Mama
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:23 amSo I got to see an advanced press screening for this today. It is a new ghost movie produced and co-written (although uncredited) by Guillermo del Toro and made by a first time director. The trailers made it look like fairly generic haunted house fair, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot more imagination at play here. Basically, these two girls go missing and when they are found by their uncle several years later, they are feral, wild children. When they move back in, they've brought back the vengeful spirit that protected them in the wilderness when they were missing. Its an interesting new twist on the familiar haunted house story and Mama herself is one of the most interesting cinematic ghosts I've seen in recent years. The way she moves and the sounds she makes are simply chilling. Also, we get another knockout performance from Jessica Chastain (who is a woman after my heart playing a punk rock bassist here).
All that good stuff being said, it suffers from several pitfalls that have dragged down a lot of modern ghost films. Namely showing too much of the ghost. In this film, they do a fantastic job of keeping her obscured and letting us rely on small glimpses and terrifying sounds, but in the third act of the movie, we simply see way too much of her. I realize some of that is because we're supposed to sympathize with her, but it just felt like overkill, and the CGI was a bit too obvious (although the makeup effects on Mama are superb). The other major haunted house movie sin it commits is having a character (in this case a doctor) who is mostly useless and makes constant stupid decisions and pretty much serves as a simple means of exposition.
With just one more pass on the script (and just a BIT more balance between psychological and visceral scares), this could have been the best ghost movie in the last 10 years or so. But as it is, its simply a VERY solid movie. I still recommend it a lot and I thought it was much better than I expected. Of the few decent ghost movies that have come out lately, (this, Sinister and Woman in Black), I think I do like this one the best.
If you like ghost movies or are a fan of Guillermo del Toro's films (which this shares many themes and elements), I'd say check it out. There really is a lot of good stuff here.
All that good stuff being said, it suffers from several pitfalls that have dragged down a lot of modern ghost films. Namely showing too much of the ghost. In this film, they do a fantastic job of keeping her obscured and letting us rely on small glimpses and terrifying sounds, but in the third act of the movie, we simply see way too much of her. I realize some of that is because we're supposed to sympathize with her, but it just felt like overkill, and the CGI was a bit too obvious (although the makeup effects on Mama are superb). The other major haunted house movie sin it commits is having a character (in this case a doctor) who is mostly useless and makes constant stupid decisions and pretty much serves as a simple means of exposition.
With just one more pass on the script (and just a BIT more balance between psychological and visceral scares), this could have been the best ghost movie in the last 10 years or so. But as it is, its simply a VERY solid movie. I still recommend it a lot and I thought it was much better than I expected. Of the few decent ghost movies that have come out lately, (this, Sinister and Woman in Black), I think I do like this one the best.
If you like ghost movies or are a fan of Guillermo del Toro's films (which this shares many themes and elements), I'd say check it out. There really is a lot of good stuff here.