Mama (2013)

 Diabolique Magazine Jan/Feb 2013 #14 is an capsule in time like most magazine issues. In this one we start off with an article by Colin McCracken talking about the "From Final Girl to Final Cut". The article which uses the Final Girl as seen through modern horror as a means to talk about the increasing role of women in horror both on and off the screen. Seeing horror as a flexible format that allows for growth it is presented as a format that allows diverse roles for women that they may not get in other genres.

The second article is about the film Mama (2013) which includes interview information from Guillermo Del Toro as the executive producer about how he tried to be as hands off as possible while new director Andy Muschietti and writer wife Barbara Muschietti worked on bring their story to life.

It reads both as a support for the younger film makers who need their agency in turning their short into a feature but also as a way to write it off if it does not turn out well. I am going to assume their were only good intentions in this setup.

The article continues with an in depth look at finding the right actor to play the ghost of Mama and the inspiration for the monster design. The paintings of Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani were one such inspiration and they then filled the role to play the ghost with Javier Botet, known for his lanky six foot nine inch body. He had recently done the creature you see in the closing scenes [REC]. Capable of the odd angle disjointed movement they were looking for the actor fit right in as the Titular Mama.

The story itself where a Father of two small girls kills a couple coworkers and then their Mother and then takes them away eventually crashing his car and ending up in a cabin in the woods. The early scene works to get you to understand how two children survived in cabin without adults for quite a while before being discovered. It also introduces a supernatural dynamic essential to the overall story. It is a good start.

There is this thing I am hoping for when I see a film it has to do with the feel of the script. Every script has information that needs to be shown or told through exposition. I am looking for how smoothly this happens in the film. It can be clunky where the scenes in the sequence don't smoothly flow from one to the other showing us what we need to know but in a disjointed storytelling. It can be smooth where you don't notice the story development while it is happening, instead you are seeing the characters and the they are pulling you along in the story. It is not forced as the character traits come through until the second act starts we have learned the nature of the story organically. In Mama there is a decent job of this mostly but to put pressure on the young couple adopting the girls in the story they need to inset this courtroom custody angle that felt out of place. Still it is not horrible and maybe they did not need this angle at all but it is there. It continues being a bit clunky with the development of Anabelle's character (Christine Chastain) as a punk rocker married to the brother, Lucas of the girls father who the children are placed with. She never wanted this and it gets us to the second act but plays out like , this happened, and this happened. It might be the lack of developing Lucas's character that causes this juxtaposition. I realize that this is more Anabelle's story arc we are exploring. A young woman who may not want to be a Mother must learn what it means to save the girls from a vengeful protective spirit. It is just that is not organically driven enough for me. 

The second act is the act of discovery in the film. More information about the girls time in the woods and the history of the cabin come to light to add depth to the story. The explanation of the ghost who latches onto the children and really kept them alive in the cabin for the years that they were there is welcomed in the second act. The film assumes ghosts are real from the start which is necessary for this story. It's a bit slow going in this film and again a bit clunky feeling like the director wanted to tell the story but also had to fit in a growing sense of disease and several jump scares. Increasing the violence of the ghost Mama as the kids more away from her and start trusting Anabelle.  Again like the structure of the film was more important than the storytelling. It does however get us to the third act where the character transformations happen. The girls, the creature and the Anabelle's transformation from unengaged punk rocker to protective Mom play out in a really grand finale.

Do I like this film? Just like the first time I reviewed this in June of 2013 yes. It is a bit flawed in fitting the pieces together but it tells a cool story, explores how motherhood is not always by choice or smooth for those participating but ends with the assurance that love and commitment can change the outcome for those in the relationships. So even in rewatch overall I have a decent but not great appreciation for this film. Watch it and decide for yourself.

So if you are interested in having the Issue #14 that includes the article on Mama get in touch. My Letterboxd.com handle is @Hovey1127, when I am done with the Issue of the magazine I will offer it up and we can work out the details of me getting it to you. I am not really looking for money just someone who also would love to read it. If no one wants it well it will probably end up on a magazine rack at the library or something.

Chatting with me is difficult, I have stopped my social media account years ago because time… it’s ticking at my age and I would rather spend it doing other things like this for example. Or chatting with my friends at the Zombiegrrlz.com podcasts on their discord. I am a fan of the podcasts they publish The More Deadly Podcast and the Zombiegrrlz podcast and as a Patron for very little $ I get access to the discord. So if you want to good horror content and a great horror community check them out. You can also find me on the Here's Johnny Podcast and  Faculty of Horror Podcast discords. Look them up join my online friends for some good conversations.

Mara (2018) Horror Demon

 Mara (2018) Since my lovely daughter and I are cooped up at our homes during this Coronavirus crisis and all sports are cancelled, our normal riffing conversations are taking a hit. So we decided to take turn picking films to watch when apart and talk about in our calls. This is the first on of that series of films. If you want to play along we are moving onto "The Color of Space" next, so watch, come back to the blog and leave a comment or send us an email at movies@edhovey.com. We would love to here from you. Where to begin with this one?  Well with the public awareness growing about the subject of sleep paralysis there was bound to be a movie, and particularly a horror movie using it as a centerpiece. The Nightmare came out about the subject in 2015 and since then the growing awareness has made stories of everyday people's sleep paralysis a less taboo subject. Mara capitalizes on this by having the creature that comes in the night be a demon who uses sleep paralysis to get it's victims. Written by Jonathan Frank and Director Clive Tonge it is a story heavy on expository dialog to show us a tail about said creature. According to IMDB this film is director Tonge's first feature and Frank also with a shorter resume has a 40 million dollar film(reportedly filming) coming about a giant tsunami hitting Los Angeles. The writing on this film is okay but the nature of the story forces some labored exposition dialog that become a bit of a muddle at times. Not that it was not attempted within in character rants and doctor jargon, it is just that because they are really making up an urban legend that entire story, with its ancient history to modern day implications needs to be relayed to the audience and there was a lot to cover.
  The story centers around Kate Fuller (Olga Kurylenko) a young to the job forensic psychologist brought in to get a small girl, Sophie (Mackenzie Imsand) to talk about a horrific night in which her Father was killed. Her Mother Helena (Rosie Fellner) is being held for the murder but claims that a sleep demon name Mara is actually responsible for the death. Body actor Javier Botet is the demon in question. He is experience having worked as the creature of dozens of features.  Kate makes the mistake of promising Sophie she won't have her Mother committed to an institution but has to break the promise after coming under pressure from the detective McCarthy (Lance E. Nichols) who is running the investigation. Kate has a background where she too lost a parent at an early age and so has a strong desire to fix the mistake she made in the case by conducting her own investigation away from the police.
  This investigation leads to a couple rather lengthy, fill the audience in scenes, one with Dougie (Craig Conway) a victim of sleep paralysis who through a support group is trying to convince the world that the demon exists. He seems angry and a not but we learn because Mara has already targeted him he is forcing himself to sleep only 20 minutes at a time. When Kate interacts with him is fills in a long history of the monster and sets the rules the film going forward. There is a lot in these interactions probably on purpose there is a bunch of babble about the records that mention the creature. It is certainly also a purposeful move to not have all the rules worked out, leaving the question why is the creature going after these people. The second is with the doctor, Ellis (Mitch Eakins) who leads the support group, he is the science counterbalance to Dougie's crazy conspiracy theory. He gives his own description of what sleep paralysis is and how it operates as well as questioning the demon theory from a science point of view.
  As Kate gets more and more involved in the story she starts having sleep paralysis and seeing the demon. But why? Well, that is all about the third act, as Kate closes in on trying to solve the mystery before the creature kills little Sophie we get the promised scares a horror movie should have.  The final act works out the pieces that are missing earlier on in the film. I don't know if I really loved this movie, hell liking it is a stretch for me. It was okay, some things worked and others felt clunky. It also was not my favorite ending but I suppose they felt they needed something more than just saving the day.So I will reserve a recommendation for the film but that probably won't stop my 20 readers from looking at it.