M A M A

In all honesty, I consider myself a horror movie virgin. I never really considered that genre my bag...baby. I'm a lover of comedy and bad-assery, not movies that make me smell like bad ass (laying on puns thick up in here). So a few weeks ago, my heart was set on seeing Zero Dark Thirty, but for a variety of reasons, my friends and I were unable to sneak in and I was rejected from buying a ticket even though my 17th birthday was a day away. We discussed what we should do and my friend brought up Mama. I wasn't really that thrilled. Its not that I was being a wuss (I kinda was at first), but that I viewed paying to see Mama as a cop out. Eventually, I decided to join in and we got tickets to see the movie. I was wrong about it being a cop out.

Many have criticized Mama  for being a bit too cliche and not that scary, and I agree with them, but that doesn't make the movie bad. It was a stereotypical ghost/ monster story and the monster even hid in the closet and underneath the beds. I think that was more a homage to the typical monster convention than a serious plot move. Though the movie wasn't terribly frightening, the first hour was extremely suspenseful for me because I spun this elaborate illusion in my head in which the monster would indiscriminately attack everyone at almost every time.  That wasn't true, but the ghouls appearances were unexpected and frightening; well, until the last portion of the movie.

Creepy

By the last thirty minutes of the film, Mama's face was already revealed and as everyone knows, seeing the face of the monster almost immediately dissolves the power it once had because the true fear of a movie monster comes from the fear of the unknown. The fact that her face was revealed made the climax less tense and scary as the rest of the movie and diminished its importance. 

The one part of the movie that I thought was very excellent was the use of the two little girls who are essentially Mama's adopted children. Their dynamic was interesting as it led to some tense situations between the girls and other characters and made the audience more emotionally invested in the movies outcome. No one wants to see two little girls die or become perverted by Mama's evil influence, so their presence in the movie made the audience care just a little bit more.

Overall, I found that Mama was a pretty good horror flick and it is awarded a 4 out of 5.