31 Days of Horror! Mama Movie Review!





For today’s selection I have chosen a new movie that instantly became a favorite of mine upon viewing.  Written and directed by Andrés Muschietti, and based on his short film by the same name, Mama follows the story of two young girls who are rescued by an apparition after their father, who has suffered a mental breakdown and has already killed several people, also tries to kill them.  Having been taken to an abandoned cabin in the woods, the girls remain lost in the cabin for five years and are raised by this apparition they name Mama.  Their Uncle Lucas, however, has never given up the search for his brother and the two girls and we discover that he has nearly bankrupted himself by paying trackers to continue the search for him.  By sheer luck the men he has hired find the cabin and the near feral girls inside.

Mama is a slow paced story-based film and is not for those that are seeking gore.  It is instead atmospheric and fairy-tale based while you follow the tale of these two girls as they try to adapt to the civilized world and their new guardians.  Newly made parents Lucas and Annabel struggle to adapt themselves after taking on the responsibility of raising these two children and it isn’t long into the film that they realize that something has followed the two girls out of the forest.

Reminiscent of Japanese ghost stories, Mama doesn’t disappoint with the subtleties that are Mama.  We are posed with a mystery of how these girls survived, what took care of them for those five years and, more importantly, why.

Love it or hate it I for one thought this movie was wonderfully rendered with a solid story and just enough scares to keep you on your toes.  If you are into ghost stories then this one is for you.

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