Mama is upfront about what's in store: "Once upon a time..." it opens. Part horror movie, part fairy tale, it's not hard to see what Executive Producer Guillermo Del Toro (of Pan's Labyrinth fame) saw in this. At the same time, it isn't the horrific or the fantastical that won me over, but the characters and their relationships. This is a horror movie with some heart, with a cast that's so much more than the typical roster of ground beef for the horror movie meatgrinder. Enjoy MAMA Full Movie Download Absolutely free.
Mama Full Movie Download. Mama opens with a tragedy. It's unclear what truly happened, but the end result leaves two little girls lost in the woods with two dead parents. When their father's twin brother Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) finally finds them, they're emaciated, feral, but alive. Suddenly burdened with two very troubled children, Lucas elects the help of his girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain).
Mama Horror Movie Free Download. It's not long before their house is brimming with creepy sounds and bumps in the night. The two girls, Victoria and Lilly, dash around on all fours and leap out from the shadows. That's creepy enough, but it's clear that someone else has tagged along for the ride.
Being sold primarily on the name of its godfather, Guillermo del Toro, this Canadian-Spanish co-production from Universal is refreshingly mindful of the less-is-more horror guidelines employed by 1940s master Val Lewton, not to mention Japanese ghost stories, but the PG-13 rating might prove too restrictive for the gory tastes of male core genre fans. Still, less bloodthirsty female teens could make up the difference at the box office, as the film provokes enough tension and gasps to keep susceptible viewers grabbing their armrests or the arms of those next to them.
There's a marvelous scene about a half-hour into MAMA, which exemplifies what's best about the film and also points up what it could use more of.
Like all the works of Guillermo del Toro, executive producer and godfather of this one, MAMA functions as a dark fairy tale (even opening with an onscreen "Once upon a time..."), albeit here with the very modern inciting circumstance of the financial crisis. Panicked executive Jeffrey (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) has shot a couple of co-workers and his wife and whisks his tiny daughters out of their home, driving off into the snowy countryside to a likely unpleasant destination. Fate intervenes in the form of the titular specter, and the story jumps ahead five years to find Jeffrey's brother Lucas (also Coster-Waldau) continuing to back a search for his nieces, though his means of financing it have run out. The girls, now-8-year-old Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and 6-year-old Lilly (Isabelle Nelisse), are discovered in a rundown cabin in the middle of the woods, scampering about like animals and barely able to speak-their survival inexplicable, but a miracle for Lucas.
Download Mama Full Movie. Supernatural horror aside, Mama's strength is in its development of the two girls and their relationship with Annabel and their eponymous "Mama." The older girl, Victoria, quickly begins walking upright again, speaks, and grows fond of her adoptive family. Meanwhile Lilly struggles to adapt, finding comfort in the dark presence of Mama. Annabel, often left alone with this creepy pair, has plenty of motivation to dump Lucas and run for the hills, but shows her strength throughout the film. There are strong themes and character motivations at play here. These are easy characters to root for, and the drama between them is heartfelt. I'd go so far as to say Mama would be a more successful film if it downplayed the supernatural horror entirely.
The concept of feral children and the mystery surrounding Mama is genuinely creepy. The problem is when Mama starts to show her face more often. Cartoonish, distractingly bad CG interrupts a lot of what this film has going for it. It's unfortunate because there's little to no reason Mama couldn't be portrayed using practical effects. Less is more in most horror, and Mama is a glutton for showing you everything by the end.
The first act of MAMA, directed by Andy Muschietti and scripted by him, his sister Barbara and Neil Cross, based on the Muschiettis' much-admired short film, does a nice, teasing job of establishing both the touchy domestic situation and the supernatural mystery of the girls' caregiver. Victoria and Lilly were apparently looked after by a presence they call "Mama," whom Dr. Dreyfuss believes-on the surface, anyway-was conjured up in their minds as a defense mechanism. But Mama is soon manifesting in the new family's home, most notably in the terrific aforementioned scene: a long, static take in which Annabel stands obliviously in a hallway while evidence of Mama's presence plays out beyond a half-open door. With no music and little dialogue, it's a great creepy/suggestive bit in the classic ghost-story tradition.
After not very long, MAMA begins hewing to the more recent supernatural screen fashion, offering lengthier looks at Mama, who is not pleased about having her "children" taken away from her. Mama is played by Javier Botet, the tall, gangly Spanish actor who launched a thousand nightmares as "the Medeiros girl" in the [REC] films and is certainly well-cast here, though the compositing FX work used to insert him as Mama (with an unhealthy blue pallor and digitally distorted face and flowing hair) into many scenes tends to make him look more like a special effect than he actually is. He/she also didn't really need the loud blasts of music that accompany his/her subsequent screen appearances, and are part of a generally unsubtle score by Fernando Velázquez.
Mama Movie Free Download. The decision to go all out also takes a lot of credibility away from the ending. On paper it works as a nice bookend to this fairytale horror story, but the poor CG only brings to light some of the problems with Mama's origin and her connection with the children. That it ultimately boils down to an unnecessarily complicated ghost story really takes away from film's strengths.
There's a lot to like about Mama, moreso if you're oblivious to bad CG effects. If cartoon monsters still put chills down your spine then feel free to add another star to my rating and rush out to the theater. For me, it's the feeling of lost potential that really hurts this film. It has so much going for it, with well-developed characters that are so rare in horror, but squanders it all in the name of showing the audience everything. Mama Full Movie Download. It's an honest effort, though, and I hope to see someone take a page or two from Mama's playbook and make a better film.
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