Film Review: Mama

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Andrés Muschietti, drama, entertainment, Guillermo del Toro, horror, horror movie, Jessica Chastain, mama, mama review, movie reviews, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, two little girls

Film Review Mama

Guillermo del Toro latest offering Mama is a supernatural horror movie about a mothers love. When businessman Jeffrey (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) kills his wife he flees with his two small daughters Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lilly (Isabelle Nelisse). When their father disappears the two little girls are left alone in a run down cabin deep in the woods, well nearly alone.

Five years later the children are found living of berries and insects, completely feral and obsessed with an invisible presence they call “Mama”.  When a child psychiatrist takes an interest in the unusual case Victoria and Lilly are sent to live with their uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his goth-rock-chick girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain).

While Annabel is struggling to come to terms with being a “mother” strange happenings around the home become more and more frequent. “Mama’ seems to have moved in with the girls, confusing Victoria and pulling the two sisters apart.

In 2008 Argentinean director Andrés Muschietti made a terrifying short about two girls trying to flee from their demonic mother. In Mama he expands the theme but sadly cannot hold the tension.  It is the age-old problem of how much to show the viewer. While Muschietti does make his audience uneasy in the earlier parts of the movie, when they finally see Mama it all falls apart. The free floating, puppet like figure is too puppet-like to instil actual fear and the battle of the mum’s just feels to forced.

Jessica Chastain does lend a bit of gravitas to the Annabel, however she never does seem to really exude the rock-chick vibe. Overall all characters seem quite one dimensional, their relationships sallow and even the “heart-string” moments are a little to bland.

The much-hyped Mama is another horror film that just doesn’t quite pull it off. A few scary moments, a couple of creepy corridor shots and the odd paranormal activity and a few interesting ideas does not a good film make and even less one that warms a true horror fans heart.

Film review: Frankenweenie

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3D, animation, Atticus Shaffer, black and white, Charlie Tahan, entertainment, film, Film Review, Frankenweenie, horror movie, stop-motion, Tim Burton

‘Disappointing’ may be the first word popping into your head after seeing Tim Burtons latest animation film “Frankenweenie”,  ‘boring’ may be the second followed closely by the question: “What has happened to the Wizard of Odd and his usually interesting and surprising ideas?

Frankensweenie is a feature length remake of Burtons 1984 short and tells the story of geeky outsider Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) and his only friend, his dog Sparky. When Sparky is run over by a car Victor uses is scientific nerdiness to bring him back to life, but the joy of having his friend back is soon overshadowed by the surprising events that follow.

When Victors classmate the unpopular and very odd looking Edgar ‘E” Gore (voiced by Atticus Shaffer) finds out about Sparkys revival he wants his very own un-dead playmate. One invisible fish later and a chain reaction of creature creating occurs. And like any good old-fashioned monster movie there is a damsel in distress, an unsuspected hero and a happy ending.

Frankensweenie is a beautifully produced film and the black and white cinematography is stunning, however the 3D effects feel unnecessary.  The characters are unmistakably Burtonesque and play homage to all the great horror classics but the storyline is weak and very safe, often a little dull.

This stop-animation is not really suitable for children as the humour is quite dark and the charming slapstick scenes and horror film references are too adult oriented.  Burton is not at his best with Frankensweenie, and no matter how big a feast for the eyes this animation may be it does not make up for the lacklustre plot.