Mama (2013) [Movie Review]

I'll start out by saying that I don't like horror movies, mainly because the plot lines are always so thin. Mama was hardly an exception. 

So, the film starts with Jeffry (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) taking his two daughters Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lilly (Isabelle Nélisse) who is still a baby, and preparing to kill them, then killing himself. After his car goes off the edge of a cliff, the three find refuge in an abandoned house. Jeffry then pulls out a gun, and gets ready to shoot Victoria, but just before he has a chance to pull the trigger, a mysterious figure comes from behind and drags him away. Flash forward 5 years, Jeffry's brother, Lucas (uhh... Nikolaj Coster-Waldau...), along with his girlfriend Annabell (Jessica Chastain), is still searching for his brother and nieces. Obviously, a group finds the crashed car, then the house, and the kids inside. The kids have lived 5 years with no human contact, except the creature in the house, who is the only family Lilly knows. So, the kids are taken to a psychiatric clinic, under the supervision of Dr. Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash) who helps Lucas and Annabell with getting custody of the children. Then comes the extremely predictable story-line. Everyone slowly finds out more and more clues about this Mama figure, and then the characters confront her, and movies done.

A rather boring film, with a premise that has been done many, many times. Having Lucas and Jeffry played by the same person seemed like a lazy casting option. They were meant to look the same, but I don't think they were supposed to literally be the same person. And god, so many decisions made by the characters made no sense. Why walk miles to find a house to kill your family in? Oh well, if you like horror movies, maybe check this out, but I'd give it a pass.

Rating: 6/10

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Discussion topic: Possibly a morbid topic; what do you consider the best course of action for a child too far gone (Like Lily in this movie, who grew up with no human contact)? The ones that, no matter how much time and effort into, nothing can "fix" them.