Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is coming soon, and with it is a decades-long history of horror that, without it, wouldn’t have made the film possible. The movie is a mummy film, yes, but there are also hints of possession and monster movies littered throughout.
With that in mind, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy has a lot of inspiration in its DNA, and there are more than a few films that audiences should check out as a result. They may be monster movies or possession films, but more than anything, there’s a part of what Lee Cronin is trying to do in every one of them.
The Mummy (1999) Reignited Universal Monsters For a Modern Audience
Decades after 1932’s The Mummy became a staple in the Universal Classic Monster pantheon, 1999’s The Mummy reintroduced the lore in a fresh and fun way. The film is much more adventure-horror and introduces new characters like Rick O’Connell, who brought far more energy to the lumbering franchise.
The film explores a group of explorers looking for a lost city and instead awakens a mummy and its curse. The mummy in question is faster, scarier, and a feat of special effects as he brings the plagues with him. The Mummy (1999) isn’t Lee Cronin’s The Mummy in any form, but if anyone wants to get the proper experience before seeing the film, it’s a must-watch.
Evil Dead Rise is a Lee Cronin Masterpiece
Before Lee Cronin took on The Mummy, he reignited the fire of the Evil Dead franchise with Evil Dead Rise. But rather than a group of friends facing Deadites in the forest, a family has to take them on in an apartment building. The movie as a whole is bittersweet, but it takes on a similar tone to modern Evil Dead stories, where it’s both darkly humorous and genuinely horrifying.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy will see the director take everything he learned from Evil Dead Rise and inject it into a new take on the classic monster. As a result, it’s likely that gore and shock will play a larger role than ever, and Evil Dead Rise is the perfect way to set a viewer up for that.
The Mummy Returns Expands the Lore of the Franchise
Where The Mummy (1999) reinvigorated the franchise, The Mummy Returns was the first time in over 50 years that the lore got to expand in a meaningful way. The movie continues the adventures of the O’Connells when their son gets a bracelet tied to the Scorpion King stuck on his wrist. The globe-trotting adventure is bigger in almost every respect as the O’Connell’s race against time to save their son.
The Mummy Returns isn’t as scary as the first movie, but it’s still a great time for anyone who was a fan of the first movie to watch. The effects are bigger, and it even helped spawn a theme park ride at Universal Studios. Fans who love the Mummy franchise can’t miss the sequel, even if it’s nothing like Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.
The Exorcist is a Quintessential Possession Story
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy has all the makings of a great possession film, and if that’s the case, then audiences have to check out the best one of them all: The Exorcist. The film about a young girl possessed by a demon terrified viewers when it first came out and continues to do so today.
The effects are often a highlight that’s talked about with the movie, but also the genuinely shocking scenes that are so graphic they are rarely discussed. It’s an ambitious horror movie and one that is a prime example of something that has to be seen to be believed.
The Mummy (1932) is the Film That Started it All
The Universal Classic Monsters helped define modern horror over a century before people had a clear understanding of what the genre even was. The same goes for the Mummy franchise, which officially started in 1932 with The Mummy. Though it seems like a loose adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, as the mummy looks for his long-lost bride, there’s much more nuance to it.
The Mummy (1932) explores the terror behind curses, the misunderstanding of Ancient Egyptian lore, and also the idea that villains aren’t always evil by nature. Imhotep simply wanted his love back to him by any means, and while not okay, it is a viable motivation. That said, it’s a far departure from what Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is doing, even if it’s the movie that started it all.
Weapons Explores the Twisted Child Trope in a New Way
Weapons isn’t a monster movie by any stretch of the imagination. However, it is a movie with a mystery revolving around missing children, not unlike Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. That said, beyond that, there’s not much else that the movies have in common. Even still, seeing the mystery unfold, the images of children running into the pitch black and the horror of Aunt Gladys are enough for admission alone.
The film’s chapter-based storytelling makes it highly rewatchable, and it’s not shy about gore or terror when the story calls for it. Nevertheless, Weapons is a unique but worthy addition to watch leading up to Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.
The Mummy (1959) is a Hammer Horror Classic
Hammer Horror movies are just as iconic as the Universal Classic Monsters, as they were the second time cinema took on the classic monsters in a new light. Bloodier and more daring than what came before, 1959’s The Mummy was a perfect example of this, as it followed the same idea of a curse befalling those who disturb a tomb, unleashing a killer mummy.
The Mummy (1959) capitalizes on everything fun about mummy movies, and its antagonist, Kharis, is a step further in design from what Imhotep was in 1932. There was still room to grow, but it’s a key stepping stone in watching the history of the Mummy franchise.
Wolf Man is a Divisive Body Horror Film
Leigh Whannell’s second Universal Classic Monster to be explored also remains the most divisive of them all. Wolf Man follows a family traveling deep into the forest to the father’s childhood home after his dad passes. While there, he’s attacked by a feral monster who infects him with a disease that turns him into a dog-like creature devoid of a conscience.
Wolf Man is a clever idea that leans more into a slow-burn body horror but is light on the monster horror and the body horror. That said, when the monster horror begins, it can be a good time. It’s a divisive film for a reason, and yet it’s a great film to watch before Lee Cronin’s The Mummy because there’s a cautionary tale in it about what can happen when some ideas can be almost too ambitious.
Evil Dead (2013) Accomplished the Same Success as the ’90s Mummy Movie
Before Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead came out in 2013, the franchise hadn’t had a movie since the ’90s with Army of Darkness. The 2013 film, initially seen as a reboot, took things back to its horror roots and brought terror back to the franchise as a group of friends unleashes the power of the Necronomicon in a cabin in the woods.
Evil Dead is disgusting and jarring to anyone new to the franchise, but, as The Mummy did in the ’90s, it brought energy back to the long-dormant franchise and gave fans something to get excited about again. Many elements of the film, in terms of gore, seem to also permeate Lee Cronin’s The Mummy in a way that will surely make fans happy as well.
The Invisible Man Redefined Universal Classic Monsters First
Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man was his first foray into the world of Universal’s Classic Monsters and redefined them by telling the story of a woman who just got out of an abusive relationship, only to find her ex-boyfriend, who is supposed to be dead, may be stalking her as an invisible man.
The standalone film recontextualizes H.G. Wells’ original novel and the first film and gives audiences a new perspective on how power can corrupt. Its great effects and riveting story also highlight how horror can take new forms and is important to understand the first film that let the classic monsters be looked at in new ways.