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MAMA

What You Need To Know:

In MAMA, the father of two little girls, Victoria and Lilly, kills their mother and drives deep into the country with them. After crashing over an embankment on ice-covered roads, they get to a shack in the woods. As the father prepares to shoot his eldest daughter, he’s attacked and killed by a ghostly being. The girls spend five years in the cabin with the creature, called Mama. When they are found, they look like Gollum in LORD OF THE RINGS. Efforts are made to restore them to civilized society. Their uncle and his live-in girlfriend get custody. The jealous ghost joins them, living in the walls and coming out just often enough to keep the tension level high.

It’s bad enough that filmmakers would present little girls as murder targets of their father, and then, being reduced to living and behaving like animals. Worse, it’s almost beyond belief that parents would let their daughters play such parts. MAMA has ample violence, some foul language, and a pagan occult worldview. It also has almost every cheap horror movie trick known to man.

Content:

(PaPa, OO, L, VV, S, MM) Strong pagan, occult worldview with the title character being a nasty ghost who half succeeds at the end by [SPOILER ALERT] convincing one girl to go with her but not another girl; six obscenities and two profane uses of the name of Jesus; strong often scary violence includes a man shoots his wife (off screen), he prepares to shoot his daughters, and ghost kills several people and injures others; unmarried couple shares bedroom and begins to fornicate before being interrupted; no nudity; some drinking, some smoking; and, anger, revenge, children abandoned for five years behave like animals, and considerable frightening imagery and music.

More Detail:

Some people like to ride roller coasters for an adrenaline rush. Some get a rush from horror shows. MAMA attempts to give horror addicts their rush with every cheap horror trick in the book.

The movie opens with news of a national financial disaster. The father of two little girls, Victoria and Lilly, kills their mother and drives deep into the country with his daughters. After crashing over an embankment on ice-covered roads, he gets his daughters to a shack in the woods. As he prepares to shoot his eldest daughter, he’s attacked and killed by some sort of ghostly being.

The girls spend five years in the cabin provided for by the creature, whom they call Mama. When they are found, they look and move more like Gollum in LORD OF THE RINGS.

Efforts are made to restore them to civilized society. Custody of the two girls is awarded to their uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his live-in girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain). They are provided a large two-story house to work on the children’s restoration.

However, “Mama” joins this budding new family, living in the walls and coming out just often enough to keep the tension level high. It turns out she lived in the 1800s and died trying to escape an asylum with her baby. She continued to haunt people, growing uglier as time goes by, because of the injustice done to her.

Any reasonable viewer would wonder why people trying to solve the mystery always search alone at night with flashlights (a great recipe for getting killed). Even worse, after several hellish experiences in a haunted house, the “heroine” continues to sleep there alone night after night. It’s almost as silly as repeatedly going to see horror shows. Of course, Mama’s full ugliness is reserved for the climax. Through most of the movie, you only get to see enough of her to justify the obligatory spooky music. It seems as if half the movie is just people in hallways or near closets threatened by a “surprise” visit from Mama.

The worst thing about the movie is that two very young girls were put in such horrible roles. It’s bad enough that writers, producers, and directors would present little girls as murder targets of their father reduced to living and behaving like animals. It’s almost beyond belief that parents would let their daughters play the parts. For the money spent on this travesty, these little girls could have been cast in something family-friendly and uplifting.

There is an audience for horror movies. Several come out every month. Some are more successful than others. What doesn’t come out often enough are uplifting family movies (many of which are very successful when they do come out). However, it probably takes more talent to create a quality family movie than another formulaic horror show like MAMA.

That said, MAMA has ample violence, some foul language, and a pagan occult worldview. Finally, it seems to contain almost every cheap horror movie trick known to man. Horror movie fans, much less the average moviegoer, won’t be impressed.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.