Cinefile: Mama

Happy Monday :)
The weekend was super productive. I slept till about 10:15am (both days), went to Target and bought more junk food than I care to mention, and watched a movie. (sarcasm is fun ;)
Erin and I wanted to watch something scary, and thanks to the fact that she actually has cable (she's fancy;) we were able to find something that neither of us had seen.

Which means it's time for another review :)

Erin and I wanted to see this one when it was released in theaters, but thanks to the fact that her husband isn't a fan of the horror/thriller genre ("My blood pressure!") and my husband hates going to the movies, we never actually went.

We found it on demand and decided that today was the day.

Mama is about two young girls readjusting to life after spending years of isolation in the woods after being abandoned by their father. After five years of searching (funded by their uncle), the girls are found alive, but extremely feral and malnourished.

Promptly following their rescue, the girls (Victoria and Lilly) were taken to a wellness clinic to rehabilitate.

During their stay they fall into the care of Dr. Dreyfuss, who is the first to break through their silence and find out about what happened in the woods.

When explaining the girls' progress to Lucas (their uncle), he explains that in order to survive the girls created a fictional maternal protective figure, aka "Mama."

After months of psychiatric care and monitoring, Dr. Dreyfuss helps Lucas and his girlfriend Annebel win custody of the girls. He allows them to move into one of the clinic's houses, in exchange for letting him continue to study the girls.

But as Victoria and Lilly become more acquainted with everyday life, strange things begin happening around the house. Their new guardians are forced to wonder about Mama, and if she is really as fictional as they all thought.

This movie is based on the Argentine "Mamá", a three minute short written and directed by the same man who wrote and directed the feature length film. The movie was produced by Guillermo del Toro, the same guy who did Pans Labyrinth (haven't seen it yet) and El Orfanato (AMAZING MOVIE).

Let's get to the review ;)
Despite the fact that the girls are in the entire movie, I feel that the real main character is Annabel.

Little bit of background:
Annabel doesn't like kids. At all. You can tell from the very beginning.

She's in a rock band, has her friends and her habits, and doesn't want that to change. But she loves Lucas, so when he received custody of the girls, she went along for the ride. They all moved into the house together, but it was clear that she had no intention of being motherly to these girls.

A little before the halfway point of the movie, something happens (vague I know, but spoilers :/) that forces Annabel to take care of the girls on her own, something she is nowhere ready for.

I hated the SHIT out of Annabel when the movie started. She just has such a shitty attitude.

To be fair, I don't hate kids so I can't completely understand her state of mind, but I still feel that even if you did you wouldn't be a complete asshole to one. She's very cold and distant, hardly something good for a couple of girls that GREW UP IN THE GOD DAMNED WILDERNESS. I mean, if you don't like kids you don't like kids, that's fine, to each their own, but don't volunteer to be a large part of their life and then treat them like shit.

But as I'm sure you've guessed, she gets a lot better through out the course of the movie. She grows as a person and begins to care about the girls, just like every other movie with a kid hater thrust into guardianship.

Good news for all :)

Okay, enough of that. I don't want to give anything away.

Let's talk about the horror.

This movie on a scale from one to ten is probably only a 6-7 (8 for those worrying about their "blood pressure";) when it comes to the actual scare factor. Mama is one of those creatures that are really scary until you see them. And then it's still creepy and like "oh my god if that thing was coming at my I'd FREAK THE FUCK OUT", but the mystery is gone, which is what made it so scary to begin with. There is hardly any blood, and the scariest thing BY FAR are the sounds that Mama makes :S (crunch, crack, snap) I really think if you get down to it it's more of a supernatural thriller, not a horror movie.

I absolutely LOVED the story.

Lately (and by lately I mean like the last 10 years), I feel like horror movies are all about gore and shock factor and less about the actual story behind what's going on. Which is a real shame, because a terrifying story trumps a gross visual any day of the week. This one was different, and it was something I really liked.

There were no gaping plot holes, no vague explanation of what was going on and the conclusion wasn't a total cop out. The ending actually made me really sad, but it was a hard truth that can only come from a good story.

The actors did a really good job, especially the girls. The youngest one didn't talk very much, so most of her character was just facial expressions and body language.

I also really REALLY enjoyed the score.

It had a nice sort of wondrous feel to it. It reminded me of Danny Elfman's score for Edward Scissorhands: magical, mystical, the sort of thing that you imagine when you listen to a fairytale.

Overall, I'm going to give it a 4 :)

What should I review next?
What did you think about Mama?

Until next time ;)