Accepting Responsibility

Rating: 6/10 (3 May 2016)

My favorite part--or theme--of Andres Muschietti's Mama, a fairly standard screecher with more-than-average emotional weight, is watching Jessica Chastain's character get her hard shell chipped off trying to bond with two little girls who have had a 5-year stint in a cabin in the woods with a 130 year old ghost with the maternal instinct of a female grizzly.
As the movie progresses, I found myself falling into an appreciative love with Chastain's Annabel. She's all angry rock bassist tattoos sort of Goth makeup cleavage keep your hands to yourself you piece of crap. And her boyfriend, the girls' uncle, Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau, isn't much help because Mama decides it would be a hoot to damn-near kill him in a stair-fall, thereby putting the guardianship on Miss Goth.
Chastain is so angry about having to care for the kiddies--who brought the ghost with them to a university residence (but didn't sign an insurance waiver!)--but when pushed, she starts to channel a little gristliness herself.
I just liked her courage. Even though it's a horror movie, the humanity of Annabel shines through.
What was disappointing was the pat ending, the final fight for the lives and souls of the two girls and the inevitable hint of a sequel. What would have made Mama a complete emotional satisfaction would have had Chastain reasoning with and winning over the ghost, a Spanish actor named Javier Botet (no, I'm not getting bogged down in pronouns, so just read on), and convincing her to accept her loss, believe that God will forgive her sins, and let go.
I know that would have not been anywhere near as intense as the ending in the film, but it would have said something for the power of forgiveness and reason.
Yet, Mama managed to elicit from me what a good scarer should--I had to leave the lights on and cuddle with the chihuahua.
"Dude, let me go! I have cat food to eat!"