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The film's ability to juxtapose heartwarming moments of the girls bonding with Anna or adjusting to normal life with jump scares and creepy imagery makes those scary moments all the more terrifying.
The horror short the film is based off, due to the inhuman looks and movements of "Mama," the total lack of explanation of what is happening, and the younger of the girls trying to flee getting caught by Mama as the other girl shuts the door on her.
How about the fact that Mama isn't confined to her own movie? In Andy Muschietti's next film, It (2017), Pennywise the clown takes the form of Edith to scare Stan.
Wanna not sleep ever again from Behind the Scenes? Just watch the The movement test, and you'll see how much unnerving the movie could've been if Javier Botet had played the part entirely practical and live. Thanks to his condition, Botet's screening test as Mama proves FAR more disturbing than the overly CG Mama used in the final film. Just the way he makes liberal use of his condition with Abnormal Limb Rotation Range, especially when he makes like The Exorcist and gets down on all fours and crawls at the camera, and the cherry on top being the dress and creepy-as-all-hell mask he wears. Not to mention the eerie music and black-and-white grainy throughout the entire footage, which just compliments the disturbing nature of it. Once you see it, you can understand why Muschietti (and likely the test audiences and executives) ended up bringing Mama to life via CGI, because Botet's performance was just too good that they likely didn't want to traumatize the audience.
, and you'll see how much unnerving the movie could've been if Javier Botet had played the part entirely practical and live. Thanks to his condition, Botet's screening test as Mama proves FAR more disturbing than the overly CG Mama used in the final film. Just the way he makes liberal use of his condition with Abnormal Limb Rotation Range, especially when he makes like The Exorcist and gets down on all fours and crawls at the camera, and the cherry on top being the dress and creepy-as-all-hell mask he wears. Not to mention the eerie music and black-and-white grainy throughout the entire footage, which just compliments the disturbing nature of it. Once you see it, you can understand why Muschietti (and likely the test audiences and executives) ended up bringing Mama to life via CGI, because Botet's performance was just too good that they likely didn't want to traumatize the audience.