Superb Psychological Horror

Rating: 8/10 (14 January 2015)

Mama is the story about two girls who have inadvertently been left alone in the woods to fend for themselves. Five years on, they are miraculously found alive and are rescued by a search party organised by their uncle. Unfortunately, as time goes on, it is evident that someone - or something - had been looking after the two children and that that something has been brought back with them.
This movie was excellent and it was just as good as I was hoping for. It started off really well, and kept a nice steady pace going throughout all the way through to the somewhat sad ending. It most definitely picks up in the last 40 minutes as well. I'll be honest and say that at one point, about halfway through, I thought it wasn't going to pickup or get much better than what it had up to then. Boy, was I wrong! Mama is a very creepy movie (yet at the same time quite sad as well) and the way the character of Mama was done was impressive. The movement for that character is reminiscent in parts to that of the "ghosts" in Ju-on and Ringu which just adds to the creep factor for me. Also, the way the CGI was mixed with live actors for Mama was done really well, which makes me wonder what movie was being watched by people who complained about it being "rubbish". For a movie that had an estimated budget of only $15m it was anything but "rubbish".
The performances were good all round, but the best by an absolute country mile were the two girls, Megan Charpentier (who played Victoria) and Isabelle NÃ©lisse (who played Lilly). They both brought a real believability to their characters with convincing performances showing two girls who, for five years, had to fend for themselves and then have to try and adjust to living in modern society.
Like I said earlier, this is an excellent film and I think it's the best horror/chiller I've seen since Sinister. If you love psychological horrors then I highly recommended Mama.