Mamá

When sisters Lily and Victoria are left in the woods after a series of horrific events leaves them orphaned, how would they survive for the next five years until they are eventually rescued? Have no fear, Mama is here. The debut feature from Spanish director Andres Muschietti has some plot hole, but still delivers the goods in a scary, almost poignant way.

In Mama, there are similarities to the American version of The Ring in the way some of the scenes are shot in that grainy, static, antiquated, black and white style. Horror/ghost film fans might think parts of the film are clichéd and they would be correct. However, the two sisters in the film (played by Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nelisse) make for interesting viewing. As Victoria and Lilly, the two are feral creatures having lived in the wild the bulk of their lives. Even after being taken in by their uncle (Game Of Thrones' Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau, Lilly still prefers to run around on all fours, eat with her hands while on the floor, and sleep under her bed. Her speech is relegated to growls and grunts with a few words mixed in. Her big sister, Victoria has a faster time assimilating to the civilized world. She even begins to cozy up to her uncle's punk rock girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain).

What makes Mama work is the relationship between the female characters. Chastain ( Take Shelter, Zero Dark Thirty) has the lead role. She's the girlfriend, but becomes the unwilling stepmom to the two girls. The girls accept her to different degrees, but still cling to each other first and foremost. They also cling to "Mama" and vice versa. Thus what you have is a battle of wills between the supernatural and the living world with the emotional and physical well being of two little girls hanging in the balance. Maybe the presence of Barbara Muschietti (sister of the director) as one of the producers and writers of the film had some influence on having women as the driving force.

In addition, Mama might feel and look like the style of Guillermo del Toro film. That could be because he executive produced the film. If you are familiar with his work, you can see his hand in guiding this maiden voyage. Even so, Mama stands on it's own merits. It's far from perfect. The acting, especially from the kids, some trippy and macabre imagery , and a bit of a twist might make you want to sleep with the lights on.

This is meant in a genuine and not at all malicious way. 'Mama' is not a bad film. It's also (this is all personal opinion, not objective) not a great film. It very nearly was and its potential was enormous, but this is one of the most frustrating recent examples of films of two halves.

'Mama' is absolutely great in the first half. It's genuinely unnerving with a good deal of suspense in the ambiance and build-ups, beautifully timed jolts and spine-tingling scares without resorting to cheap gratuitous gore to make their mark. There are many horror influences here but not in a cheap or predictable way, almost in an affectionate homage sort of way without it meaning to be. The titular character is an ominously creepy presence for most of the film, there is a real sense of danger lurking around the corner at any time. There is something very beautiful and poignant about the story-telling too, underneath the horror was something more than that with at first characters one could connect with and a vulnerable edge that comes over movingly.

On the most part, 'Mama' looks good. It's suitably unsettling but also beautifully shot with creepy and audacious production design and splendidly macabre and sometimes inventive visuals. For the first half of the film, a lot of thought went into the visual effects. The direction from Andy Muschietti shows successful attempts at taking risks rather than over-blowing things or taking it too safe, there is a lot of visual panache and a seeming appreciation for film not just of the horror genre but in general (some of it actually almost thriller-like).

Always look out for a good music score in film, being a musician and growing up in a musical family music is of great importance to me when watching film, television etc. 'Mama' has that, a lot of it is truly haunting while not being over-bearingly used.

Jessica Chastain may not convince as a punk rocker but gives a performance of intensity, steel and vulnerability. Have noticed that both here and in Muschietti's latest film 'IT' that he brings the best out of child-acting, something that has wildly varied in film throughout history. Because 'Mama' is one of the finer recent examples of child acting that is remarkably mature, poised, natural, affecting and sometimes frightening. All of which achieved by Isabelle Nelisse and particularly Megan Charpentier. Daniel Kash makes the most of his problematic nearly pointless plot-device role, while Mama herself is voiced to unnerving effect and even more so in action with Javier Botet.

Which is why it is such a pity that at the midway point 'Mama' feels like a different film altogether with a second half that brings things down. The scares become less frequent, the pace lacks its tautness, the dialogue gets confused and things start becoming predictable and contrived. Due to plot devices not properly followed through, things that don't add up sense-wise and some illogical character decisions.

The less frequent the scares got, Mama also diminished in the scare factor and was almost cartoonish and the effects start to lack finesse. Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau does his best but he is used terribly to the point that he is nearly completely wasted, despite his role in the story being important it's not treated as importantly as ought and fairly indifferently done in execution.

Faring least is the ending, which was unsatisfying on every level as has been said. It is just far too ridiculously outlandish, feels tacked on and it's also very vague in that it leaves questions without fully if at all answering them.

In conclusion, great first half but really disappoints in the second with a slap-in-the-face ending. A small 6/10, was very torn in what to give it having been so disappointed with its unevenness but its good elements and the first half were so well done that being too hard on it was a no-no. Bethany Cox

I liked the structure, design and vibe of this movie but everything else was kinda mediocre. It's basically a ghost haunting movie, of course the ghosts in different movies haunts for different reasons. But this one is a ghost haunting movie. Where two sibling kids that move like a spider Gollum especially the younger one that gets found in a small house in the woods. And a couple decides to take care of them because the guy feels responsible because they are the daughters of his brother who disappeared. And the 30yr old garage band girl who is the girlfriend of the guy because she feels that she needs to put up with it. This movie does a decent job of making a dis-likable character somewhat likable near the end. Like I said the structure, design and vibe adds a lot to the creepiness but when it comes to the story, it doesn't really stand out. This movie is much better than "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" which is another movie presented by Guillermo del Toro. But it doesn't reach the psychedelic dreamlike vibe that is creepy or even scary and yet beautiful although it tries to be. The film "The Orphanage" comes to mind.

6/10

I really liked this movie and the concept for it was original. I think this film makes the viewer think about what the characteristics are of being a mother. What sort of instincts we as woman can display and what kind of connections can be made with a child, even if you're a terrifying ghost.

Del Toro will always put his name on a good thriller surrounding small children. This movie had all the thrills of a scary movie and the elements fright used in the film had everyone in my theater on the edge of the seat. The movie waist no time getting into the meat of the story.

There are flaws in the film and it does have to do with plot holes. The director could have worked these holes out with other writers......like Del Toro perhaps. The back story had the hugest gap of all.

Regardless, it was better than 'Don't be Afraid of the Dark', and I will be seeing this film again.

Mama is directed by Andres Muschietti and written by Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Neil Cross. It stars Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nelisse, Daniel Kash, Javier Botet and Jane Moffat. Music is by Fernando Velazquez and cinematography by Antonio Riestra.

A Suicidal father abducts his two young daughters and takes them to a cabin out in the woods, his intention is to kill them. Before he can enact his plan he is killed by a strange entity, leaving the two girls alone in the cabin. Years later the girls are discovered in the cabin, completely feral and when any sense can finally be made out of them, they talk of being looked after by someone they call Mama; And it seems Mama has come back with them to civilisation…

Based on his own 2008 Argentinian short of the same name, Andres Muschietti expands the idea out to a full length feature film. With pretty decent results as well. Pic is a supernatural fairytale, thick on ethereal atmosphere and not over reliant on boo jumps or an adherence to blood and guts spilling just to put bums on seats. From the moment the girls are found, scampering around the wood cabin on all fours, clearly having survived on cherries for five years, there's an uneasy feel to the story. We already know there is a spirit involved as we half glimpsed "Mama" during the pre-credits sequence, what we need now is a good story and a healthy quota of frights and peril for Waldau and Chastain as they become surrogate parents to the troubled youngsters; And again, Mama mostly delivers all that is required of it for a good night in by the fire whilst perched on the edge of your seat.

Chastain is excellent as the punk rock chick reluctantly mothering two children before her time, the two girls, Charpentier and Nelisse, are also top draw, exuding the sadness and confusion that children of that age would obviously be feeling under these circumstances. While their reactions to what we ourselves can't see, via glances or hushed exchanges, has a creepiness to it that delivers a bucket load of dread. Muschietti's direction is very stylish, not only does he marshal his principal cast members with great skill, he shows some ingenuity in scene staging with one sequence particularly brilliant as Chastain does housework and the younger of the girls plays with Mama in the bedroom, we know it, even though we can only see the wee bairn. The soundtrack and score is suitably screechy, and the cinematography by Riestra has Gothic tints to it.

Why Mama is not a bona fide entry in the upper echelons of horror is mainly due to an annoying mistake that so many horror genre film makers make, namely showing too much of the spook. There is a point around the hour mark where "Mama" herself just stops being scary, a shame because the effects work isn't half bad. There's other, less itchy problems, such as Waldau being reduced to a bit player from the mid-point, a sub-plot involving Kash's Dr. Dreyfuss just feels like set-up material, while the ending is sure to be a bit too WTF for some. That said, this is good genre cinema for those who like The Woman in Black type of thrills and story telling. 7.5/10