Mama
Universal Pictures | Release Date: January 18, 2013
6.4
USER SCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 445 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
240
Mixed:
135
Negative:
70
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User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
3
SpangleAug 5, 2016
Mama is just a bad movie. The scenes that are intended to be scary are instead unintentionally scary, the characters suffer from being massively stupid, and the supernatural entities motives make no sense. Even worse, one of the little girlsMama is just a bad movie. The scenes that are intended to be scary are instead unintentionally scary, the characters suffer from being massively stupid, and the supernatural entities motives make no sense. Even worse, one of the little girls is truly grating. Jessica Chastain is ok and Andres Muschietti does a fine job creating tension and a scary atmosphere, but the film never goes far enough to elicit scares. The film puts you on edge, but then pulls the rug from under you and leaves you wishing it had actually followed through on something for once. Horror films that lack a pay off are typically okay in my book because the atmosphere is scary enough and the things that are intended to scare you, actually do. With Mama, however, the plot and story is so laughably bad, none of these things scare you. The characters are thinly written and past and fall apart with the story around them making no sense and just being a nonsensical compilation of "best scenes in a horror movie" type situations, except the scenes here are so obviously trying to be scary, they fail to do anything at all. Mama is a horror film made by someone who loves horror, but has no idea what makes them work.… Expand
2 of 2 users found this helpful20
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3
MikefromAngusMay 7, 2013
Started off slow, but I didn't mind it. The story slowly started to evolve. Along the way, there were a few scary moments. But 3/4 of the way, the movie fell apart. The movie became very cheesy and the suspence was gone.
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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0
ThegodfathersonFeb 17, 2013
Guillermo del toro has made great films in the past but this time the presents logo has let him down. Mama is not a great film. It doesn't give you creepy jeepers from movies like Paranormal Activity, it's a crappy horror movie with bad CGIGuillermo del toro has made great films in the past but this time the presents logo has let him down. Mama is not a great film. It doesn't give you creepy jeepers from movies like Paranormal Activity, it's a crappy horror movie with bad CGI effects and jessica chainten was "meh". This film absolutely has no story, the0 is only for some of the creepy performances. 0/10. Nothing more.… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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2
mapizarroOct 9, 2013
When my brother invited me to premiere I was very exciting because I've heard many good reviews about this film. Later, I left cinema, scared but not for "Mama" but bad movie was it. This film hasn't sense. Okay, a evil ghost thought that twoWhen my brother invited me to premiere I was very exciting because I've heard many good reviews about this film. Later, I left cinema, scared but not for "Mama" but bad movie was it. This film hasn't sense. Okay, a evil ghost thought that two little orphan girls are her daughters but film has struggles to explain the real reasons. Sorry, but "Mama" is not for me.… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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1
MrThehammer171Jun 5, 2013
it wasnt scary you could see the how computized mama is and none of the pops scared me or gave me the chills none of them. from the previews i thought this would be good so i watched it an it wasnt good you will laugh if your a true horrorit wasnt scary you could see the how computized mama is and none of the pops scared me or gave me the chills none of them. from the previews i thought this would be good so i watched it an it wasnt good you will laugh if your a true horror fan alright except your little sister who will be screaming her head off while your laughing and the computerized mama… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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3
AzdajaFeb 28, 2014
Bad movie,very stupid,the mama character is very bad computerised,no story,they wonted to make an unexpected ending but they fail because thats was stupid too.The only good thing in the movie was Jessica Chainstains performance.I canot sayBad movie,very stupid,the mama character is very bad computerised,no story,they wonted to make an unexpected ending but they fail because thats was stupid too.The only good thing in the movie was Jessica Chainstains performance.I canot say this is worth watching at all. sorry for bad english if there is some not my mothern language.… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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1
AxeTDec 12, 2014
Yet another very dumb movie with juvenile Guillermo Del Toro's name on it. Loaded with a lot of fantastical nonsense and very little else, this boring fairy tale is not worth anybody's time who is over the age of 12 with half a brain. GoodYet another very dumb movie with juvenile Guillermo Del Toro's name on it. Loaded with a lot of fantastical nonsense and very little else, this boring fairy tale is not worth anybody's time who is over the age of 12 with half a brain. Good photography, sound design and visual effects never substitute for the harder task of good narrative drive and suspense. It doesn't fool anybody, well maybe the younger generation because they don't know what they're missing in a good thriller or have the attention span to care.… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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1
annbdJul 2, 2018
I'm cowardly and it's still didn't work for me, didn't really scare me. The lack of full story, likable characters and decent computer graphics destroyed the movie. 'Mama' is simply bad, not a real horror movie. 1/10 for the try.
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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0
imthenoobApr 29, 2013
This year's Woman in Black. They take a popular actor at the time (in this case Nikolaj Coster Waldau, known for playing Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones) and put him in a poorly made movie about a vengeful spirit and hope it sells. MamaThis year's Woman in Black. They take a popular actor at the time (in this case Nikolaj Coster Waldau, known for playing Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones) and put him in a poorly made movie about a vengeful spirit and hope it sells. Mama is simply a god awful movie with no suspense what so ever. A terrible generic story with cheap scares, that honestly don't scare at all. The fact that people actually like this trash proves how poor their taste are.… Expand
2 of 3 users found this helpful21
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2
WhySoSerious54Jan 22, 2013
If you like horror movies with non stop CGI, a storyline used over and over, unlikable characters, no real scares, and a ghost that looks like something out of a bad cartoon. Than this is for you. The theater was laughing non stop at theIf you like horror movies with non stop CGI, a storyline used over and over, unlikable characters, no real scares, and a ghost that looks like something out of a bad cartoon. Than this is for you. The theater was laughing non stop at the stupid that is Mama. Its as dumb as the title.… Expand
8 of 13 users found this helpful85
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2
SEROJJul 5, 2018
A complete garbage. I'm giving it a 2/10 because of the great acting from the kids. But overall the plot was just stupid and the cgi was amazingly bad.
1 of 2 users found this helpful11
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3
KaarenJan 22, 2015
Same old, same old. People making stupid decisions that normal people, even when they are at their dumbest, wouldn't possibly dare make.

Would you go to a ghostly house when it's dark and take pictures of a ghost when you are absolutelySame old, same old. People making stupid decisions that normal people, even when they are at their dumbest, wouldn't possibly dare make.

Would you go to a ghostly house when it's dark and take pictures of a ghost when you are absolutely sure that the ghost is real? I don't think so.

Same old, same old. A ghost with absolute power, an ugly face, and long long long hair. Would that scare you? Umm, no, I don't think so. The last time that worked was on Samara, and it's overdone now.

Don't watch it. It doesn't even include some nudity or hot spooning to keep you interested.

How did it sell more than 100 million dollars? I don't know.… Expand
1 of 2 users found this helpful11
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3
boydimagesJan 31, 2013
We went to see this "movie", and I had high expectations....long story short: it sucked! I sooooo badly want to give specific reasons, but that would mean spoilers, because judging by the posts, there are people who believe this is "gonna beWe went to see this "movie", and I had high expectations....long story short: it sucked! I sooooo badly want to give specific reasons, but that would mean spoilers, because judging by the posts, there are people who believe this is "gonna be good". Trust me, the 3 minute short was far better. I am not a "troll", just another pissed off consumer! Let's put this way: we actually LAUGHED when it ended, and I never do that at a "scary" movie..."Mama Mia" was scarier. I would say "save your money", but different tastes will definitely help pay the producers bills, so go ahead, see for yourself. Hell! You might like it, but if you have any idea what a "good" horror movie is, you are gonna be REALLY disappointed because this film was not made for you.… Expand
2 of 5 users found this helpful23
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0
OroiaelJan 27, 2013
I went to the cinema manager and asked for my money back. Happily he did give us free passes to any other movie of our choosing. He did say, though, that we weren't the only ones looking for refunds on this colossal pile of excrement. EvenI went to the cinema manager and asked for my money back. Happily he did give us free passes to any other movie of our choosing. He did say, though, that we weren't the only ones looking for refunds on this colossal pile of excrement. Even the visual effects were tired. Looks like every other supernatural film that has come out since the Ring. I wish I knew how to spell the sound of a human retching, that would explain my feelings on this movie.… Expand
2 of 6 users found this helpful24
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3
killerbee41895Jan 30, 2013
The story line is great. However, the digital effects of the movie were not up to expectations. For a preteen, I would suggest this as a great hand-holder. As for adult thrill seekers, don't waste your time. The scenes drug on and on. TheThe story line is great. However, the digital effects of the movie were not up to expectations. For a preteen, I would suggest this as a great hand-holder. As for adult thrill seekers, don't waste your time. The scenes drug on and on. The best part of the film is the ending, but it's not worth the wait. However, the acting done by the two little girls in the film is far from what's expected. They even "out act" all the adults in the film, by far. The movie would have been better if it wasn't for the bad producing and directing. Again, wouldn't waste my time.… Expand
2 of 7 users found this helpful25
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2
ShiiraMar 12, 2013
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "Hey, I love you, girl," Lucas, a hirsute graphic artist tells his boho flatmate, Annabel, the bass guitarist in a three-piece indie-rock band, on the precipice of her incipient entree into womanhood. She's going to be a mother, or rather, a surrogate matriarchal figure, better known as the stepmom. Lucas' two nieces, Victoria and Lilly, missing for years and presumed dead, are found, miraculously, alive in a woodland cabin, and seemingly without parental supervision. On that fateful day in the band's rehearsal space, when Lucas breaks the news to Annabel of the girls' improbable recovery, the goth girl doesn't look none too pleased. Suddenly, her cool beau comes with baggage. Annabel, while talking it over with the lead singer, decides on a reactionary life-choice that betrays her persona, so soon after thanking god in the loo for the close call on a home pregnancy test. The femme singer, quite pointedly, calls Annabel "dude", as in, "You didn't sign up for this, dude," a sisterly endearment loaded with trenchant points in that the masculine appelation evokes a testament to such feminist ideals, chiefly, the outright rejection of traditional female roles. On her own volition, Annabel follows Lucas to suburbia, taking up residence in a two storey Virginia colonial, as part of an agreement with a behavioral scientist that accedes complete access to the girls for an empirical study on feral children. Like the wild child from Francois Truffaut's L'enfant sauvage, the girls walk on all fours and undergo an enculturation period. Alone in her vanilla trappings, Annabel, the exiled hipster, rocks the colonial. Quite a sacrifice for a "girl" whose desert island, all-time, top five musical artists would definitely include Kim Deal. Unlike Laura, Rob's long-suffering girlfriend in High Fidelity, whose slumming is protracted by her love for a arrested owner of a record shop, a sad diletantic man-child who wouldn't allow the paralegal to grow. Annabel's transition into adulthood, however, is abrupt, and especially curious, since she's the same person: same close-cropped hair, same raccoon-style eye makeup, differing from Laura, who tells Rob, "I couldn't go to work with my hair dyed pink." And yet she gives it all up. And not for something good like a career. The woman in flux chooses to be a homemaker with a surprising minimum of fuss. At the film's core, Mama beats a sexist heart, because the filmmaker suggests that all women, down deep inside, want to be mothers. Laura, too, despite being career-minded, was once an expecting mother-to-be, but fails to carry her child to full-term, since, as she tells it, due to Rob's one-night stand. But let's not forget the record shop owner's rebuttal to his transgressive behavior, in one of many instances where he breaks the fourth wall. On the bus, Rob humbly admits that Laura is the smart one; he realizes how Laura played him, convincing the in-film narrator that seeing other people was his idea, when, in actuality, she had already started anew with another man: the dreaded Ian. Laura not only outsmarts Rob; she outsmarts the audience. Laura, a former party girl, who first meets Rob in the midst of his deejay gig at a club, also worked as a legal aid during the day. Rob's infidelity came at the right time; it provided her with a convenient excuse to terminate the pregnancy. The film seems unaware that she chose to ascend through the ranks of her profession, rather than sit at home with a baby. It's a gambit that pays off, as indicated by Rob, when he muses aloud about the incongruity between her handsome salary and the "dump" she once resided in. The maternal instinct is neither engendered in Laura nor Annabel, but whereas High Fidelity allows for upward mobility as a transition into so-called respectability: a good job and a better man, signifiers both of personal growth, Mama has a fifties mentality, in which Annabel gives up the life she invented in order to rear children, as proof and verification of her finishing. She trades her bass for a laundry basket. Akin to Sylvie, the stepmother figure in Housekeeping, the aunt who inherits two girls that accept their new guardian in varying degrees(Ruth, the protege; Lucy, the rebel), just like how Victoria likes Annabel better than Lilly. Equipped with glasses, she sees that "mama" is just a stay-at-home mother. Today, women who reject the traditional role of wife and mother have someplace to go, but this being the 1950s, Sylvie just got lost, returning home from her vagabond's itinerary of constant walking after her nieces' orphaning. While window shopping, she cringes at the vacuum cleaner display. Her sister, the one who chose to vacuum, ended up driving her car over a cliff. Hopefully, Lucy will have better luck. Mama, too, plunges in the water, taking Lilly with her. Victoria survives; she wants to be like Annabel: independent, but the film won't let her out of the house.… Expand
1 of 4 users found this helpful13
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0
HorrorseekerAug 29, 2019
Boring to the point of where you most likely be looking at your phone or falling asleep your better off avoiding any of these kind of that have good to great reviews but mama falls to scare anybody films like this are just a excuse to try toBoring to the point of where you most likely be looking at your phone or falling asleep your better off avoiding any of these kind of that have good to great reviews but mama falls to scare anybody films like this are just a excuse to try to Brianwash the audience into thinking they're seeing the greatest thing ever… Expand
0 of 2 users found this helpful02
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2
drone41Feb 20, 2018
The only good thing in this movie was special effects. Everything else was shame transfer.
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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1
RecepOct 28, 2019
Film aslında güzel başladı güzelde sürükleyici bir şekilde ilerliyordu ancak olabileceği gibi sonu aşırı derecede saçma ve kötü bitti zaman kaybi
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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