Mama...
Er, I mean..
MEOW!
Up to a point, MAMA is a fun moviegoing experience. There's a reason why horror films should truly be experienced in the comfort of a cold, dark, creaky movie theater (with, of course, a yellow light up above in order to see the notes that you take while watching the film).
It's refreshing to see a horror film that not only doesn't use the shaky cam as a filmmaking gimmick; it's also refreshing to see a horror film that doesn't follow the found-footage formula that began with The Blair Witch Project. That doesn't mean anything, however, if the film doesn't succeed on its own, pretending she's beside it (I will stop creating Les Miserables references for the remainder of my reviews). For the most part, it does stand on its own two creepy feet. Even if the film does have a fair amount of horror-movie cliches, there's still some room left open for a couple of genuinely surprising moments. For instance, the character of Annabel (Jessica Chastain) notices a closet that is slightly opened. This leads to the ever-so-popular phrase shouted by an audience, simply titled, "DON'T YOU DAAAAARE OPEN THAT CLOSET!" But a couple of seconds later, nope; she actually closes the closet instead. Well-played. At times, the film can be very well-crafted. There's one shot with Lily (Isabella Nalisse) playing with the Mama herself in the bedroom, while Annabel is out in the hallway attempting to do laundry, and it's a terrific use of the one shot; it shows what you can get away with when it comes to filmmaking. As with all of the horror films being released today, the use of sound is quite impressive here, and while it follows the traditional jump-scare formula, it's still a formula that works wonders to scare the dickens out of us. There's also a nice homage to a short of the same name that this film is based on, which can be found in the parentheses here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRqS6pBC42w see if you notice any similarities). So, the first two-thirds follow horror-movie cliches, but they work well to its advantage. The acting is fine by all involved, and whatdoyaknow? No gore at all! How excellent is that?
Then we get to the last third. This is a trend that I've been noticing with a couple of horror films lately, namely with something like The Last Exorcism. It starts off relatively strong and does what it can to the genre's audience, but once it gets to the last act, it's almost as if another writer has taken over and screwed everything up. MAMA is one of those films, only this time, the writer is trying too hard to make the ending both ambiguous and satisfying at the same time. The result is something out of what I like to call a confusing stew of stew-pidness. Also, are we supposed to feel emotional at the end? It certainly would've toyed with my emotions brilliantly had there been more development between the characters and more sense in its storytelling. I guess you can't have every film be like that, no matter how hard you believe it to be.
MAMA is a predictable-yet-fun horror film almost entirely spoiled by a confused ending. Come on, guys. How hard is it to craft a satisfying ending for a horror film nowadays, huh? Still, if you're going to boo at such a dismal ending, at least boo with an audience. And let me tell you, along with The Woman in Black, this IS an audience film. See it with a scared audience, and at night if you can. Without an audience, it's a high rental at best.
Until next time,
Mama...
Er, I mean, MEOW!
P.S. Guillermo, I eagerly await Pacific Rim with enthusiastic anticipation.
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