Mama

No love for this Spanish-Canadian horror film (starring Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster Waldau) out in cinemas right now? (Having said that, I'm going to check Wikipedia to see if the US release date was delayed for some reason...[EDIT: Nope!])

Based on this original short horror film, the director Andrés Muschietti teamed with Guillermo Del Toro to make a full-length picture.

Trailer:

It's not without narrative or pacing problems, but it's a truly excellent piece of horror. I heartily recommend it.

edited 17th Mar '13 1:25:46 PM by pagad

No one else saw this?

I did! I thought the three main actors — the girlfriend, the uncle, and the older girl were great. My two issues were the predictability of the script and the CGI ghost chick.

The most effective moments for me were ones where Mama's presence was implied—when you saw the daughter taking off her glasses, and the image of the younger one floating near the ceiling. The flashes, the hints. It's far less creepy when you actually see her. Personally, in horror movies, I prefer it when the ghost is human and just has some added effects or heavy costuming, like Samara, the Pale Man (not a ghost but creepy as fuck), or the sack boy from The Orphanage.

I wish there had been a little more freshness regarding the plot. I hadn't seen Ringu when I saw The Ring, so the plot was new to me. While I knew there had to be something after they found the girl's body, the son's "AAAH! WHY DID YOU HELP HER?!?!" was an awesome face slap. The most intriguing aspect was the ghost raising the kids as her own and being the reason they survived. It just felt like everything after that was predictable from 30 minutes away.

Certainly not a bad movie, but it didn't stick with me.

edited 25th Mar '13 3:27:03 AM by Phoenixflame

I haven't watched it, but the test footage they had of the actor (who has Marfan's Syndrome) approaching the camera while moving unnaturally was amazingly creepy. No CG at that point, just a little minor wire work, and the actor still made the character seem to be floating and flowing across the floor.

The way the ghostie moved was cool (when it wasn't...uh...hair surfing), I just thought the face was not very scary. But then, nothing's as scary as what you can make up in your head.

Having looked at the test footage, WTF, why couldn't they have kept her, without all the CGI? That test footage was twenty times creepier than the film. I don't mean that as any disrespect toward people with Marfan's, as she was acting.

edited 25th Mar '13 8:05:45 PM by Phoenixflame

Point of trivia: the actor in question, Javier Botet, also portrayed the demonically-possessed girl at the end of [REC].

And... apparently he can keep his hat on.

http://www.elmundo.es/suplementos/magazine/2009/527/1256839370.html

edited 26th Mar '13 7:30:33 AM by FuzzyBoots

And, for those curious, an article with the motion test.

Phoenixflame: Did you watch the original short? I'd be interested in your opinions of the SFX used in that vs. those used in the full-length feature, given that Mama herself gets far less screentime.

O_O;;

YES. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..dge. That part where she suddenly sped up was awesome. I would've tweaked the costume/face a teeny bit, but having a more subdued SFX approach made it far creepier.

I realize it's just my opinion, haha. I just don't find it scary when it's Attack of the Scary Computer Monster. Sometimes CGI can be done SO well that my mind stops making the distinction, but that's something like Gollum-level. CGI accouterments (like giving a ghost wavier hair) makes perfect sense, but my level of creeped-out drops a lot when it's totally CGI-ed over. Like, the zombies in 28 Days Later were way more exciting than the mutant vampires in I Am Legend.

edited 26th Mar '13 3:28:10 PM by Phoenixflame

I have to say I don't really have much issue with the CGI in the full-length film (I really liked how it quoted the short!). It still had the power to terrify me, at least - if I think about Mama at night, when it's dark and quiet, I consistently manage to scare the shit out of myself. The way she moves!

Something George RR Martin once said about how good horror combines beauty with the grotesque - it really resonated with me with this film. Horror, yes; tragedy, certainly. But that last scene when Mama dives off the cliff with Lily and they explode into thousands of butterflies really had a melancholic beauty to it.

edited 29th Mar '13 2:26:45 PM by pagad