Good scares, lack of everything else for the most part.

Rating: 5/10 (6 November 2013)

I think it is hard for me to review a horror film. Much like comedy, horror depends on it ability to elicit a specific reaction from its viewer, and sometimes it seems as if this reaction is dependent on the viewers own tastes, or perhaps the state that they are in. I found Mama to be truly terrifying at times (even though the horror tapers off at the end), and I suspect that most viewers will feel some of the fear that I did. Unfortunately, most of the terror is balanced with a dumb story, characterless characters, and a tendency to show too much toward the end.
"Mama" is the story of two sisters found in a cabin in the woods after being lost for years. Their father had brought them to the cabin after killing his wife, and planned to murder the children along with killing himself. He never gets the chance though, as he is soon dispatched by a mysterious entity. The uncle of the children, Lucas (Coster-Waldau), has kept up hope of finding his brother and the children, eventually a group of hunters he hires to comb the woods finds the children alive but feral. After some pop psychology, they move in with their uncle and his girlfriend, Annabel (Chastain), where it soon becomes apparent that some malevolent force has followed the children out of the woods.
One of the better aspects of the film is the relationship between the two sisters. The older sister, Victoria, is able to more readily adapt back into normal life and drop her previous feral attitude. She also becomes more attached to her adopted family, and more wary of the entity that the two sisters refer to as "Mama." Her younger sister, however, is more unwilling to adapt to modern life and sees Mama as a protective and motherly force, drawn to it instinctively almost. This sets up a lot of what happens in the film, and the dynamic serves the movie well. But, they spend too little time on this relationship; instead focusing on other characters or strains that ended having little interest to the story itself.
Perhaps the main reason to see this movie is because of the scares, of which there are plenty. The entity, and even the younger sister, moves in a terrifyingly fast and disjointed fashion. The action to these scenes are rightfully kinetic and the sense of fear is real. There are also some disconcerting scenes, that are not scary, but off-putting. The camera work all around is well done during these horror moments, there was real sense of space to the house and the every character was framed well. All of this said, the horror did die down toward the end. The decision to show the entirety of the monster was a mistake, as my horror at contorted figure changed to mild amusement. Further, the story itself made some of the decisions made by Mama appear odd or just downright stupid.
The acting by Chastain is horrendous, as her character is played as stiffly as possible and her connection to the children is more or less ham-fisted. Further, besides the sisters, every character is uninteresting. Annabel is shown earlier in the film rejoicing at the fact that her pregnancy test was negative and more or less lived a care free lifestyle in rock band. This should have set up some tension when her boyfriend decided to adopt these kids. But it doesn't. In a hilariously bad scene, Annabel sits with her band mates and explains that she has to quit the band (it is never stated why, since she really does not do much). One of the band member retorts that she could just leave her boyfriend. But no, she loves him too much to do that. And that is that, no tension, no drama, I guess she will do anything or drop anything for the one she loves. There is no reason why Annabel is the way she is, and has no depth of character whatsoever, making her eventually warming up to the children hollow.
"Mama" is probably one of the better contemporary horror films out there, and is worth a watch if you like the genre. Unfortunately, it is brought down by too many pitfalls that other horror movies find themselves in. There are good elements here, scary moments, good camera work, and some convincing acting by the sisters. It just feels unfinished or rushed.