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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5
frankiep86Jan 19, 2013
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This was a disappointment - expected more from Del Toro, even if he wasn't directing. The premise was interesting enough and riffing off financial collapse (now that is a horror movie) was a promising start. But despite good acting and decent cinematography the film falls into cliches and is disjointed. And can we all admit that CGI is not frightening? It just pulled me right out of the film and any hope of feeling horror soon turned into annoyance. There were a number of jolting moments but generally these turned out to be cheap stunts to get a rise from the audience. I'd recommend as a rental.… Expand
3 of 4 users found this helpful31
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6
rocketpackpandaJan 18, 2013
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's a bit of a clunker. The movie is shot very well, creepy dark gloom and one especially cool flashback. The acting is for the most part serviceable if not solid. Jessica Chastain in particular does well with the material (better than the morose standing about and pouting we got to see from her in ZDT). The movie's story is standard stuff so dont expect anything big or game changing here. Though overall the movie is mediocre, the parts that are bad, are incredibly bad. One scene in particular stands out, In a dream world Luke (nicolai coster-waldau) speaks to a ghost who speaks in what could be one of the worst professional audio mixes in a decade. Another part of the film is the scripts use of characters. Luke as a character is unnecessary, he really does nothing and the film would have been more effective without him, which in turn would have given you a shorter and tighter film. As well the script has plenty of inane, why did this, or that doesn't make any sense, moments. Overall the film is alright, but I'd think twice about paying theater prices too see it.… Expand
3 of 5 users found this helpful32
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5
ScarTissue1990Feb 5, 2013
Pretty decent film. But nothing special.
1 of 3 users found this helpful12
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5
Bo33yApr 25, 2013
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Not bad horror containing plenty of jumps, probably more laughter at what was just so ugly. This story line has been done so many times the concept is nothing uniquely new. What this film had is one of the best "crackhead" (pun) monsters on film, visually nasty. Riminiscent of The Ring, The Grudge, The Excorist and other good horrors. Disappointment into what was turned out to be such a lame ending, this equated to, a bird in the hand is worth more then two on the branch. While playing that boohoo melody with its white lights and moths/butterflies CGI. The biggest flaw I had with this film was the doctor doing his own investigation right after running away. Not much expectation from a dumb slang title.

Middle road scores for having such a nasty Mama… Expand
1 of 4 users found this helpful13
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6
TVJerryJan 30, 2013
For 5 years, 2 little girls are raised in the woods by a ghostly specter. When they're returned to civilization, they move in with their uncle (Nikolaj Coster Waldau) and his girlfriend (Jessica Chastain). Of course, their "mama" comes withFor 5 years, 2 little girls are raised in the woods by a ghostly specter. When they're returned to civilization, they move in with their uncle (Nikolaj Coster Waldau) and his girlfriend (Jessica Chastain). Of course, their "mama" comes with them. This is a relatively well-told ghost story with a creepy atmosphere, some nice surprises and a few good scares. Since there's only one evil presence, the intrigue is limited. To make things worse, it completely falls apart by the time we get to the laboriously overdone ending. Fans of the genre might enjoy much of it, but it's not special in any way. (And what happened to the dog?)… Expand
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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4
coreyg007Feb 9, 2013
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. No, No, and No! This movie was way overpriced, way too slow getting started, and even more under developed than I had expected after watching what seemed to be enticing previews for it. I don't understand why directors wish to push half developed movies; oh wait, Yes I DO! It's for the stupid teenagers who theatre hop and giggle all through the movie, like the ones that sat near me tonight in the theatre. They made an very mediocre movie even worse since I had to half listen to them and half focus on the movie as I continued to ask questions like why did it start with the delusional father killing the wife?, and what possessed him to take the girls to the wood?, and why the ghost was called mad and in a 19th century asylum? Very unsatisfying movie. I wish I would've waited to rent it once it on bluray instead of the paying $9.50 to watch it in a loud theatre.… Expand
0 of 2 users found this helpful02
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5
diego9901May 2, 2013
es una película de suspenso pero lo deja a uno pensando en el amor de las madres y ademas es un deleite visual tambien krx,wls,tredmyhx4t5yhyi54ljnhflhjnt
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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5
PolisKaninMay 13, 2014
This was an OK film until the end. Towards the end of the film, they try to recreate the classic horror film scene in Psycho where the chair is turned around to reveal a dead person. In Mama, they tried to recreate this classic scene fromThis was an OK film until the end. Towards the end of the film, they try to recreate the classic horror film scene in Psycho where the chair is turned around to reveal a dead person. In Mama, they tried to recreate this classic scene from horror film history by having the Aunt be standing there twitching, as the girls walk up to her from behind. When they get close to her, she turns round to reveal her face. This would have been a bad scene due to the fact it is blatantly a ripoff of the scene from Psycho; however, they made a bad scene worse by having the worst laughably bad CGI/Mask in the world. It's less scary than in Psycho, and that was 1960 and Mama was in 2013. If that isn't bad enough, they tried to use this trick TWICE! Most of the film is decently written and the children are surprisingly good actresses for their age, but the ending is as bad as those "lik if yoo cri errytim" comments on YouTube.… Expand
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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5
Forrestgump1Jun 4, 2013
"Although Mama is on the more "compulsively scary" side of things. It lacks the effort that make films like "Insidious" scary. Its bland and hardly effective, also suffering from a frigid conclusion, Mama was still not as terrible as it"Although Mama is on the more "compulsively scary" side of things. It lacks the effort that make films like "Insidious" scary. Its bland and hardly effective, also suffering from a frigid conclusion, Mama was still not as terrible as it should have been" C+… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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5
faraaz11Apr 28, 2013
This movie was too typical, it wasn't bad nor good....though it was very boring...i hope they don't make a part 2 of it like the ring 2, where they show how the so called ''mama'' origins will be showed..i hate predictable movies likeThis movie was too typical, it wasn't bad nor good....though it was very boring...i hope they don't make a part 2 of it like the ring 2, where they show how the so called ''mama'' origins will be showed..i hate predictable movies like this...so don't bother to watch this movie in theatres, waste of money it would be :o ...all i have to say is don't make predictable,boring,stereotypical movies..sinister is a good horror movie out so far...… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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6
ilovegames32Feb 24, 2013
Just saw this yesterday and I'm a little conflicted.......let's starts with the good:the opening scene was interesting enough but I don't know if I missed a key part that explains why the father started killing people then hisJust saw this yesterday and I'm a little conflicted.......let's starts with the good:the opening scene was interesting enough but I don't know if I missed a key part that explains why the father started killing people then his ex-wife(child support maybe?)then decides to kill his two daughters...then himself...I wanted to know what drove him to this point but like I said...there were no explanation for his actions...even his brother never says why(maybe he was just as clueless as I was)the scenes were well done for the most part and the acting was believable and the locations(mainly the spooky looking house in the woods) were great! The character development of the female lead was good...she go's from i don't want kids to really putting her life on the line(like any loving mother)for the two girls, speaking of the girls, the youngest is a complete nutcase! The bad: A lot of the story just felt weak and/or rushed! They also should have explained the history of the spirit haunting the two girls more thoroughly instead of just tacking on the whole....she was insane story....she should have had more dept to her character....this horror movie actually had a good story but just fell short which is disappointing because it had good material to work with. Also, when the guy was pushed down the stairs...he clearly saw the monster but whats the first thing he did when he got out the hospital? He went to the woods and got lost....? The therapist was smart enough to figure out what the ghost wanted but was to stupid to bring what he needed to stop the ghost got and himself killed? There's also an identity crisis with mama because the director(or writer) didnt know who was actually the leading star. I thought it was the uncle/boyfriend but he gets sidelined early in the movie and the woman pretty much finish's what he started! In the end its a pretty scary movie with a good(if not disappointing) story. Its not perfect but it was good enough that anyone can enjoy it even if its just a rental so i give it a 6/10… Expand
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6
lasttimeisawMay 13, 2013
I have been eschewing horror films for quite a long time, not my cup of tea to be constantly under the fusillade of twisted images of supernormal creatures and the menacing sound effects antedated by portentous background scores, while tryingI have been eschewing horror films for quite a long time, not my cup of tea to be constantly under the fusillade of twisted images of supernormal creatures and the menacing sound effects antedated by portentous background scores, while trying to squeeze any sort of excitement and satisfaction from it (or just a natural aging process). But MAMA, outsmarts a myriad of its sort by casting Jessica Chastain as its sadistic prey, so when I got the BluRay disc, it is not easy to say no to it, not when Chastain wears a Gothic makeup.

THE ORPHANAGE (2007, 8/10), which also has a Spanish pedigree, has left an indelible impression on my memory and its credo of a mother’s salvation can be easily transplanted into MAMA, only this time the mother is a gawky ghost, thus, Chastain’s character, initially a childless bass player in a rock band, has to undergone the transference of her own mother nature to fight for the girls, it is a tug-of-war of two mothers (Coster-Waldau’s proxy-father figure as one can anticipate, would have to sidestep aside to leave enough space for the maternal battle, he would be in the hospital since the half-way through and never returns home to aid his girlfriend even when he recovers and completely senses the spooky thing is happening with the two girls, instead, he would go directly to the haunted cabana, at least give your girlfriend a head’s up, man!). It is sufficient to say there are nothing too ground-breaking MAMA brings to its mother genre, the scares and twists are both predictable and fully-informed ahead, and a certain amount of casualty among supporting players is indispensable (and overused).

What’s quite impressive is the ingenious shooting prowess from Muschietti and DP Antonio Riestra, for example, during Coster-Waldau’s hospital stint, a semi-long shot at their home, in a fixed gaze, implies Mama’s existence in the house by disinterestedly concocting all 3 extant characters in one frame while a fourth one is off-camera and does the interaction. Another one comes within the spine-tingling motion, a tracking close-up focus on the elder girl until she is locked outside the door when Mama is trailing both girls. Also the sepia and over-saturated flash-back takes are smartly interpolated, and the shots from a camera in the darkness is not a new invention but pay their dues by the in-the-blink-of-an-eye fright (poor doctor!).

Chastain shoulders on a very understated development from a punk bassist to a surrogate mother, Muschietti has a good sense of reining the holistic haunting aura instead let it slip into a drama competition (although if one has Chastain, he should not squander the opportunity). Megan Charpentier, plays the elder sister of the two, whose transition is the most telling proof of a mother’s love, the ending is redolent of THE FORGOTTEN (2004, 5/10), and the motherly clasp always win!

MAMA, expanded from Muschietti’s own short film, is a qualified scare-fest, but one advise should be alarmed to all the makers, whatever gristly creature you are contriving, if it appears continuously on screen for more than 5 minutes, the terror efficacy will be dampened no matter how unsightly it is, so play your trumps parsimoniously is a wiser option if your intention is to scare audiences out of their wits.… Expand
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6
beingryanjudeSep 1, 2014
Terrifying all around. Well-thought of and beautifully executed. Jessica Chastain proves she will never fall into typecasting as she boldly takes on this role.
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4
Crazye2000Apr 27, 2013
A CGI mess, How this film received so many positive reviews, is beyond me. Cliche after cliche, Horror isn't in it's DNA, no more than a suspense film.
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6
cameronmorewoodAug 3, 2013
January horror flicks aren't usually produced by Guilermo Del Toro, nor do they usually star an Oscar nominated actress. Suffice it to say, though it's no masterpiece, Mama is an above-average scare show.
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6
Nesbitt10May 4, 2013
"Mama" succeeds in generating a few genuine scares, but it predominantly provides some lingering, and creepy images--despite indulging into numerous clichés. It is a well-made film that delivers mild chills and thrills, with a solid cast to"Mama" succeeds in generating a few genuine scares, but it predominantly provides some lingering, and creepy images--despite indulging into numerous clichés. It is a well-made film that delivers mild chills and thrills, with a solid cast to help gloss over the expected bag of tricks. It also helps tremendously to have Guillermo del Toro as an Executive Producer.

In the prologue to "Mama," we learn of a shooting at a financial firm after an economic crash. A distraught executive named Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) arrives home, quickly collects his two young daughters, Victoria and Lilly, and speeds off. They end up in an abandoned house deep in the forest, where Lucas apparently intends to shoot his daughters before he can kill himself. But that is not quite how it works out. Five years later, Lucas' brother Jeffrey (also played by Coster-Waldau) has never given up hope. Jeff's team of searchers comes across the abandoned house we saw a century ago in a nightmare. Dad's long gone, but the girls are still there crawling around on all fours and making noises like wild animals. How could they have survived on their own? They are taken into the care of their dead father's brother and his rocker girlfriend away from the cabin they've called home all this time. Mama is none too pleased about this development, as I'm sure you can imagine. The girls are kept in isolation for a few months as Dr. Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash) records their every move while helping with their assimilation, given that Victoria keeps making cryptic references to an unseen Mama. Lilly sleeps under the bed, still occasionally eats bugs, and screams whenever anyone tries to touch her. The girls hardly seem ready for ice cream and bedtime stories, but Jeffrey is determined to give them a normal life. Muschietti and his story collaborators Neil Cross and Barbara Muschietti, managed to keep an entire back-story up their sleeves to reveal it in teasing fashion, which works to a degree, maintaining viewers engagement with the film. In addition, there are some creative nightmare sequences--a highly stylized dream set in which we see a crazed young woman screaming bloody terror before leaping off a cliff with her newborn.

Overall, the casting for the film is fine, especially the role of Annabel, played by Jessica Chastain, who slowly sheds her tough-talking exterior from "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012). Her nurturing instincts take over in this film, displaying her incredible range as one of the finest at her craft at this time. There are ideas and themes present in "Mama", but they are not quite fully developed to satisfaction, as the film does confuse at times when it seems to suggest that the idea of settling into a normal family unit could in fact be the real horror. Come the end, Muschietti may not have worked out all his own unresolved issues, but he does manage communicate his fears effectively. And besides, that's what sequels are for.… Expand
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6
HaithamBayazeedFeb 16, 2013
The worse thing in the movie is that it should be more scary, because the story its self is more scarier than its execution, but still very good movie, despite that the pacing is terrible, but if you are looking for a decent scary movie, thatThe worse thing in the movie is that it should be more scary, because the story its self is more scarier than its execution, but still very good movie, despite that the pacing is terrible, but if you are looking for a decent scary movie, that people under 12 won't be scared of it, watch MAMA it is really fun and scary but not horrifying, really, I am so disappointed that it is not scary is it should be.… Expand
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4
TheRubixGamerNov 25, 2013
It's not terrible but it's not good. The creature isn't scary, the jumps suck and it ending made no sense to me what so ever. The acting isn't very easy to judge due to the fact there is very little character development, the story is a goodIt's not terrible but it's not good. The creature isn't scary, the jumps suck and it ending made no sense to me what so ever. The acting isn't very easy to judge due to the fact there is very little character development, the story is a good idea but the CGI sucks and the creature design seriously looks like something from Tim Burtons Corpse Bride.

A little eerie but not worth your time.… Expand
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6
charlotteydwiFeb 25, 2013
This film was not what I had expected. Although the idea of the story was compelling, the film just seemed to lack. The acting I think was most definitely up to par, and I can surely say that Jessica Chastain and the two young girls playThis film was not what I had expected. Although the idea of the story was compelling, the film just seemed to lack. The acting I think was most definitely up to par, and I can surely say that Jessica Chastain and the two young girls play their roles very well. I just believe the structure was unbalanced. There is a lot of build up, to what I believe was a very anti-climactic ending.… Expand
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4
mehkiFeb 1, 2013
I give this movie a 4. The best moments of the movie were shown during the trailer. There were a couple of "jump" moments. Chastain was unrecognizable and a little long in the tooth for the "rocker" part. The movie had promise but reallyI give this movie a 4. The best moments of the movie were shown during the trailer. There were a couple of "jump" moments. Chastain was unrecognizable and a little long in the tooth for the "rocker" part. The movie had promise but really just fell apartt. The rendering of Momma herself was a disppointment. Don't waste your movie dollars. Dad loses money, loses it in general, kills his wife, and makes off with this too little girls in the dead of winter. He has a car accident and arrives at a seemingly abandoned cabin the wood. There's something strange in the cabin and dad is soon dispatched. The two little girls are left to fend for themselves. Fastforward 5 or so years later and they are found by some hunters who were hired by their uncle to search for them all this past years. The girls are feral, dirty, and fearful. The older girl recovers more quickly than the younger one. Someone seems to have followed them to their uncle's home. Neither their uncle nor aunt are really prepared to raise normal kids much less this two little girls. Who's momma, what does she want, and is she real or just a figment of the girls' imagination?… Expand
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5
RajalAug 15, 2013
Although it's lacking in anything that is truly frightening, the story is kind of sad... Still though, I feel like this has been over done. Not a bad movie, but nothing really special either.
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5
MordiggianMar 18, 2013
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Before I get started, let me say that this movie had good qualities. The acting was, for the most part, well done, even by the children. The beginning of the movie had me excited; the back story of the girls was interesting and I felt that the pictures in the opening credits and Lucas' search for the girls were a good start for making characters the audience could care about. Before we kept seeing Mama (or the Skinny Woman, as I think the credits called her), the hints at her were nice. I really liked when she first played with Lilly. The suspense, despite a bad plot and pay off, was good. But, there were also lots of problems. The characterization quickly went nowhere and any development felt forced. The color editing was dumb, utterly failing to create atmosphere and making sure that the audience couldn't be a part of the story. The story, while a bit used, could have been salvageable with a better ending, but with the way it is, there is no feeling of conclusion. So Lilly, Gene, and Dreyfus are dead, how do you explain that to the police? Does Victoria overcome the psychological scarring that all of her childhood has clearly been? Once the excitement dies down, are Lucas and Annabelle, with no previous experience and now, presumably, without the house, able to properly care for Victoria, assuming that she wasn't taken away after the bodies are found? Also, while Mama's design was certainly one of the better parts of the movie, I don't understand the choice to show so much of her (and then, since so much was shown, why include the overdone flashes-of-light-in-a-dark-room bit?) It provided a few jump scares at first, but the CGI was distracting. Everything else in the movie, the moths, the leaves and vines, the dirt, the cabin, the feral girls, and the design of Mama itself, was natural, so having something as unnatural as the clearly CGIed ghost was jarring, and not in the good horror way. And, combined with knowing everything about Mama, there was nothing left to the imagination, robbing the movie of a lot of potential horror and creepiness. Yes, it might have scared you at the time, but I doubt anyone will be having any nightmares about her, and if not for the bad parts, this alone would have made the movie completely forgettable. Well, maybe I would have remembered it, if only for how hard I tried to figure out the "meaning" of the themes and symbols. There were moths as a sign of Mama, moths that Lilly ate, the cocoon that Mama formed around herself and Lilly, and the blue moths that were Lilly? I know that they usually do mean death and rebirth and all that jazz, but what does that have to do with Mama? Didn't we already learn that ghosts were simply emotions? Are moths compulsive, "motherly", or desperate like the ghost? (For that matter, what emotion was Mama?) What do the cherries mean? The previously mentioned focus on nature? The long limbs and weird walk of Mama? If they don't have a meaning then why are they there? And, now for a weird (mostly joking) observation. Was... Was Dr. Dreyfus' secretary wearing the three wolf moon shirt? No, I'm being serious. Because that messed me up for the rest of the movie. I was in a whole internet mood and everything was weird. Mama was the Bongcheon-Dong Ghost looking for her baby or (before we saw her face) the female Slenderman ("skinny woman", remember?) kidnapping children. Jeff was an inverted Jeff the Killer: he was in all black against a light background and wanted Lucas to wake up. The pictures Annabelle found felt like something you'd see as the image on a page of the Creepypasta Wiki and honestly, the concept felt like it would feel in place there. In the end, this isn't the worst movie I've seen in a while and I can say I was more surprised that it had good parts than that it had bad.… Expand
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6
PimpinpakmanMay 6, 2013
A decent horror movie with a few scares. Ending was kind of a let down. Nothing really spectacular about the movie but for the first 75% it was entertaining to watch and gave a few scares. Nothing big that cant be missed here.
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6
JacobparkerMay 19, 2013
I expected very much from this movie because of its great trailer!
The movie was not bad but there were not so many moments which really scared me as I have hoped for.
The ending is one of the best horror movie endings I have ever seen!
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4
snickersveluzAug 6, 2013
Mama initially struck me as potentially great collaboration of Producer Guillermo del Torro and director Andres Muschietti. And if you were to judge that statement based on the first 20 minutes or so of the film, I would have considered thatMama initially struck me as potentially great collaboration of Producer Guillermo del Torro and director Andres Muschietti. And if you were to judge that statement based on the first 20 minutes or so of the film, I would have considered that statement to be accurate. However, as we all know, things are not what we expect them to be. Without going into much detail, The rest of the film strays from being a fresh horror movie and instead Delivers an unoriginal, predictable, and sadly disappointing movie.… Expand
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5
lukechristianscJul 21, 2014
From Horror Sci-Fi Film maker and producer Guillermo Del Toro presents Mama which is a good horror movie with class, fun but there is something not right about the horror movie its short and its just a same horror movie i think we all seeFrom Horror Sci-Fi Film maker and producer Guillermo Del Toro presents Mama which is a good horror movie with class, fun but there is something not right about the horror movie its short and its just a same horror movie i think we all see this before. Grade C-… Expand
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6
scythe8808Apr 28, 2014
I was actually pretty creeped out about this movie. This movie was dark and scary. The characters were developed really well. I thought the step mom and the kids did a very good job on acting. The problem is the over use of CGI of the mamaI was actually pretty creeped out about this movie. This movie was dark and scary. The characters were developed really well. I thought the step mom and the kids did a very good job on acting. The problem is the over use of CGI of the mama ghost. It was so crappy sometimes you start to laugh. The other problem is the ending. It was so **** Overall I thought it was a okay Pixar live action horror movie.… Expand
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5
DCEdmondsNov 13, 2014
"Mama" 10 Scale Rating: 5.0 (Average) ...

The Good: Great buildup with genuinely creepy moments. The subtle horror works well for the first three quarters of the film and yo wonder what is going to happen next. The antagonist (ghostly"Mama" 10 Scale Rating: 5.0 (Average) ...

The Good: Great buildup with genuinely creepy moments. The subtle horror works well for the first three quarters of the film and yo wonder what is going to happen next. The antagonist (ghostly "Mama") was interesting and a well done "monster" while still cloaked in secrecy.

The Bad: When all is revealed, it becomes more than a little silly. Especially when we get to see "Mama" full on. She isn't scary anymore, just bad effects and silly sounds. Jessica Chastain's character isn't very likeable. She changes for the better by the end of the film, but I couldn't stand her for the majority of it. Just another ghost story that can't quite carry the weight of it's awesome premise and build up.… Expand
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5
RobertOBrienJul 12, 2015
Mama has an interesting concept and a good set up. The movie definitely focuses more on the story than the scares, but the story is nothing that special. It's more developed and better paced than most other horror films, but it becomesMama has an interesting concept and a good set up. The movie definitely focuses more on the story than the scares, but the story is nothing that special. It's more developed and better paced than most other horror films, but it becomes predictable and there is no real tension. It just becomes slow and dull.

The film seems promising, but with it's lack of tension, dull story, no scares and absolutely horrible CGI effects, I would only recommend this if you're bored, and are looking for more of a supernatural drama, instead of a horror film. This movie just almost works, but falls short.… Expand
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6
kyle20ellisApr 16, 2020
This review contains spoilers. It's a bit of a clunker. The movie is shot very well, creepy dark gloom and one especially cool flashback. The acting is for the most part serviceable if not solid. Jessica Chastain in particular does well withThis review contains spoilers. It's a bit of a clunker. The movie is shot very well, creepy dark gloom and one especially cool flashback. The acting is for the most part serviceable if not solid. Jessica Chastain in particular does well with the material (better than the morose standing about and pouting we got to see from her in ZDT). The movie's story is standard stuff so dont expect anything big or game changing here. Though overall the movie is mediocre, the parts that are bad, are incredibly bad. One scene in particular stands out, In a dream world Luke (nicolai coster-waldau) speaks to a ghost who speaks in what could be one of the worst professional audio mixes in a decade. Another part of the film is the scripts use of characters. Luke as a character is unnecessary, he really does nothing and the film would have been more effective without him, which in turn would have given you a shorter and tighter film. As well the script has plenty of inane, why did this, or that doesn't make any sense, moments. Overall the film is alright, but I'd think twice about paying theater prices too see it.… Expand
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5
GregePorterAug 31, 2015
Bottom line: Pretty average horror movie: story is bland and odd technical decisions minimize the scariness.

Discussing horror movies makes me a little uneasy. How much can I reveal about the plot before I give away too much? Let me useBottom line: Pretty average horror movie: story is bland and odd technical decisions minimize the scariness.

Discussing horror movies makes me a little uneasy. How much can I reveal about the plot before I give away too much? Let me use the trailer as a baseline.

When the market crashed, a businessman killed his partners and estranged wife before running into the woods with his two children. The man's brother, Lucas (Coster-Waldau), an artist, has spent nearly all of his money looking for the brother and children. His bass-guitar playing girlfriend, Annabel (Chastain), doesn't really care about them nor does she want children. Upon discovery of the two, Annabel must battle the supernatural while adjusting to the new lifestyle of a...mama. After being lost for five years, who...or what...could have been taking care of the two children?

After watching Drag Me to Hell and Dream Home and reading them from an economic perspective, my initial inclination was to read Mama that way too. We have a bunch of economic concerns from the onset: the volatility of the market causes this horror, Lucas is spending all of his money searching for the children, on the meager salaries of being in a rock band and "drawing pictures" how could the two afford children, etc. But, this type of reading wouldn't really be fun for you if you haven't seen it too plus I would have to be worried about spoilers. Instead, let's look at some of the film's interesting mechanical choices. I am normally terrible with scary movies; even if they aren't scary, I imagine how they could've been scary. Mama, fortunately, was so not scary that I was OK and it makes me wonder why.

The first problem is that the monster is revealed too soon. For me, it isn't about the monster itself as much as the anticipation. I won’t describe the monster to you but you can see it in the trailer.
The second problem was an odd sense of timing with the sound effects. It always seemed like the sounds were a fraction of a second too soon or too late to get the effect across. I think I will devote a blog post about it soon. It is obvious that a jump scare isn’t just the music and it isn’t just the visuals but a combination of the two. If either sense is off, the effect will be compromised.

Without describing the ending, I will say that it is sad. I wasn’t surprised or shocked and it fits in well with an economic reading but it still didn’t make me feel good.

I was pleasantly surprised by Megan Charpentier’s performance of Victoria, the older of the two children. She isn’t loud or obnoxious or precocious. Go her. The other little girl is fine; she is too young to talk so she just crawls about.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend Mama. It doesn’t provide anything new or fun. It is, at best, mildly creepy and mildly thrilling. I suppose thrilling cannot, by the nature of the word ‘thrilling’, be mild so I just stick to mildly creepy. The acting and cinematography are all fine but, again, there isn't anything notable. If Mama was on your list of movies to see, you could do worse but if it wasn’t don’t feel the need to see it.… Expand
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6
manningn15Jul 31, 2019
This movie was really creepy and scary and is one of my favorite horror movies. The visual effects were really creepy and cool looking, Mama was so creepy and disturbing, I loved it but they were not totally real looking in some of the scene.This movie was really creepy and scary and is one of my favorite horror movies. The visual effects were really creepy and cool looking, Mama was so creepy and disturbing, I loved it but they were not totally real looking in some of the scene. The acting from Jessica Chastain, Isabelle Nelisse, Megan Charpentier, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Morgan McGarry. The ending was a little disappointing to me but overall it was a pretty good movie.… Expand
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4
amheretojudgeSep 12, 2019
Chastain has an electrifying guitar in her hand, too bad she never plugs it in.

Mama Muschetti walks over that beautiful thin line between art and commercial cinema. Now, serving and satisfying everyone's appetite with "something forChastain has an electrifying guitar in her hand, too bad she never plugs it in.

Mama

Muschetti walks over that beautiful thin line between art and commercial cinema. Now, serving and satisfying everyone's appetite with "something for everyone" attitude, the co-writer and director Andy Muschetti has managed to please a larger chunk of audience with his method. Personally, I never fall for his tricks or treats. Primarily, because in order to please everyone he isn't fully accepting any aspect of his fate, his world to be precise. It is a standard issue. His characters are always respected. Ergo, his actors gets a good amount of screentime that might as well be sent out straight to the Academy for their consideration.

And is also probably why it speaks to the audience the most. If there is a battle between the richness of the world and the complexity of the character, usually the characters that we see ourselves in, wins over by a larger margin. Only few iconic films like Blade Runner has managed to cut right across that theory arrogantly. And the result is evidently bombastic. But we are going off track.

Mama is the kind of a debut project coming from a filmmaker that puts all his ingredients in one pot. And I found the practical dilemmas, the court case, the family drama and the sincerity of the seriousness through which it shifts the responsibility of a sensitive element much more convincing. The first act is spent upon just introducing the characters and choreographing the subplots into a bigger picture. And that realization of "oh, this is that kind of a film" has its own joy in this horror. And if it nails the dysfunctional family- if we can still call it that- it completely takes the fifth amendment right on justifying the fantasy it is blended with. To add more troubles, it is not scary, the visual effects takes away the heat.… Expand
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6
atabeyordekciAug 18, 2021
After a young couple take in their two nieces, they suspect that a supernatural spirit named Mama has latched onto their family. (6)
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