'Mama' - Impressive start but burdened with ho-hum finish!

Well, by now, most of my readers know what I think about PG-13 horror films; chances are, they stink. The trend continues here and while 'Mama' starts out impressively enough, it falls predictably into the same trap that all recent PG-13 horror films spiral into.

'Mama' begins impressively enough, being executive produced by Guillermo del Toro, I had high hopes for the potential. Directed by first timer Andres Muschietti, based on his 2008 short (which was far better), the beginning is dark, moody and often very creepy; but by the second act, the film collapses into standard haunted house scare tactics and a very confusing as well as mind numbing plot.

A distraught stock trader, during the recent financial collapse, kills his wife and then takes his young daughters to a cabin in the woods where he is planning a murder/suicide. Right before he is about to pull the trigger, something grabs him from the shadows and drags him away. The girls are left on their own, where for 5 years they grow up in this haunted cabin, being raised by the spirit that saved them.

The girls, now 8 and 6 are discovered in this cabin and bought back into the world to live with their father's brother (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, wasted here) and his girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain, obviously a movie made before 'Zero Dark Thirty' and she needed the cash). Annabel is anything but the mothering type and soon recognizes that something is terribly wrong.

And it is at this point that the movie goes wrong. Instead of focusing on the girls and their assimilation into the world as well as the potential possession or the spirit that haunts them; the movie spirals down into standard haunted house fare. With cheap jump out at you 'BOO' scares and 'You've got to be kidding me' moves from the main characters; 'Mama' wastes a perfectly good start to become just another standard PG-13 film. The final act is the total demise of the film as it is rushed, incoherent and seemingly thrown together just to end the film. Jesica Chastain does give a powerful performance despite the rotten script and the little girls are equally creepy as they are cute; too bad that couldn't have been taken advantage of.

This 2 star effort is a great short film, but a terrible feature film!