Not Flawless, But Better Than Average Horror

Rating: 7/10 (24 April 2013)

Annabel (Jessica Chastain) and Lucas are faced with the challenge of raising his young nieces that were left alone in the forest for 5 years.... but how alone were they?
I am very conflicted on this film. While overall I have to say I liked it, and thought it was one of the better horror films I have seen recently, it is not without its flaws. For one thing, I found Jessica Chastain as a punk rocker a bit hard to swallow (though she pulled it off better than Kristen Stewart trying to be Joan Jett). I also think that they showed the CG a bit too much. Not that it was terrible by CG standards, but one of the keys to a good monster is not showing it...
Those criticisms aside, this was a generally good film. The atmosphere was eerie, there were some good jump scares, the little girls (especially the younger of the two) were phenomenal actresses... and I am pleased they made this PG-13 rather than R because the focus was on the mood and not the language or sexuality (which would be quite inappropriate considering this is still basically a story about kids).
I loved the look of the flashback scene. The style was excellent. Again, I have to bring up the CG -- I would rather they never used any at all, but the people who did it made it look decent. Not perfect, but pretty good. Better than in other contemporary horror or fantasy releases.
The story of the doctor and his searches... that part left me unsure of how I felt. I got the impression that the heart and soul of the story is built around the two girls and the creepiness of the Mama ghost. The doctor seemed like he was added just to push it from a short film to 100 minutes. Not that this is a bad thing, but was it crucial? Was it maybe better as a short film? Hard to say.