Spanish-Canadian film Mama, produced by Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), is the inspired full length version of Andrés Muschietti’s 3-minute short film of the same name.
Lucas, played by Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and his live-in rocker
girlfriend Annabel, played by a very brunette and very goth Jessica Chastain,
win custody of Lucas’ young and strange orphaned nieces: Victoria and Lilly. However,
the girls, fresh from a 5-year residence in a cabin deep in the woods where
they were found and rescued from, exhibit creepy behavior: savage, spider-like,
and giving you the evil eye. Domesticating the emotionally detached and
uncivilized kids is challenging enough, but the girls also seem to have brought
with them a dark, sinister company into the house that they call “Mama.” And this
mama has some serious custody issues.
Directed and co-written by Andrés
Muschietti himself, Mama delivers a smooth
and solid storyline that cheap horror flicks usually lack. Devoid of the tiresome bloody gore, Mama is a good ol’ refreshing ghost story,
with a dash of Tim Burton-like fantasy. The
film is direct-to-the point, entertaining in its simplicity and does a good job in scaring you. The scary element of the film is mostly derived not from this Mama
creature, but from the creepy children, played by Megan Charpentier and the exceptional Isabelle Nélisse who plays
the disturbing Lilly. You get the chills
when their eyes dart at something that we cannot see, the very subtle changes in
their facial expression suggesting that something
is definitely watching close by. The dark, wicked secret in their eyes unsettling,
on top of the demonic voices that come from their bedroom during the night.
Sometimes the fear factor decreases
when you catch sight of Mama, because the horror comes from
what is not seen, but what is only
felt and heard in the shadows. Seeing
the Mama creature in full form might reduce the horror, but it is compensated by the
engaging, almost emotional, narrative. Horror flicks usually bore me as I
don’t believe in
ghosts and monsters, but Mama still
gave me the creeps and provided entertainment, fun tension, and a little drama.
You can wait for Mama on DVD, sure, but it is absolutely more fun to see it in a
dark movie house and be part of a collective thrilling experience.
Do not underestimate its PG-13 rating
because Mama will still give you the chills.
3.5 out of 5 stars
In Philippine Cinemas on February 6, 2013
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