Lest anyone be confused, “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” isn’t a remake of the 1932 Universal Pictures classic. Nor is it a Brendan Fraser action-adventure. Nor is it connected to the 2017 Tom Cruise led bomb that ended Universal’s Dark Universe before it even got started good. No, the Lee Cronin tag in the title is meant to distant the film from all of those Mummy versions. And for good reason. Cronin’s spin on the decades-old concept is very much its own thing. And it certainly leaves a distinct impression.

Cronin’s unique vision is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. His film is an unabashedly grisly horror spectacle that often shoots for the kind of gross-out gore that will leave some audiences elated and others repulsed. It’s very much in the Evil Dead vein of horror yet with an eerie mystery element attached and a strong family component. But at its core is a genuinely unsettling chiller that burrows under your skin. Even crazier, it makes you squirm one minute and blurt out a laugh the next.

Cronin begins his story in Cairo, Egypt which is where we meet a television journalist named Charlie Cannon (Jack Reynor). He’s on assignment in Cairo with his pregnant wife Larissa (Laia Costa) and their two children, Sebastián and Katie. Their lives are turned upside-down after Katie is kidnapped by a creepy woman (Hayat Kamille) who vanishes into a blinding sandstorm. The terrified family immediately go to the local police but they’re unable to find any leads.

Eight years pass with the family now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico with Larissa’s mother, Carmen (Verónica Falcón). Charlie, Larissa, Sebastián (Shylo Molina) and their youngest daughter Maud (Billie Roy) struggle to remain hopeful that Katie is still alive. Meanwhile in Cairo, the guilt-driven Detective Dalia Zaki (May Calamawy) leads her own police investigation to track down the person responsible for Katie’s abduction.

But to the family’s surprise, they get a call from the United States embassy in Cairo with news that Katie has been found alive in a 3,000 year-old sarcophagus. Now played by a gutsy Natalie Grace, the 17-year-old Katie was discovered in a catatonic state, severally malnourished and with clear signs of severe trauma. After arriving in Cairo, Charlie and Larissa are both shocked and heartbroken at the sight of their daughter’s gnarled hands, jagged nails, dry cracking skin, and blank stare.

The doctor tells Katie’s parents that her vitals are good and she’s physically strong. But it may take the comforts of home to give her the kind of psychological help she needs. So Charlie and Larissa take her back to Albuquerque, hoping a sense of family normalcy may bring their daughter back. Instead it unleashes a sinister supernatural horror on their household which takes the movie down a dark, twisted, and fittingly chilling path.

Once Cronin has his table set, he ratchets down on his distinctly deranged vision. He shows no interest in playing it safe, nor does he cater to certain expectations. Instead he takes threads of inspiration and weaves together his own wicked tapestry that works as both squirm-inducing horror and rousing popcorn entertainment. You’ll wince and gasp as Cronin pushes the horror to an extreme. And at times you’ll laugh, as he has fun with those very same extremes.

Lee Cronin goes for the jugular with this wonderfully warped reimagining that is more than a simple retread of the various other Mummy films. It’s a movie that delights as it disgusts, which will be right up the alley of certain horror audiences. It’s not the most plausible story. But it’s hard to dwell on that when the movie is consciously pushing itself to such bonkers places. The fully committed cast, gnarly makeup and effects, and stellar camerawork and sound design puts an eerie exclamation point on this satisfying genre gem.

VERDICT – 4 STARS