Mama

A man takes his two daughters Lily and Victoria (who are aged 1 and 3 respectively) away from home, planning to kill them and then commit suicide, before he can do that however he is dragged away by an unknown entity and the two girls are left by themselves. 5 years pass and they are found by two men hired by the girls' uncle to find them. Lily and Victoria are placed in the custody of their uncle Lucas and his girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain). While in the house they're constantly showing animal-like behaviour which worries Annabel and there constant referal to 'Mama' is even more disturbing. A ghost story that- unlike many others that involve children- presents itself with real heart and genuine intrigue. I was really excited to see this film when I heard that Guillermo Del Toro and Jessica Chastain were involved and I was far from dissapointed. 'Mama' actually had me covering my eyes at parts because I was so scared, which I hardly ever do with horror films. I liked the ghost in this, she's a distorted version of her former self with elongated arms, legs, fingers and neck and a seriously bad attitude. If you had told me the ending before going to see it I wouldn't have believed you, I would think "no way they'd do that" and I'd be wrong, it was so shocking and weird and sad and slightly corpse bride-esque that I left the theatre with my mouth open in complete amazement at the ending, it really was a twist and with most horror films you can predict the ending before the film even starts so it was a nice surprise. Jessica Chastain as usual is brilliant and her character Annabel is extremely impressive, she starts off a bit cold towards the girls but she gradually starts to warm to them and by the end she's so determined to save them that she's willing to risk her own life, it was quite a sight! The only thing I would have liked more of, is the back story of Mama, they showed the important details but just delving a bit more into how she came to be this malevolent spirit would have made this film better- for me anyway, I think an extra 10 minutes dedicated to that would have opened the film up a bit more. Taken as a whole 'Mama' was thoroughly enjoyable, one of the better ghost stories in the last 5 years and one I'll definitely be buying on DVD.