Mama knows best

According to horror films, there’s nothing cute about little girls and I whole-heartedly agree, after all … I was one once!

Newcomer director Andrés Muschietti doesn’t just focus on maternal issues (hence the title Mama) in this film, he also makes you surprisingly frightened of a six-year-old little girl and her nine-year-old sister. OK, they’re not exactly The Shining’s Grady sisters, but they will still make you fearful every time you turn a corner.

I’ve been waiting for a scary movie that will actually keep me up at night. My favourite subgenres are exorcisms and ghosts and I was glad this film focused on the latter.

Although consistently creepy, the film was rarely frightening and if it wasn’t for the young girls it would have fallen below mediocre in its efforts to scare the audience. There were some moments that made me jump thanks to dark figures lurking in the shadows, but by the time the movie reached the ending it shifted from a horror story to a dark children’s fairytale with, might I add, a ridiculous conclusion.

Although the scare material had fizzled out by the end, most of Mama was still disturbing and had me checking my closets and under my bed before I went to sleep.

It starts with Games of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jeffrey who escapes to the woods with his daughters after going on a killing rampage for reasons unknown.

After a car crash they wind up in a cabin in the frozen woods. Just as Jeffrey is about to kill the children and then himself, a mysterious, unearthly force lurches out of the walls and disposes of him, saving the two girls … you guessed it – it’s Mama!

Cue the opening sequence where the audience is given details of what is happening through the children’s drawings … and it is apparent that someone (or something) has been raising these girls.

Five years later, Jeffrey’s twin brother Lucas (also played by Coster-Waldau) is still looking for the girls while his eccentric, gothic girlfriend Annabel plays the bass in her rock band.
Once the girls are finally discovered, they are scampering about like animals and barely able to speak … setting the pace for the rest of the movie. However, even after they leave, it seems Mama isn’t ready to let her children go.

They move in with their uncle and Annabel isn’t too thrilled with the sudden shift from rocker to mother.

She soon suspects that the girls were not fending for themselves all those years and that Mama, an entity the girls are seen talking to through the walls and in their cupboard, has joined them in her home.

Although the character of Mama loses her fear factor as the film goes on, the audience finds out about her back-story and why she was driven from the afterlife, which helps because scary movies usually have unanswered questions.

The cinematography in this film is excellent. The locations and tight spaces created engaging scenes, great camera work and eerily dark moments throughout.

Annabel carried the movie in between the calm and scary moments. She isn’t meant to play a likeable character and she did annoy me in the beginning but after the first 15 minutes I started sympathising and routing for her.

The young leads, Megan Charpentier (Victoria) and Isabelle Nelisse (Lilly), were fantastic. As the eldest, Charpentier was tasked with being the conflicted sister, torn between her life with Mama and her past, she was great at showing her character’s vulnerability.

However, Nelisse created the creepiest scenes. Her wild-child acting must have been enhanced with special effects to create more animalistic movements, but she embraced her character enthusiastically. Regardless of the ending, the film still had its frightening moments that were reinforced by the eerie stares of the young actresses. Yes, it has its flaws – but it will still have you sleeping with a night light on.

*Showing in Cineco, Seef II, Al Jazeera Cineplex and Dana Cinema