Doesn't quite fulfill its potential

Rating: 6/10 (30 January 2013)

Some businessman goes crazy, kills his business partner, goes home, kills the wife, takes his two daughters with him. They crash down a snowy hill and walk in the woods till they find some abandoned hut. He tries to kill himself but doesn't have the guts so he decides to kill his older daughter instead but something grabs him.
Years later, his brother still pays folks to look for his nieces. He is somewhat of a loser, drawing cartoons while his girlfriend is a bass player in a band. Eventually the girls are found and handed to him for custody, although some rich aunt of the girls wants them too. The girls are wild and underdeveloped, especially the younger girl. They do all sorts of creepy stuff at home. Not long after, a ghost has followed them home, a ghost they call Mama. It lives in walls or in large moths. At some point the guy flies down the stairs and ends up in a coma. With him gone this movie is basically all about the ladies- surprise, surprise.
There is some psychiatrist treating the girls who discovers the secret of Mama, she was a nun who had a kid and pursued by the town jumped down a cliff. This movie tries to explain a lot regarding the ghost but fails to explain why she terrorizes people. One good explanation ends up being discarded for some reason. It is a surprisingly scary movie and has a few good jump-out-of-your-seat moments. Chastain's character is excellent, a true rockers chick that doesn't care all that much but will go through a transformation. Chastain herself looks lovely here. The performances are very strong in particular of the older girl, Megan Charpentier. Direction is good but flawed. The look is of your typical Spanish ghost story- overly gray. With this cast and crew and the good basics of a story a lot more could have been done and better.