Mama (2013)

Mama is a pretty decent horror movie written by Neil Cross, Barbara Muschietti, and Andrés Muschietti (who also directed the film). 

The story begins quite tragically, leaving two defenseless children (3 and 1) to fend for themselves in the wild. We all know what happens when children grow up in the wild. So when their uncle finally finds them three years later the two girls are as feral as cats. The oldest girl, Victoria played by Megan Charpentier, having been 3-years-old at the time of their disappearance, reintegrates into society much better than her little sister, Lilly, played by Isabelle Nélisse. 

During their isolation from society, the two sisters find love and protection from a frightening spirit (seriously, she makes the boogie man look cuddly) they call Mama. When Victoria and Lilly are found and brought back to society, Mama becomes jealous, wanting the girls to herself. 

Wouldn't you just love to have this as your mama?
Such a loving mother figure right?
Looks more like the mother of Satan. 

Everything does not go according to plan as the girls' uncle, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is thrown down the stairs by Mama and inevitably ends up in a coma leaving the two children to be cared for by his rock-and-roller girlfriend Annabelle, played by Jessica Chastain. 

Annabelle never wanted children and from the start she comes off as a selfish prat with the maturity of a 15-year-old. The question is, are the girls better off with Mama or Annabelle? 

Annabelle, as cuddly as a cactus

While some of the special effects leave a lot to the imagination, the plot is rather good and the moments that make you jump or feel like spiders are crawling all over you, keep the movie going. You also find yourself falling in love with the characters. I for one instantly fell in love with the 3-year-old Victoria played by Morgan McGarry. Little Victoria is the cutest little girl I think I've ever seen, and when she wears her glasses I just want to squeeze her. 

I want one!

It's truly heartbreaking when little Victoria and her baby sister are left stranded in the creepiest cottage out in the middle of nowhere you've ever seen. Although, speaking of that cottage; it's literally out in the middle of nowhere, it's haunted by a 100-year-old ghost who never lived in said place, and it's completely modern. Electric fixtures, slightly outdated but decent furniture, decorations, the works. Where the hell did this place come from? Who built it? What happened to them? Why build such a nice home in a place you can't even get to?

These questions and more I asked myself, yet there are no answers, and we must assume that Mama found the place shortly after it was built and furnished, liked it enough to claim it her own, and ate the original owner - a recluse with pretty decent taste.

Despite unanswered questions and overly-done special effects, the movie does a pretty decent job; after all, it's impossible to produce a flawless scary movie, so I will forgive Mama's shortcomings, especially since they are made up by good acting. Good acting is so hard to find these days, so I was impressed that they not only got a convincing adult actor (Jessica Chastain) but they succeeded in finding three really amazing child actors. This in and of itself is rather impressive. 

And, as a side note, I must say that Isabelle Nélisse's performance as the wild Lilly was especially amazing.

She will do great things

 All-in-all, this movie, while not the greatest of it's kind, is quite entertaining and certainly a good watch. Don't judge the erratic writing too much, in the end it comes together.