Mama Film Review

Mama - "A ghost is an emotion bent out of shape, condemned to repeat itself time and time again." 

Spin the "Guillermo Del Toro producing horror" wheel of fortune & your either gonna land on yay or nay. In this particular case it's yay. Every time it says "Produced" by Guillermo Del Toro instead of "Directed" by Guillermo Del Toro you're playing Russian roulette because you might end up with something atrocious like "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" or something rather special like "The Orphanage". Mama is a family drama set within in the confines of the horror genre but does its best to avoid cliches & it's a thrill ride. The prologue very skillfully makes you emotionally invest in the characters as you see Jeffrey (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) drive his two young daughters away from their house in a distraught state of mind because it's hinted that Jeffrey has murdered his wife. Over dangerous icy roads they drive which leads to them cascading off a cliff face. The daughters are very young but the three of them survive and stumble into the woods unscathed and find an abandoned house. Jeffrey visibly breaks down into an emotional wreck and pulls out a gun, seemingly about to shoot himself in the head but he stops and sees his two daughters and the "oh no" moment happens. "Daddy there's a woman outside who isn't touching the ground". Not paying attention to whatever is outside Jeffrey aims the gun at his eldest daughters head and that's when the film maybe blows it's load too early and introduces us to "Mama".

For 5 years the girls go on living in the woods alone, isolated, uneducated, malnourished & with no emotional development until one day two hunters who were hired by Jeffrey's twin brother Lucas find them in a horrific state still at the abandoned house. They are ghastly creatures, they walk on all fours, speak in made up languages, dirty from head to toe. They are immediately adopted by Lucas and his girlfriend Annabel played by the always stunning Jessica Chastain who can seriously rock the "band chick" look. They don't have the means to take care of these children so they are all placed in a home where a psychiatrist can observe and continue his ongoing study of them and that's when things go awry. The cinematography in this film is beautiful, the camera might as well have been a trained dancer as it weaves through the house in very long takes. The casting was perfect, the two little girls are haunting, great chemistry between the entire cast but the standout for me was Daniel Kash as the psychiatrist "Dr Dreyfuss". His side storyline of investigating "Mama" is fascinating as he delves into history to find out who or what "Mama" is. His revelations are essential to the story and without his character the film would fall flat and turn into another iteration of "Paranormal Activity". His interest in the little girls might make you wary of him, I wasn't sure what road this film was going down but when his motivations were subtly revealed at the end it was a surprise and I love surprises. It's definitely a breath of fresh air to the horror genre, which is not taken seriously enough these days when there are some spectacular horror films being made like "Insidious", "Sinister", "The Collector" this just gives the genre more credit. The production really is top notch.

My only criticisms would be that "Mama" is a CGI character and it needed to be in some scenes but in others it would have been more effective as a woman with creepy make-up, find the middle ground and blend the two. Create a physical presence that the actors could play off. The jump scares are few and far between which is good because the sledgehammer effect is old and tired. The film definitely draws inspiration from Japanese horror with the little girls crawling through the house giggling and genuinely being disturbing. The film even employs the "What's under the bed" scenario except here it's incredibly effective and done differently. The third act (where many horror films go to die) just barely hung on, it was right on the cusp of getting too ridiculous with the CGI but it pulls back right at the climax and without spoiling anything throws what could have been a cliche ending out the window literally. I could predict what was going to happen & it did but at least it was original. Also was it really necessary to showcase Jessica Chastain's cleavage in every scene? God I must sound like a feminist but when you use her breasts to sell the movie to teenage boys it diminishes the credibility, I want to be sold your film and your story, if the plot requires overt sexuality then by all means go ahead I don't condone censorship. But when she's cradling these adorable children in her arms my eyes kept drifting to her funbags (which were nice by the way). Anyway see it cinemas, it's effect will be lost on a TV, highly recommended. 3.7/5