The sands of the Egyptian desert are yielding a much darker secret than moviegoers are used to as Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema have officially pulled back the shroud on the first teaser trailer for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. Forget the swashbuckling heroics of previous iterations; the filmmaker behind the visceral Evil Dead Rise is steering this iconic franchise into the realm of pure, grounded horror. This new vision moves away from large-scale action to focus on a haunting domestic tragedy involving a young girl named Katie who vanishes into the desert, only to return eight years later as something far more sinister.
Lee Cronin described the film’s unique tone as a “mashup” between the family-centric dread of Poltergeist and the gritty, investigative darkness of the thriller Seven. This approach is a significant departure for the legendary monster, focusing on “dark spirits and visions of the dead” that are terrifyingly real rather than mere illusions. The teaser highlights a palpable sense of unease, leaning into the domestic warmth of a family under siege and the cold, dark secrets hidden behind an ancient Egyptian curse.
The ensemble cast brings a heavy dose of talent to this terrifying new chapter, led by Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, and May Calamawy. They are joined by Veronica Falcón, May Elghety, and Natalie Grace in a story that explores what happens when those who pass over are consumed by a darkness more evil than anyone imagined. This project also marks a major milestone as the first film produced under the massive Blumhouse and Atomic Monster merger, with horror titans Jason Blum and James Wan joining forces with Cronin to ensure this film leaves a lasting scar on the genre.
Set to hit theaters on April 17, The Mummy is trading in the CGI spectacle of the past for a more intimate, claustrophobic nightmare. By focusing on the “investigative angle” and the emotional toll on the family, Cronin seems poised to make the Mummy truly frightening for a new generation. As the cryptic Morse code message shared by the director suggests, the darkness has arrived, and it is far more predatory than we ever could have expected.