Mama (2013)

Here I go again another Guillermo del Toro sponsored film. This one is directed by Andres Muschietti from a script he co-wrote with Neil Cross and Barbara Muschietti. Jessica Chastain stars as a woman forced into the role of Stepmother for her husband’s two nieces who were found in a cabin in the woods after their dead father tried to run with them after killing their mother. Wow, writing that setup makes this film sound even more absurd than it actually is. Oh, I forgot to add the two girls were cared for by a motherly ghost who follows them to their new home; and she wants them back. In many ways I would have loved this film except for the fact that there’s an unnecessary subplot about the girls’ psychiatrist that takes away from the real focus of the film and that’s Chastain’s character. And for the worst flaw about this film, something which makes me groan when I ever see it, is the overuse of CGI. When you can use an actor, you should, or you’ll be taking the audience away from the believability of the scare. Why they didn’t do this, especially for such a powerful ending, I don’t understand. If not for Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s work I really don’t think this film would have been saved. In the end I liked it but it’s one of those productions that could have been so much better. Grade: B