Mama (2013)

I have watched a LOT of horror movies, and it is always a genuine pleasure to come across a truly original and creepy movie that has not been over hyped. I am not a big fan of slasher movies like Halloween, or torture porn like Motel and Saw. But love a good supernatural horror. And this is one. The acting is first class, especially the two child leads, who are convincing and disturbing at the same time. The story line is original, which is no mean feat in itself, and there are some very creepy and scary moments. The ending is a little drawn out and over wrought , but that is excusable given the It would be hard to give a synopsis without giving anything away, but if you enjoy excellent supernatural horror you really should check this out. I can't believe it's taken me 5 years to come across this. It gives me hope there are still more out there to find.

***I'll tell you right now, I didn't care for the ending....***Anywho, Mama was a pretty decent movie. I felt it was a very different and unique storyline and it had a few scary parts. I do feel it deserves a sequel and possibly a better look for Mama. The character didn't look as scary to me or as good as the scary characters in other movies. Again, this is just my opinion. Definitely watch this movie.

So in all honesty, I'm picky about my horror. If the film implies there's a monster it had darn well better be a monster, I don't care of it's Godzilla or something more paranormal. Seems to me these days 'horror' is less about those things and more about the scary thing being the product of mental illness or just some creepy but ultimately human thing. Or on a Saw level just blood and gore and guts and not anything else that's actually scary.This is where I wish there were more movies like Mama. It's a perfect balance of yes, there is actually a monster combined with the perfect amount of jump scares in just the right places. Not so many as to make them less effective over the course of the movie, but enough to keep you on edge as to where the next one might be.On top of that it involves children being the creepy ones in addition to the monster, and children being creepy always just seems to add to the scary factor of a movie.This has become one of my favorite horror movies over the years, one I keep turning to as a prime example of what the horror genre should be.

This movie starts with a long sequence of drawings that are fairly bizarre and then we are hit with the plot of the show which is enticing. Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse's performance throughout the movie is gripping and professional, a lot of people will recognise Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as dastardly Jamie from Game of Thrones but he is out-acted here (but he is good in his role as well as Jessica Chastain.The story is fairly slow for a lot of audiences and there aren't any particular 'jump scares' that are thrown at the audience, there are lots of subtle hints in there and important parts that build up to what I thought a good finale. A lot of people I feel will struggle to understand the ending and with the slow build up if they haven't got into that I can imagine that the ending will leave people feeling they want more. Not your typical horror movie but as a fairly modern horror I thought it was interesting and worthy;Pro Negative + Emotional Ending - CGI Looks Dated + Solid Acting - Story Can Be Slow + Less Cliche Than Other Horror Flicks