MAMA

If you have followed this blog at all over the years, you will know that I love horror movies. I do not even have a favorite sub-genre within horror, I love them all. When I first saw the trailer for this one, I was hooked, right up until the point where they revealed the title. What a stupid title for a horror movie. It felt like the kind of title you give to a spoof of horror, like a fake Grindhouse trailer or something. However, I have infinite trust in anything that is remotely touched by Guillermo Del Toro. And the trailer did look legitimately creepy, even if it cheats because creepy kids always make for creepy movies and this has 2 of them.

In a quick prologue to the film we see a man desperate and panicked. The news tells us a man had killed co-workers and we see that the man has probably killed his wife. He grabs his two kids and heads off to who knows where. In the midst of a storm though, he does not get very far, crashing his car and setting off on foot until he comes to a cabin. The kids are totally freaked out, not knowing what is happening, and the man grabs his gun puts it to the back of his eldest daughter's head and is ready to the pull the trigger when something grabs him and kills him. We are not entirely sure what it is, but it is supernatural. The daughter turns around and tries to see what happened, but her glasses had been broken and she was essentially blind without them, so all we see is blurry action. Opening credit sequence and cut to five years later. Annabel(Jessica Chastain) and Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) are a reletiveyl normal if broke couple scraping by. Lucas is the brother of the man from the prologue and has spent the last 5 years searching for the missing girls and his brother. Annabel plays in a punk band, has jet black short hair, a wicked tattoo on her arm and is incredibly thankful to not be pregnant. However, one of the men Lucas paid has found the two girls. When Victoria(Megan Charpantier) and Lilly(Issabelle Nillise)are found and brought back to civilization, they are, of course, affected. They crawl on the ground like creatures, do not speak and barely eat. They look dead in the eyes, and unsure of anything. The Psychologist naturally assumes this is just part of the process of having been in the woods for five years, but we know there is more to it. There is something supernatural following/protecting these girls, but this entity gets jealous when the girls start to take to Annabel.

MAMA completely works for me. I understand people who think it goes a little off the rails in the climax, but it is kind of a staple of the genre and, if I am being completely honest, I kind of loved how balls to the wall it got. One of the best ways for a horror movie to be effective is to not show us much of anything. Paranormal Activity completely capitalized on that, but MAMA uses it in such an effective way, that when the story makes it imperative that we see this MAMA creature, it is going to ultimately feel less effective, but I found the effects of MAMA to be genuinely creepy and even when she was out in full force, I was still creeped out by her. That does not mean I did not enjoy it more when she was mostly off screen. The most effective scene is a sort of split screen where we see Annabel changing over laundry on one side and Lilly on the other playing tug of war with someone we cannot see. We assume she and Victoria and playing and Annabel thinks that as well. Lilly can be heard giggling from where Annabel is, but soon Victoria comes into the Annabel side of the screen and we realize Lilly is playing tug of war with an unknown entity. It is genuinely creepy and incredibly off-putting. There is also a very effective death scene that takes place in complete darkness save for the flash from a camera. It shows the director understands how to play with lights and sounds in the most effective of ways.

The performances are great especially for a horror movie. The two girls are excellent. Both are unsettling, but there is a depth to both girls. They are asked to do some pretty gross and weird things, and both are totally game for it. They form a real connection to each other and to this MAMA figure. Chastain, as is becoming the norm, kills it. She could have easily playing Annabel as this tough, uncaring character, as look of the character would suggest. It would have been fine, but instead, she gives Annabel this incredible warmth and resolve. She goes beyond the punk rock thing so many actresses would have clung to and turns Annabel into a fully realized character which raises the stakes immensely. Annabel is still tough, but she is this sweet mother figure and that makes everything that happens way more intense. It cannot be easy acting scared of a green screen, but Chastain makes it look so effortless. The quiet moments with the children become these super unsettling sequences because we know what MAMA will think of the closeness.

The end is going to split people, but knowing Del Toro fought for the original ending and got it, makes me happy. Yes, like most horror movies, once the story gets going, the creepiness is lost in favor of loud jumps and deaths, but even those moments were scary for me because of the design of the MAMA character. I could have done without the weird fever dreams from Lucas, in fact, I could have done without the Lucas character after the first 15 minutes, but I get what he is doing there. I found the climax to be full of tough choices and deep anguish, honestly. I was fully into the film and that helped me let the movie spin completely out of control and still find enjoyment in it. However, I think even if I had not loved the ending, I still would have come out of MAMA with a positive view because it is so effective the rest of the time and Chastain is so great. The overall tone and look really give MAMA an unshakable vibe of unease and that is the best thing a horror movie can have going for it.

Final Grade: B