Mama (2013 film)

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Mama

Theatrical release poster

Directed by Andy Muschietti

Produced by J. Miles Dale

Barbara Muschietti

Screenplay by Neil Cross

Andy Muschietti
Barbara Muschietti

Story by Andy Muschietti

Barbara Muschietti

Based on Mamá
by Andy Muschietti
 Starring Jessica Chastain
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Music by Fernando Velázquez

Cinematography Antonio Riestra

Edited by Michelle Conroi

Production Toma 78
company De Milo Productions

Distributed by Universal Pictures

Release date
 18 January 2013(United States)
 8 February 2013 (Spain)

Running time 100 minutes[1]

Country United States

Spain

Language English

Budget $15 million[2][3]

Box office $146.4 million[3]

Mama is a 2013 English-language Spanish[4][5][6] supernatural drama horror film directed and co-
written by Andy Muschietti and based on his 2008 Argentine short film Mamá. The film
stars Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse as two young girls abandoned in a forest
cabin, fostered by an unknown entity that they fondly call "Mama" (Javier Botet), which
eventually follows them to their new suburban home led by two adults (Jessica
Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) after their uncle retrieves them. It was produced by J.
Miles Dale and co-writer Barbara Muschietti, with Guillermo del Toro serving as executive
producer. Originally set for an October 2012 release, it was released in theaters on 18 January
2013. [7]

Contents
[hide]

 1Plot
 2Cast
 3Production
 4Reception
o 4.1Critical reception
 o 4.2Box office
 5Accolades
 6Sequel
 7References
 8External links

Plot[edit]
Distraught after losing his fortune in the 2008 financial crisis, stockbroker Jeffrey Desange kills
all of his business partners, his employees and estranged wife before taking his children, three-
year-old Victoria and one-year-old Lilly, away from home. Driving dangerously fast on a snowy
road, Jeffrey loses control and the car slides down the mountain, ramming into the woods and
breaking Victoria's glasses. Surviving, he takes the children into an abandoned cabin. Planning
to kill his daughters and commit suicide, he holds a gun to Victoria's head, but a shadowy
figure kills him. The girls, huddled by the fireside, are tossed a cherry by the mysterious figure.
Five years later, a rescue party, sponsored by Jeffrey's identical twin brother Lucas, finds
Victoria and Lilly alive, but in a feral stateafter years of isolation. The girls are put in a welfare
clinic under the psychiatric care of Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss. They make reference to "Mama", a
maternal protector figure. The girls are initially hostile to Lucas but Victoria recognizes him after
he gives her a pair of glasses and she can see him properly. Dreyfuss agrees to support Lucas
and his girlfriend Annabel's custody claim against the girls' maternal great-aunt, Jean Podolski,
as long as Dreyfuss is allowed to monitor the progress of the girls. Victoria acclimates quickly
to domestic life while Lilly retains much of her feralness (language regression, growling, lying
on the floor), not being used to being around people.
While in bed with Lucas, Annabel is startled by the appearance of a monstrous figure. Lucas is
attacked by "Mama" and is put into a coma. Annabel, who is uncomfortable being around the
girls, finds herself left alone to care for them. Although Annabel makes progress with Victoria,
she finds Lilly hostile. Alarmed by nightmares of a strange woman and Victoria's warning about
Mama's jealousy, Annabel asks Dreyfuss to investigate. He initially thought "Mama" to be an
imaginary alter-ego of Victoria; however, his research corroborates Victoria's story that Mama
is an aggrieved mother and brings to light the story of Edith Brennan, a mental asylum patient
in the 1800s.
Dreyfuss recovers a box from a government warehouse containing a baby's remains. Annabel
has a nightmare revealing Mama's past: when Edith Brennan ("Mama") was sent to St.
Gertrude's Asylum for an unknown reason, her child was taken from her and given to nuns.
She escaped the asylum, stabbed a nun and took her baby back. Fleeing her pursuers, Edith
jumped off a cliff but before hitting the water below, she and the child made impact with a large
branch. Edith drowned but the child's body snagged on the branch and did not fall with her into
the water. Annabel realizes that Mama still hasn't realized her child died from hitting the tree
and didn't understand why her baby wasn't in the water with her; in her distress, Mama
unsuccessfully searched the woods for her child for more than a century until she discovered
Victoria and Lilly, taking them on as substitutes.
Lucas regains consciousness after a vision of his dead brother, Jeffrey, tells him to save his
daughters. Victoria's growing closeness to Annabel makes her less willing to play with Mama,
unlike Lilly. Dreyfuss visits the cabin and is killed by Mama, with Annabel taking some of the
objects relating to Mama, including the body of her baby. Annabel and the girls are attacked by
a jealous Mama, who kills Jean, who gas been watching the house, and uses her body to spirit
the children away in Jean's car. Annabel and Lucas find the children on the same cliff where
Brennan leaped with her child to their deaths over a century earlier. Mama is preparing to re-
enact her fall with Victoria and Lilly.
When Annabel offers Mama the remains of her child, Mama's appearance changes, becoming
more human, and she starts sobbing at the baby's death. However, when Lilly (remembering
only Mama as her original parent, since she was abandoned in the woods for most of her life)
calls out for her, Mama reverts to her monstrous form and takes the girls again, nearly killing
Annabel and Lucas, but refraining mainly because Victoria cares about them and does not
want them hurt. Annabel clings to Victoria, who asks to stay with Annabel instead of leaving
with Mama, which Mama accepts. After a tearful farewell, Mama and Lilly fall off the cliff,
turning into a shower of moths when they hit the branch. Mama and Lilly are shown as spirits
happy to be united while embracing and smiling. Annabel and Lucas embrace Victoria, and
Victoria notices a bright blue moth landing on her hand, indicating that Lilly is still with her in
some form.

Cast[edit]
 Jessica Chastain as Annabel
 Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Lucas Desange / Jeffrey Desange
 Megan Charpentier as Victoria Desange
 Morgan McGarry as Young Victoria
 Isabelle Nélisse as Lilly Desange
 Maya and Sierra Dawe as Young Lilly
 Daniel Kash as Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss
 Javier Botet as Mama
 Laura Guiteras as Mama (Voice)
 Melina Matthews as Mama (Voice)
 Hannah Cheesman as Beautiful Mama / Edith Brennan
 Jane Moffat as Jean Podolski / Mama (Voice)
 David Fox as Burnsie
 Julia Chantrey as Nina
 Elva Mai Hoover as Secretary
 Dominic Cuzzocrea as Ron
 Diane Gordon as Louise

Production[edit]
The film began production in Pinewood Toronto Studios on 3 October 2011. Production ended
on 18 December 2011. Parts of the film were also shot in Quebec City, Quebec. Although the
film was produced in Canada, it is based in Clifton Forge, Virginia. The film was initially
scheduled for release in October 2012, but was later rescheduled for January[8]to avoid
competing with Paranormal Activity 4. Its success at that later date has, among with
other dump months horror films, convinced studios to start opening horror movies year-round.[9]

Reception[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
Mama received generally positive reviews from critics; it currently holds a 64% rating on Rotten
Tomatoes based on 154 reviews. The site's consensus states: "If you're into old school scares
over cheap gore, you'll be able to get over Mama's confusing script and contrived plot
devices."[10]
Richard Roeper, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, enjoyed the film, giving it three stars out of
four and saying, "Movies like Mama are thrill rides. We go to be scared and then laugh, scared
and then laugh, scared and then shocked. Of course, there's almost always a little plot left over
for a sequel. It's a ride I'd take again."[11] Owen Gleiberman, reviewing for Entertainment
Weekly, gave the movie a B and said, "Mama lifts almost every one of its fear-factor visuals
from earlier films: the rotting black passageways that spread like mold over the walls
(very Ringu meets Repulsion); the crouched figures that skitter and pounce à la the infamous
'spider' outtake from the original Exorcist; the way that Mama, with her arms like smoky-
shadowy bent tendrils, evokes both the monster from the Alien films and also, in a funny way,
the crumpled-puppet gothic mischievousness of Tim Burton animation. Nothing in the movie is
quite original, yet Muschietti, expanding his original short,[12] knows how to stage a rip-off with
frightening verve. It helps to have an actress on hand as soulful as Jessica Chastain..."[13]
IGN editor Scott Corulla rated the film 7.3 out of 10 and wrote, "This is a fine first film for
director Andrés Muschietti and, despite some missteps and disappointments, very well could
be a harbinger of interesting things to come for the helmer."[14] The Huffington Post wrote, "With
Del Toro's name up front, expect Mama to be the winter horror film of choice in 2013."[15] The
Philadelphia Inquirer called the film an "effectively spooky ghost story", adding, "Mama is full of
arty tropes – sepia-toned flashbacks, flickering lights, menacing murmurings. The atmosphere
is positively spectral. And it's easy to see why del Toro is a champion: Like his Pan's Labyrinth,
there's a fairy-tale aspect (the film even begins with the title card "Once upon a time..."), with
children in jeopardy, a witchy monster, and edge-of-the-precipice confrontations."[16] Canyon
News wrote, "The scares do indeed come a mile a minute and will unnerve even some of the
toughest moviegoers."[17] Mick LaSalle of the Houston Chronicle wrote, "Director Andres
Muschietti is cinematically literate – in one example he borrows a flashbulb effect
from Hitchcock's Rear Window – and he has visual panache. Much of the movie is surprisingly
beautiful."[18]
Box office[edit]
The film earned $28,402,310 on its opening weekend, debuting at #1 and playing at 2,647
theaters.[19] As of 4 April 2013, it grossed $146,428,180 worldwide and is a commercial
success.[3][20] Additionally, Jessica Chastain, for the second time in her career, claimed the top
two spots of the box-office with her starring roles in Mama and Zero Dark Thirty'".[21]

Accolades[edit]

Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.

[22]
Saturn Awards Best Horror Film Mama Nominated

Best Leading Young Actress in a Megan

Nominated
Feature Film Charpentier

Young Artist Best Supporting Young Actress in a Morgan [23]

Nominated
Award Feature Film McGarry

Best Supporting Young Actress in a

Isabelle Nelisse Nominated
Feature Film
 [24]
MTV Movie Award Best Scared-As-Shit Performance Jessica Chastain Nominated

People's Choice [25]

Favorite Horror Movie Mama Nominated
Awards

[26]
Best Horror Mama Won

Universal
Golden Trailer Best Motion/Title Graphics Nominated
Pictures
Awards
[27]

Universal
Best Horror Poster Nominated
Pictures

Sequel[edit]
In February 2013, it was reported that a sequel was in works.[28] In January 2016, Universal
announced that duo Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch would rewrite and direct the
sequel.[29] Chastain would not return for the sequel.[30]

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ "MAMA (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 2012-11-29. Retrieved 2013-04-
28.
2. Jump up^ Fritz, Ben (17 January 2013). "Horror movie 'Mama' to top new Schwarzenegger,
Wahlberg films". Los Angeles Times.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Mama (2013)". Box Office Mojo.
4. Jump up^ Chang, Justin (15 January 2013). "Mama". Variety.
5. Jump up^ Rolfe, Pamela (17 April 2013). "Bittersweet Results for Spanish Box Office in First
Quarter". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
6. Jump up^ Tartaglione, Nancy (5 May 2013). "Studios Translate Local Language Movies Into
Lucrative Global Business". Deadline. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
7. Jump up^ http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/15925/tamil/mooch/index.htm
8. Jump up^ Trumbore, Dave (10 August 2012). "Universal Shuffles OBLIVION, Ron Howard's
RUSH and the Guillermo del Toro-Produced Horror Film, MAMA; THE PERKS OF BEING A
WALL FLOWER Pushed Back". Retrieved 11 August 2012.
9. Jump up^ Alexander, Bryan (1 October 2013). "Who killed the Halloween horror
movies?". USA Today. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
10. Jump up^ Mama at Rotten Tomatoes
11. Jump up^ Roeper, Richard (16 January 2013). "Mama". Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago: Sun-
Times Media Group. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
12. Jump up^ https://www.youtube.com/mamathemovie
13. Jump up^ Gleiberman, Owen (25 January – 1 February 2013). "Mama". Entertainment Weekly.
New York: Time Inc.: 98.
14. Jump up^ http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/17/mama-review
15. Jump up^ "'Mama' Trailer: Jessica Chastain Stars In Year's Scariest Film?
(VIDEO)". Huffington Post. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
16. Jump up^ Rea, Steven (18 January 2013). "Mama: Every Adoptive Parent's Nightmare". The
Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Media Network.
17. Jump up^ Anderson, LaDale (17 January 2013). "Mama Is Spine-Tingling Scary". Canyon
News. Beverly Hills, California: Glen Kelly.
18. Jump up^ LaSalle, Mick (18 January 2013). "HORROR – Mama is Disturbingly
Entertaining". Houston Chronicle. Houston, Texas: Jack Sweeney. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
19. Jump up^ "Weekend Box Office Results for January 18–20, 2013". Box Office
Mojo. Amazon.com. 2013-01-21. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
20. Jump up^ Boardman, Madeline (20 January 2013). "Weekend Box Office: 'Mama' Takes The
Number One Spot". Huffington Post. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
21. Jump up^ Corliss, Richard (21 January 2013). "The Chastain Perfecta: Mama and Zero Score
While Arnold Stands Down". TIME (magazine). Retrieved 17 February 2015.
22. Jump up^ "'Gravity,' 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Lead Saturn Awards Noms".
23. Jump up^ "35th Annual Young Artist Awards". Young Artist Awards. Archived from the
originalon 20 July 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
24. Jump up^ "2013 MTV Movie Awards". MTV (MTV Networks). Retrieved August 25, 2016. Note:
Click on the 'Winners' tab.
25. Jump up^ People’s Choice Awards 2014: The winners list
26. Jump up^ "Golden Trailer Awards 2013". Retrieved August 28, 2016.
27. Jump up^ "Golden Trailer 2013". Retrieved August 28, 2016.
28. Jump up^ Wiseman, Andreas (February 20, 2013). "Universal to build on Mama success with
more co-pros". Retrieved January 29, 2016.
29. Jump up^ Kit, Borys (January 28, 2016). "'Mama' Sequel in the Works from 'Starry Eyes'
Filmmakers (Exclusive)". Retrieved January 29, 2016.
30. Jump up^ Sneider, Jeff (January 28, 2016). "Jessica Chastain Not Expected to Return for
'Mama 2' as Sequel Takes Shape". Retrieved January 29, 2016.