked about it a little bit before in the past, the pressure of Evil Dead wasn’t about, oh my god I’m making an Evil Dead movie because I’m a fan, it was given the opportunity, what if I can’t find a story I want to tell? Because I’m not going to do it just for the sake of it, I have to do it justice and try to do something a little bit different. Once I found a story, then I wasn’t really thinking so much about it being an Evil Dead movie. I was just thinking about it being the movie that I’m making right now, and I knew in that case, from my DNA and what I loved about the films that came before, that I could deliver something that the fans would love but also bring in a new audience, which it did and was part of its success, which was really, really great. The Mummy was different because I definitely had an awareness that there’s an entire generation of people that would define The Mummy in a certain way – Stephen Sommers’ movies, Brendan Fraser, and obviously they’re making a new one, which is awesome – but also then there’s the people that go way, way back. You talk to my dad about Mummy movies and he’ll talk about Hammer. So again, once I made my mind up about what the story was, I was more focused on those characters and the lore that I was trying to create, that feeling of pressure. I suppose less of pressure but there’s always a mindfulness or an expectancy that people would have to approach, or they would be approached, in a different way with what’s being presented because no matter what your market or how you do it, people hear the title and they make an assumption. But we went about it in a different way and I definitely tried to surprise. That was the goal. Let’s create surprise.
PopHorror: Yes, it was very surprising and I think that The Mummy is a bit more ambiguous than the Evil Dead franchise. It leaves it a little bit more open for you to create however you want to and go in whatever direction without having to worry about existing storylines and things that have happened in the past. You can put your own spin on it without having to worry about affecting it too much.
Lee Cronin: Yes, I agree.
PopHorror: I have just one last question for you. Where does your love of horror come from?
Lee Cronin: It comes from childhood. It comes from being the youngest in my family by about eight or nine years to my next sibling and they loved horror movies and they would watch horror movies individually and collectively, so I was just exposed at a really young age. In a lot of respects, I think some of the movies that I’ve made today are reflective of me trying to impress upon them because what I used to watch, because I was too scared to watch what was on screen, I’d be watching them react. I thought, wow, that’s pretty incredible that you can… A lot of times that was someone just watching something on VHS at home. I was really, really young and seeing them squirm and squeal and hide, and talk about it afterwards as well, that was always part of it. Horror movies always provoke so much discussion after the fact, especially the good ones, and gives you a lot to chew on. It can be divisive as I said as well. Some people will laugh and cackle, and other people will have their heads in their hands like I can’t believe I’m seeing this. They’re provocative in that way as well and I think that’s quite a fun place to play.
Thank you so much to Lee for taking the time to chat with us. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is now on digital and will be available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray on July 14!
