MOVIE REVIEW - Mama

Jessica Chastain has the top two movies at the box office, and Mama is leading the way with a big opening weekend.

Up front, this movie is creepy.   Finally a movie that is supposed to be scary, actually is.  There is also a certain higher level to this movie.  This is not attempted bloody, violent flick.  I think it's the combination of superior writing, the lack of any real violence, and the presence of Chastain.

Mama is the story of two young girls ages 3 and 1.  They are abandoned in a very remote cabin in the woods after their father kills their mother in 2008.  Their father drives them to this cabin and is going to kill them, until he meets his won demise at the hands of a supernatural power inside the cabin.   That spirit is Mama.

Flash forward 5 years, and the cabin is discovered and so are the little girls, alive in the cabin and in deplorable condition.   How have they survived all this time?  They were protected by this spirit for all those years.  They then are rescued from this terrible situation, and reunited with their uncle and his girlfriend Annabel (Chastain).  After a string of strange events, Annabel finds herself an unqualified single mom of sorts, trying to raise these two troubled little girls.  

Problem begin a  jealous ghost, Mama, has followed the girls and is bent on killing or at least terrorizing anyone who would come to try to love the girls.   Mama is a cunning entity who lurks in the shadows, and makes herself present only when she feels the need.   She wants to protect the girls and eliminate everyone else. But who is Mama? And why all this?

This movie is extremely well done, and has a great story to tell.  I know, there have been tons of ghost movies and how is this different?  It's written better, and it wasn't handled like a typical young audience slasher flick.   It is not a slasher flick, in fact the violence is more implied than anything else.  Mama puts you on a slow burn for many scenes that are highly compelling.  There are also a side story that really adds to this movie and it's not just a ghost scaring a bunch of nit-wits in a house like most movies.  

Chastain is very good in this role as an over-matched single mom of sorts, with virtually no maternal instinct.   You can feel her terror as she tries to come to some kind of understanding of these strange little girls, and this horrible ghost within the walls of her home.  This movie does have some good special effects, but is not reliant on them.  They add to, no make the movie.  What makes this movie good, is the story, some star power, and the willingness to be above the easy way out.  This is certainly no sell out.

Mama. I liked a whole lot of this movie.  Well done, scary, and a real jolt.