An Original Story With a Contrived Plot, Awkward Horror Elements and Too Much Mama

Rating: 5/10 (22 April 2013)

This is a film with an identity crisis. It tries to be a horror film complete with jump scares and the usual horror elements, but Mama doesn't generate any chills or thrills. The titular character isn't frightening at all and we see way too much of her. The film should have alluded to her presence more, rather than showing her in all of her CGI glory. The middle hour of this film is incredibly contrived and convoluted and filled with cheap jump scares that overexpose the films villain. Mama also throws in a bit of dark fantasy and actually succeeds more with these moments. The last 10 minutes are beautiful and I wanted the rest of the film to match the finales visual and tonal poetry. I also think the film would have worked better in a period setting, which I felt similarly about in another Guillermo Del Toro production, "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark". So, if they tightened up the script, used a more subtle approach to it's monster and embraced it's dark fantasy potential Mama could have been great.