Mama

Cast of Characters:
Annabel - Jessica Chastain
Lucas/Jeffrey - Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss - Daniel Kash
Victoria - Megan Charpentier
Lilly - Isabelle Nelisse
Mama - Javier Botet

Director - Andres Muschietti
Screenplay - Neil Cross, Andres Muschietti, & Barbara Muschietti
Based on the Spanish short film “Mama” by Andres Muschietti

Rated PG-13 for violence and terror, some disturbing images and thematic elements

      If only the characters in all horror movies were fans of horror movies. Maybe then they’d know not to go near the dark closet at the end of the hallway when the door slowly creaks open. Or perhaps they’d wait until daylight to venture out into the woods by themselves. Horror films, more often than not, tend to be victims of its own cliches.  With Mama, the new film presented by executive producer Guillermo Del Toro (Blade II, Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy, etc.), would it fall prey to those endless cliches or would it break the trend?

      The film opens up during the start of the 2008 financial crisis. After killing his business partners and estranged wife, Jeffrey (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) drives home to pick up his two children - three year old Victoria and one year old Lilly.  Driving erratically on the icy roads, he crashes his car in the woods. Jeffrey then takes his two children to a nearby abandoned house as he plans on murdering his two children then committing suicide... Well, something wicked this way clearly comes because if it didn’t, the movie would be over within the first five minutes.

      Flash forward to present day, five years later, Jeffrey’s brother Lucas (also Coster-Waldau), is still sponsoring a search team for his missing nieces. Two of the searchers stumble upon that old, abandoned house and find the two girls inside.  They’re unkempt, covered in mud, muttering weird noises, crawling on all fours like a crazed animal.  Their dad has been long gone, so how exactly were they able to survive? 

      The two girls, Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lilly (Isabelle Nelisse), are kept in isolation and evaluated by Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash) who is intrigued by drawings from the girls that allude to what he perceives to be an imaginary parental figure known as Mama. As Dr. Dreyfuss continues to help with the girls’ assimilation, Lucas is fighting for custody of his two nieces against his late sister-in-law’s aunt. Given that Lucas’s day-job is drawing and selling art and that both he and his rock musician girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain) live in an apartment, Dr. Dreyfuss bluntly states he’d be foolish not to recommend to the court that the girls go with their mother’s “well to do” aunt.  That being said, considering he wants to continue evaluating the girls, he is not only willing to support custody for Lucas and Annabel, but also provide them with a rent-free home courtesy of Dreyfuss’s welfare agency, but only on the grounds they grant him continued access to Victoria and Lilly.

      While the girls are getting accustomed to living in a “normal” setting, Lucas is somehow hospitalized by way of an accident... or was it really? Annabel isn’t all too pleased with having to care for the girls on her own, but for the sake of her boyfriend she reluctantly owns up to the task. While caring for the two on her own strange things still keep happening. Could it be this Mama figure ain't all that keen on giving up custody to some Sid and Nancy rocker freak...? Well, as it turns out, of course, Mama's (Javier Botet) not, and boy, can she get feisty when mad.

      I know what you’re thinking. Creepy insects suddenly appearing in the house. Lights flickering on and off. You see only two girls humming an eery tune, yet, oddly enough, you hear three voices. The boyfriend is hospitalized at night by way of an “accident”. Man, what the hell does it take to get a family out of that house? That being said, in spite of all the cliches, this film manages to do what most horror films today fail to do - scare us into a new pair of underpants. Director and co-writer Andres Muschietti does a terrific job at creating an unsettling atmosphere within this story while also delivering some hauntingly beautiful images.  In a wise move, we don’t see the Mama character ‘til about three-quarters of the way through the film - aside from the occasional quick flash-by or top of the head - but when we do finally see her, it is quite the pay-off by way of a very creepy performance from Spanish actor Javier Botet.  You can also tell, especially by way of some superbly eery dream sequences, Muschietti has definitely been inspired by previous works of Guillermo Del Toro. Credit also goes to the writing by not only Muschietti, but also Barbara Mushcietti (Andres's sister) and Neil Cross. There are some nice touches of dark humor thrown in every now and then that work well - one in particular is Lilly giggling and playing with an off-screen Mama while an oblivious Annabel goes about her chores. Plus, like a lot of horror films today, this story does not get bogged down in an overly complicated backstory that ends up leading to more rabbit trails for the characters. There is naturally a backstory - told by way of dream sequences - but it's to the point and never gets in the way of the main focal point of the story. Jessica Chastain gives a great performance as do the remaining supporting cast, but Chastain’s work here (following her Oscar nominated work in Zero Dark Thirty) is the standout. In the beginning of the film, Annabel is your typical “kiss my ass” rocker chick holding a pregnancy test, with a negative result, and with quiet relief whispering “Thank God”. She doesn’t get along with the girls at first, and most certainly doesn’t want them calling her mom, mommy, or even mama, yet by the end of the movie her maternal instincts kick into gear and she gradually finds herself caring for these two girls... much to the jealous displeasure of Mama. It’s that human element that often goes missing from horror films today, and it also shows why Chastain is slowly becoming one of the best go-to actresses of today.

      This film isn’t a masterpiece by any means, but unlike most horror films where it’s short on character and story and long on cheap, jump at you scares and mindless gore this one is surprisingly effective.  The performances are uniformly great, the visuals are fantastic, and the story has a nice, Gothic, almost fairytale-like feel to it.  I give Mama a B+ (★★★½).

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