Mama Reviews

So here is another cliched and dumb Guillermo Del Toro produced horror-fantasy that turns out to be something very disappointing and unimagintave. I myself have never liked that much of Del Toro's films or the ones he has produced.

Mimic is by far Del Toro's most interesting work to date and while it does has it's flaws it still has imagination and originality in it that he has never again matched since then. Same cannot be said Del Toro's overrated Pan's Labyrinth which is still too polished for it's own good and resembles like a Tim Burton at his most corniest and weakest. But while Del Toro was a producer for this feature film directed by Andres Muschetti it is still Muschietti's flaw mostly to rely on heavy CGI which is quite honestly extremely ridicilous at some points. There are some moments of geniune eeriness, but mostly this is just one of those familiar scary films that cheaply uses loud noises way too many times to gain shocks from the audience.

Mama includes the first truly average performance from Jessica Chastain, but with a screenplay this weak there is not a much for here to do here so the blame is not her's entirely. Kids are typically lifeless and very one dimensions as are most of the sidecharacters. Muschietti throws in many pointless sideplots and has cooked up an extremely unsatisying climax which does not bother to explain anything. It is a classic case of a story that has too much ambition for it's own good.

Overall there is nothing interesting or fresh enough here to actually recommend this film. I found it hollow, lifeless and without true moments of horror in it. It is like any other below average horror-films that gets released these days. If you are looking for a well made horror-fantasy then you will not find it here. This is a lame debut from Muschietti who hopefully delivers better film next time. However this film does not certainly promise him a bright future in a horror-genre.

It's ok, just not that scary

Revolting and jolting, Mama (2013, USA) delivers real modern suspense and horror to those who believe (and not believe).

A creepy and mostly original ghost story. Jennifer Chastain is excellent as the goth and reluctant surrogate mother ... a nice change from the suburban mom that is more typical for these character types. The youngest actress who plays "Lily" does a great job juxtaposing cute and creepy as the most screwed up "wildling." You can clearly see Guillermo Del Toro's influence given his obsession with bugs. There is too much use of "The Grudge's" groaning sound effect -- someone needs to come up with a new and more original sound. When they eventually show "Mama" in all her glory it starts looking a bit cheesy. But of the three similar titles put out in the last six months (Sinister, The Possession), this is the best of the lot.

There once was a girl named Kate

One day she decided to tempt fate

A horror film lay ahead

Something she would usually dread.

The picture started

Heart began to race

Palms turned sweaty

But she knew she was in the ready.

A story unfolded with little surprise

Hopes of good began to disappear

No matter which direction it took

Disingenuous it felt and had no hook.

Lead by a female of great skill

Not even her masks could thrill.

A woman who is content to be childless

Becomes the heroine to the lost

Two little girls like to draw and squat

While the males served little purpose to the plot.

A ghostly mother who never forgets

Cannot forgive but protects

Living in walls and dreams

Emotions bent out of shape

The mother could not escape.

No matter how she rose, twisted or turned

Or how idiotic the story burned

Mama could not be feared.

Alas, for this gal, the tale would soon end

Because laughter became her friend

Del Toro had a good thought

But truth be told the director did not.

Happy is the day when the lights brightened

For now the tale of MAMA can be forgotten.



Review: 4 out of 10

Great horror films are hard to pull off nowadays, and this film is not in any way great, but I mildly enjoyed some of the weirdness of it, and the visuals weren't half bad either. This story is about two girls suffering the aftermath of their mothers death. Some ghostly figure still linger around them in hopes to become their "new Mama." It is a very strange tale that literally starts off with a title screen that says "Once upon a time." It feels like two separate films when you are watching it, due to the fact that the girls' lives are much different from their aunt and uncle who become their legal guardians. "Mama" is filled with jump scares that sometimes work and sometimes made me laugh, but the story was good enough to hold it together. It's a one and done movie, but it's not a bad one!

01/02/2013 (Online)

"Mama", based on a short by the same name, takes a simple 3-minute premise and expands it to feature length. First time director Andrés Muschietti doesn't content himself with the cheap scares that so often inhabit the PG 13 horror movie, and instead attempts an unsettling atmospheric creepiness, which for most of the movie, he succeeds at. A father does some very bad things and leaves his daughters in a cabin in the woods. There they are protected by a spirit creature they call "mama". When their uncle tracks them down and brings them home to live with him and his girlfriend (Jessica Chastain), they find the spirit has come along too.

Mama has a creepy, unsettling vibe that is reminiscent of a movie like "The Ring", or another Guillermo del Toro produced film, "The Orphanage", but where those movies maintained a bit of mystery, Mama relies a little to heavily on computer-animated effects, which add a "been there, done that" quality to the film. The twist ending feels a little forced as well. Overall, it's a solid effort, though.

Guillermo del Toro is a stunning producer in the horror genre, and has helped many directors create something truly intense for horror fans. Director Andres Muschietti delivers one of the better horror films of the year with Mama. Although it has some predictable clichés, the film manages to be quite entertaining and fun. Jessica Chastain is good here as well, and this is a well crafted ghost tale that despite the fact it is not that original, is far better than a few horror films that have been released(Texas Chainsaw, Hansel and Gretel: Witch hunters). There are some very tense scenes in the film, and it makes for a truly entertaining horror film. The film does have its flaws, like the fact that it has the usual clichés of a typical ghost tale, but that is to be expected. I really don't understand why the film got the flack it received, as it is one of the most entertaining horror films as of yet this year. Where other pictures have failed in delivering a horror tale with an interesting plot, this one succeeds. Along with the cast who deliver some good performances, this is a film worth seeing and is quite frankly underrated. If you love ghost stories, then this is a film to see. Jessica Chastain as usual delivers a good performance, and as an actress she really is assembling quite a resume of good movies. There is a bit of everything in this one to enjoy, and if you love these types of films, then you owe it to yourself to watch it. The directing is good and the cast definitely are able to make a predictable and overdone formula into a worthwhile film, and with that said, it is a very entertaining movie from start to finish. Just go into this one with an open mind, and you're sure to enjoy it. Despite the clichés and its predictability, Mama is a fine little film that is sure to delight horror fans looking for a pleasant ghost tale to watch, and considering the bad horror flicks that have plagued the theater this month; well this is the most fun I've had at the theater. Director Andres Muschietti can create something entertaining using a proven formula.

At one point, I promised myself that I would never force myself to witness another Guillermo del Torro horror movie. That was shortly after I witnessed his previous abomination, "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark". If you were lucky enough to miss "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark", it was inspired by a 1970's made for T.V. movie, that basically dealt with deranged tooth fairies. Fortunately, I've chosen to repress any further details from that ill-fated trip to the theater in 2010. How could I ever again trust the judgement of Guillermo del Torro after such a wretched performance? Never again, I said. Of course, I don't know why I make such bold claims. One way or another, I convince myself to watch almost every horror movie. Plus, we'd already watched "Django Unchained" and the only other choice was "Gangster Squad". A bad horror movie is better than a bad gangster movie, right? Hmm, I guess I'm not sure about that. Well, at least "Mama" isn't a found-footage movie, the likes of which I absolutely loathe.

Luckily, "Mama" is better than Guillermo del Torro's previous abortion, but it still isn't very good. It basically delivers the same pattern as most modern horror movies. It starts off promising, before degenerating into a convoluted mess.

The biggest problem with "Mama" is the storytelling. The picture never knows what it wants to be. The characters that aren't entirely pointless, end up spending too much time on the fence. This is most unforgivable when it comes to the movie's antagonist. In a horror movie, or supernatural thriller, or whatever it was del Torro was shooting for here, it just muddies the film when what you're suppose to fear wears a grey hat. Then again if every single character in the film is a "-tweener", eventually you just become indifferent to the whole cast. That's how I felt about halfway through "Mama", I just quit caring, shortly afterwards I was just bored.

Guillermo del Torro does deliver some impressive CGI, and when the film's ghost is ambiguous, "Mama" delivers some creepy moments. Unfortunately, the latter portion of the film is not as subtle. Once the shroud is lifted the apparition is far less intimidating and it's given far too much screen time. Before long the visuals just become comical. If I feel like pointing and laughing at something that's suppose to be terrifying, there's obvious problems.

Although it wasn't very good, nothing offered was utterly offensive...until the ending. The conclusion is absolutely shameful. I notice this with just about every recent horror movie, writers just can't bring their stories to a satisfying conclusion. It's ridiculous. I guess it's time to brush up on H.P. Lovecraft and start studying Alfred Hitchcock, because quite frankly, they aren't getting the job done.

In the end, "Mama" is certainly worth missing. It's also just salt of the earth. With the exception of the erratic characters, you could slap the same review on "Sinister" or any other recent horror movie. They just aren't delivering the goods.

really an entertaining film. the way scenes were selected and shot was effective, and the story was engaging enough for a start of the year horror film. chastain was predictably effective in her role, even as it was a bit unusual for what we've seen her do so far. the film gets lost in the details however, as we have too many unanswered questions throughout, especially a glaring one at the end, and the development of the relationship of annabel to the girls was far too hollow. a decent watch, but not enough to really pull me in.

Remember when you were young and your mom told you that if you didn't treat her well, then she would come back and haunt you from beyond the grave?...No?...Really?! Uhhh, well...directed by Andres Muschietti (NOT GUILLERMO DEL TORO) "Mama" is the newest January horror release attempting to not massively disappoint a wide array of critics. And while (as far as new age horror films go) I thought "Mama" was for the most part pretty effective and will be giving this movie a recommendation, I am also recommending that (for the most enjoyable experience) one walk out of this movie around 15 minutes before the final credits roll, when this film completely falls apart.

There is a storyline here concerning two creepy little girls who are found seemingly alone in the woods (but in fact are being watched over by a jealous ghost named Mama) and are taken in by their estranged uncle and his hard rock, tattooed girlfriend (played by Jessica Chastain) but truthfully the more you pay attention to the quite sappy and overcomplicated plot, the more distracted (much like in last year's "The Woman in Black") you will be from the real star of "Mama", the scares themselves. In fact the parts that don't work here are the awkwardly clunky exposition and (as I alluded to before) the final 15 minutes when "Mama" becomes once again back-story motivated, with an inexplicably nonsensical and Disney-esque "the ghost must learn her lesson too" ending. And nobody wants to see that. In fact, most of the time the scariest things about some of the great horror movie monsters stem from their unexplained motives; a la, the less we (the audience) knows about the monster, other than it wants to kill and deliver scares, the scarier the movie becomes. Therefore, the back-story behind Mama being a sort of Caucasian version of "La Llorona" would have worked immensely well on scares alone, if not for a need by these filmmakers (Muschietti and writer Neil Cross) to give an overly dramatic character explanation, humanizing the monster and taking all of the wind out of Mama's sails.

What does work in this movie's favor are the horror genre visuals which make up a large portion of the middle chunk of this film. OK, so while some of the scares may seem cheap, the Mama "monster" is pretty damn scary. Furthermore, what initially may seem like cheap scares, quickly turn into cheap yet effective scares throughout (clearly exceeding the classic 6 scare minimum). There are even a few rather well constructed horror genre directorial choices that while won't be classified as scares, will be seen as rather creepy moments.

As for Chastain playing the rocker chick/girlfriend/adopted mother in all of this (with her Misfit's t-shirt, black nail polish and her many, many bracelets) she gives a performance that while isn't a cinematic nose dive (the likes of Natalie Portman going from "Black Swan" to "Your Highness") it is one that can only be described as pretty much that of zero substance. Which is to say, she's not bad, nor is she good; she is more so wasted in a rocker chick role which will undoubtedly be forgotten in the years to come.

Final Thought: All in all, if you are looking to see a horror (or date) movie that does deliver in the visual scares department and are willing to ignore the annoyingly distracting storyline, then "Mama" may be the movie for you. But if I said it once, I'll say it a million times, if you choose not to walk out of this movie 15 minutes before it's over, then don't come crying to me. I warned you.

Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland

Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus

Guillermo del Toro is no stranger to the things that go bump in the night. He helped shepherd the horror film Mama to the big screen, and his love of heavy atmosphere and creepy, agile, lithe figures of terror is still evident. This is a rather effective and very creepy little horror movie that has enough little scares, big screams, and plain skin-crawling moments to recommend. The plot involves two little girls left to fend for themselves out in the wilderness. The two young actresses are fantastic, with terrific physical command of their bodies, able to slink and hop around like feral beasts. They help emotionally ground what could have been an otherwise ordinary ghost story. Oh yes, the girls prayed to a protector known as "Mama" who happens to be a malevolent and jealous spirit. Pity Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), not just for her Gothic haircut and heavy eyeliner, but also as the girl's reluctant foster mom. I'm shocked at how disturbing it is to watch a highly articulated physical specimen bend and snap and scurry at odd angles, broken arms bouncing like insect mandibles. And director/co-writer Andrés Muschietti knows how to properly tease an audience with just enough show and tell. The end is rather rote and familiar but, due to the emotional connection, has moments of genuine poignancy. Credit the considerable talents of the little ones as well as the devious vision of Muschetti and the guiding hand of del Toro. Give Mama a look.

Nate's Grade: B

You can feel the effort put forth in this movie, but for me it just wasn't enough. It was creative at some points and simple at others; its back and forth fast pace didn't help out its cause either. The best thing about this movie was Jessica Chastain; she's quickly becoming one of the best actresses out there and certainly one of my favorites. All in all, it was an okay scary movie/thriller that I could have maybe lived without, but by no means was it a bad movie.....it gets a passing grade.

In 2008, as a result of the financial crisis, a businessman murders his colleagues and his wife before fleeing with his two young daughters. After crashing his car, he takes the girls to an isolated cabin. As he is about to kill them, a strange being interjects, saving the girls. Five years later, the girls, now feral, are discovered and placed in the care of their uncle Lucas (Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend Annabel (Chastain). The children speak of a spirit they call 'Mama', but this is passed off as an imaginary friend. Wanting to claim the girls for herself, Mama attacks Lucas, resulting in his hospitalization. Annabel is reluctantly left in charge of the girls and soon finds herself victimized by the jealous spirit.
'Mama' is a feature length adaptation of director Muschietti's 2008 short film of the same name. The original ran a mere three minutes and consists essentially of one scene, filmed in one single shot. This scene, involving the girls stalked through the house by the title character, turns up here as but one set-piece of the film. Here, the mysterious Mama figure is given a back-story, and that's the film's biggest problem. Much of the film is an above average ghost story but things fall apart in the third act when the hand of producer Guillermo Del Toro seems to take over. The story shifts from straight horror to the sort of fantasy we've come to associate with the Mexican. It's a jarring shift in tone which ruins the effective work done up to that point.

You wouldn't readily associate Chastain with such genre fare but she's as impressive here as you'd expect, giving life to a character who would otherwise just be another "final girl" archetype. Kudos must also be given to the two child actors, Charpentier and Nelisse, but the real star of 'Mama' is director Muschietti. He builds up the suspense brilliantly and is clearly a student of Hitchcock. There are nods to several of Hitch's films, the most effective being a brilliant homage to the safe robbing scene from 'Marnie'. Here, he positions his camera so we are looking both into the girl's bedroom and down the hallway, creating a fantastic moment of suspense as we see something occur in the bedroom which the character in the hallway is unaware of. Muschietti does a commendable job, telling the story in a simple but effective manner and I look forward to him working with better material in the future.

God, I would have loved to have heard the pitch for this "January Studio Dumping Grounds" movie. Was it, "It's THE RING meets NELL?" "J-HORROR meets HICK CHIC?" Whatever its origins, I'd like to report a cinematic crime. Ostensibly an allegorical story about maternal instincts, MAMA ends up being an undercooked, yet stylishly-produced, mishmash of...oh...every horror movie ever made. It's like those PARANORMAL ACTIVITY movies with better cameras and lighting with a little bit of EXORCIST, a soupcon of THE SHINING, some PAN'S LABYRINTH puppetry, some gross BLAIR WITCH twigs, and enough moths to fuel another SILENCE OF THE LAMBS sequel. It may be starkly beautiful to look at, but tt's not particularly scary, engaging, suspenseful, or even logical.

What it does prove is that Jessica Chastain can officially do anything. She disappears into every role and transforms herself every time. It's been said before, but I'll say it here too, she really is the next Meryl Streep. Here, she plays a rocker chick with no interest in having children, who suddenly finds herself having to take care of a pair of girls who were abandoned years ago by their suicidal father. Living in a cabin in the woods, they're discovered living like wild animals in total squalor. Two taes in da woods, to paraphrase NELL. They're taken in by their uncle and his girlfriend (Chastain) and soon it becomes apparent that they have been looked over by an evil ghost (MAMA MIA!) And then...oh who cares?

I'd rather describe what I was thinking while watching it, so here goes. TANK GIRL becomes the reluctant guardian to a young Michelle Williams type and an even younger Lena Dunham-type when their shaggy-haired, vaguely-accented Uncle, who looks just like the shaggy-haired, vaguely-accented guy from THE RING, ends up hospitalized for most of the movie. Things repetitively go bump in the night, and then there's this awesome PARANORMAL ACTIVITY-like shot where we see a bedroom and a hallway at once, forcing different perspectives and somewhat masterfully giving the audience something chilling to see....and then this kind of stuff keeps happening over and over, with the ghost going "BOO!" here and there....and that ghost looks like Florence And The Machine ate Mamie Gummer (Meryl's Streep's daughter for those who insist that Jessica Chastain really is one Kevin Bacon-removed star away from the great one). Lots of howling and screeching and moth-eating ensues, for no discernible reason, until TANK GIRL learns a valuable lesson about parenting. And scene.

Mama is the perfect suspenseful and dark horror movie to start off 2013, and also proves to be a good first directing effort from Andres Muschietti. This film is able to achieve what so many horror films fail to do, and that is to scare us. The last scary horror film in theaters was "Sinister" and it showed that there is still hope for the horror genre, and Mama showed once again that I am right. The film does make some mistakes and has a lot of horror film clichés that keep it from being great, but I still urge you to check out this film and experience a very creepy film. Jessica Chastain has already established herself as one of the top actresses in Hollywood currently, and she perfectly fits this performance and has us really follow her to the end. What is so interesting and unique about a film like this is that I rarely have had a PG-13 horror film scare me, mainly because most horror films are rated R because they want to push the limits of horror. But Mama was able to provide good scares while also being able to be suitable for most people. Most people will have a mixed reaction when they see this film, some may like the film, some may hate it, and some might like it but think the ending killed the tension. I felt like when we finally see the ghost of Mama it destroyed a lot of the mystery and fear, but it still was a satisfying conclusion to a good film. There is a lot of CGI used in this film and most of it is used very smart, but there are times where they can go a little overboard with the special effects. It takes a while to adjust to this film, but soon you get used to it and find that it's actually a good time. This may not be a horror masterpiece, but it was just enough to get my heart pounding and deliver the scares I was promised.

The story follows two young girls as they return after five years of being alone in the wilderness and are found to live with their uncle and his girlfriend (Jessica Chastain). Strange things start to happen as the girls say a spirit is in the house as they call her their "Mama."

The plot of this film tries a lot of stuff new and I can honestly say I couldn't predict what was going to happen, although the script still suffers from many clichés. They hire a doctor to find out what is going on, the parents are too stupid to realize when something bad is going on, and one of the parents does heavy research on the monster that is haunting their child. All these major horror film clichés can be found in Mama, but although I found them annoying, it still didn't ruin the scary experience the story offers. I was intrigued about the backround of the kids and the ghost, and I wanted to know why all this is happening and how it would all end up. The main character Annabelle is not a sympathetic character but yet we follow her because she feels like a true woman with a true personality, and I partly thank Chastain's great performance for that. She is given the job to watch these kids and so we can see how that is not entirely fair for her, but yet we want her like the girls. Her boyfriend isn't in the movie much so there really wasn't much to say about him, but from what we see I could tell he was a good guy. The two girls are actually pretty funny at most times, they have a very thrilling moment near the beginning of the film where they are some kind of creature walking on their hands and legs, but after that they just seemed like creepy little girls. I grew sympathetic towards the girls, because I put myself in their shoes and it was extremely difficult to dislike them. So overall, I enjoyed the characters and the story, but I wished they had done something to not follow the trend of clichés that drag the story down.

The cast is one of the main reasons why I was excited to see this film, as I am a huge fan of Chastain and I wanted to see how she would follow up her performance from "Zero Dark Thirty." Jessica Chastain always is able to pull off different roles in each of her films, and in this film she plays a very unlikable character that grows into a likable person. This girl has a personality and depth to who she is, and Chastain brilliantly pulls it off. She helps the tension of the fear build up thanks to her great performance the film succeeds. She carries the weight of this on her shoulders and she completely pulls it off. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau gives a solid performance that helps the film flow through, and although he makes a large disappearance for a portion of the film, he still gave some good scenes. Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse both give frightening and demonic performances, and I liked watching their characters grow through the film. For children, I was really impressed at how well they did as the film depends on them very much. This cast did very well, but it's Chastain that will get people talking and has proven once again she is one of the most capable actresses currently working in cinema.

Mama could have been a huge mess of a film that nobody would've remembered in a week, but thanks to Guillermo del Toro we are given a frightening and effective horror film that will leave you with chills. As I mentioned before, I wasn't a big fan of the ending, I just felt that they could've left the film on a much more evil and dark tone that would leave the audience in shock. That being said, it still was a ending that concluded the story in a very stylish fashion. This film just felt like it had a dark and special style to it that we see in a lot of del Toro's films. I felt like I was watching "Pan's Labyrinth" because of the heavy use of CGI and the dark tone, and I like that about the film. But Andres Muschietti is in charge of this film and should be given credit for bringing a smart and effective horror film to the big screen. I think I was very positive about this film because after seeing the terrible "Texas Chainsaw 3D" a few weeks ago, I was still skeptical about horror films having any spark left. But Mama was just what the doctor ordered, it was frightening and smart with its scares, and it showed that there might still be hope this year for the horror genre. We don't see many horror films in January, but I am glad we did because it was an unexpected surprise and felt special because of it. Mama is the raw and suspenseful horror film that we need, and although it stumbles at times, it still proved to be a frightening experience that is required for all lovers of horror films.

Although it wasn't as good as I hoped, and didn't show enough scares that the trailer promised, Mama was still a pretty good Drama/Horror Film with some very creepy elements.