On the surface “Mama”, the new ghost story produced by
Guillermo del Toro, has a number of things going for it. Two strong
leads—including a gothed-out Academy Award nominee in Jessica Chastain, and
“Game of Thrones” Nikolaj Coster-Waldau—a spooky, unsettling atmosphere, and
kids, which we all know are inherently creepy in a horror film. Unfortunately,
this never amounts to anything. Watching the movie, you look at the characters
and mutter, “don’t do that, don’t do that, don’t
do that. Oh look, you definitely went and did that.” You
spend most of the movie questioning why people do what they do, and being
frustrated on their behalf. Because why wouldn’t you check yourself out of the
hospital after waking up from a coma, drive deep into the woods, and visit a
creepy, ghost-infested cabin, all with no flashlight?
