Review 2013 by RD Clark
Mama
Written by: Neil Cross, Andrés Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti
Directed by: Andrés Muschietti
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nélisse, Daniel Kash
Rated PG-13
Running time: 100 mins
A father flees with his two little girls and disappears in the woods. Five years later, the kids are found and brought back to live with their uncle and his girlfriend. Someone came with them, and it wasn’t Dad.
This is one freaking scary movie. Not blood and guts scary, not the cat jumping out of the hamper scary, but tense, moody, set you up and squeeze-your-bones-until-you-scream scary. (I think I screamed once, but no one heard; I had lots of company.) Beautifully filmed with a score that carried the tension without intruding on it, I was entranced throughout. Jessica Chastain carries the lead well, but is helped immensely by those two spooky kids.
I highly recommend this one, but I would not take very small kids; I would think they would have nightmares. I think I might. There is no post-credit nonsense, so motorvate once they run.
Flytrap rating: 9/10
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