New director, old ideas

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2013)

Mama can be compared to the American horror movie "the ring". In its long static shots of suspense and excitement. But it does not deliver the same suspense that the ring created with the little girl. I myself am afraid of scary little girls more than scary little ... mamas.
It opens on a scene of the father of these little girls taking them from their home saying "mommy is not feeling well and we gotta go." Driving through the snow at a very high speed. The father seems easily agitated and scared.
Driving way to fast he falls off the road and his car hits a tree. Somehow he and both his little girls survive and they are walking in the woods alone until they see a cabin in these woods.
Something is wrong. He has a gun pointed to the little girls head about to shoot. Something comes out of the darkness and takes the father. It stops. We then see the fathers brother and his girl friend.
The uncle of these girls wants to find them. He has hired people to find them. When they finally find them they are in bad shape. The girls crawling on all 4's inside the same cabin seems a tad bit silly and you almost want to laugh instead of feel scared.
It then kicks off what is about to come with Mama and the little girls.
The movie will take you on a suspenseful ride wondering what is next. Very similar to the ring in which once you finally find out what this thing is it loses all its scary appeal. At that point the movie breaks down and by the end you are wondering why didn't you just wait til DVD.
Mama will provide some good scares. They are not cheap and are well displayed on camera. Like most movies in this genre once they show what the thing is everything that was once scary loses its once freaky appeal.
2.5/4