Mama
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nelisse
Director: Andres Muschietti
Rating: 3/5
Mama is one of the movies that I have been looking forward to in 2013 so far as Guillermo Del Toro once again puts his producing hat on.
In recent years has produced the likes of The Orphanage and Julia's Eyes and so I was expecting great things from the
Andres Muschietti directed film.
Muschietti had directed the short of the same name and was now helming his feature length directorial debut.
The day their father killed their mother, sisters Victoria and Lilly vanished near their suburban neighbourhood.
For five long years, their Uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend, Annabel (Jessica Chastain), have been madly searching for them.
But when, incredibly, the kids are found alive in a decrepit cabin, the couple wonders if the girls are the only guests they have welcomed into their home.
There are some great and really chilling moments in this movie but it never really develops into the horror film that the trailer promised.
Because there is so much going on with different characters in different locations the tension seeps away from the film and this is a major shame.
The storyline is an interesting and intriguing one but Muschietti uses too many horror cliches to tell it and so it really does lose its impact.
It is great to see him try to use atmosphere rather than out and out gore to create tension in the film; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
Jessica Chastain does the best with what she has got but she is never really given anything to truly get her teeth into.
The performances of the film belong to Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nelisse as Victoria and Lilly as they really are terrific.
The main problem that I have is the character of Mama herself as once you see her the tension and suspense disappears.
With so many of these horror movie the big reveal is always a disappointment as the CGI creation never quite lives up to what you had in mind.
Mama is an original tale that had huge potential to be a jump out of your seat horror/thriller.
Sadly it doesn't quite fulfil it's potential and you wonder what kind of movie it would have been in more experienced directing hands.
Mama is out now
Tagged in Jessica Chastain