Mama

Synopsis:  Offscreen, a man kills several of his business partners and his wife and then runs away into the woods with his two little girls.  He prepares to commit murder suicide but at the last moment is killed by a strange presence in the cabin.  Mama!  Five years later, the girls are found by their uncle living ferile in the cabin and are subsequently put under the care of a psychiatrist, who agrees to recommend the uncle and his girlfriend as the childrens' legal guardians - as long as they agree to move into a special home where he can monitor their progress.  They all agree to this, but it quickly becomes apparent that Mama has also come along for the ride!

So, why did we pick this movie for last Sunday's movie night.  Very simple.  Kev hates the scary ones and jumps like a girl!  It really adds to the fun when you have someone in your company who hates and loves the scary movies with equal passion.  And if the volume of Kev's jumps is any measure of success, then this movie is a triumph!

The Director, Andres Muschietti - extending his earlier short film into a feature - is sure-footed throughout and makes very effective nods to a number of other genre films which obviously inspired him (from Rear Window, through Repulsion, to Ringu and beyond).  This leads to a very thoughtful and beautiful looking movie with significant visual punch.  There is very little gore and the scares are delivered more through good old fashioned "boos" which are high in atmosphere than spatter.  And with that in mind, the scares do indeed come a mile a minute, with the movie remaining unnerving for almost its entire running time.

The movie was produced by Guillermo Del Toro which by itself raised the interest of our group of movie lovers.  While not on a par with his previous supernatural productions such as "The Orphanage", it's a solid and creepy movie which delivers great scares and quite a few emotional hooks, especially the ending.  If anything, it is only let down by an over reliance on CGI over practical effects.  A focus on the latter would have led to a more understated film, which in my opinion would have raised it from very good to great.  But if you fancy a few jumps with the lights down low, this one comes recommended.