31 Days Of Halloween: Mama (2013)

                                 An Inventive Chilling Movie About One Bad 'Mama'

  Hello, Bloggers, for today's review, I will discuss the recent horror film Mama, a film that while inventive yet has some minor clichés.

                                Story:
                        Mama is about two girls who get lost in the woods and end up missing for a long time before they are finally found and taken in by their uncle (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain), who feels that she is not ready to raise them. But it seems when the girls when the girls were in the woods, they weren't alone as they have brought a malevolent spirit known as "Mama".

                               What I Liked About It:
                            One thing that I did really like was the performance by Jessica Chastain. She played the most dynamic character in the film, as the woman who is at first reluctant to take care of her boyfriend's children but eventually warms up to them, and Chastain plays the role very well. To me, Chastain is a lot like Jennifer Lawrence and Rooney Mara, whereas I just look forward to her future work more and more with each passing performance. One thing that I noticed was that in the film there was an underlying conflict between mother and stepmother, as the closer the kids get with Annabel, the more angry "Mama" gets. Plus, the oldest girl prefers to get closer with Annabel, but the youngest girl prefers the company of "Mama". Another thing that surprised me was how sad the end was. I don't want to spoil it, so I'll just leave it at that.

                             What I Didn't Like About It:
                          Now, here is what I didn't like about the film. First off, "Mama" looked so fake and CG. I think if they had an actress be put in makeup, it would have been more realistic. Also, while the film is pretty scary, it was a little too reliant on jump scares. But, the film does use tricks like butterflies on the wall to signify Mama's approach to create some scares though.

                             Consensus:
                          Overall, Mama is a very inventive and chilling horror film with some clichés, but features a terrific performance from Jessica Chastain, as well as the rest of the cast. It's scary yet sad and I can't wait to see what Guillermo Del Toro, who produced the film, has next.


Rating: 3.5/5