A Well-Shot Horror Film

Rating: 9/10 (4 April 2013)

Mama is a horror film co-written and directed by Andrés Muschietti that stars Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau. The film is based on the Muschietti's Mamá,a Spanish language short film of the same title.
The film deals with the story of two young girls abandoned in a forest cabin, fostered by an unknown entity that they fondly call Mama, which eventually follows them to their new suburban home after their uncle retrieves them. When they are rescued years later and begin a new life, they find that someone or something still wants to come tuck them in at night. The day their father killed their mother, sisters Victoria and Lilly vanished near their suburban neighborhood. For five long years, their Uncle Lucas and his girlfriend, Annabel, have been madly searching for them. But when, incredibly, the kids are found alive in a decrepit cabin, the couple wonders if the girls are the only guests they have welcomed into their home.
It delivers good old fashioned scares without cheap gross-out and even moves us by its surprising and effectively executed lengthy climactic sequence.Also,it is very European in its direction, aesthetic and narrative that it possesses a strong, emotional core that will surprise those jaded by some of the lazier horror titles of late.There are lots of shocks but no real surprises in it.But inspite of the clichés and overly repetitive plot structure,it is a well-played, well-shot horror flick as it doesn't treat audiences as naïve fools.It may not be a masterpiece and it is still worth your time because of it and Chastain's presence in the film.