A Short Cut Movie Review is normally less than 400 words, but in some cases may go slightly over. This is my attempt to keep writing about as many films as I see without getting bogged down with trying to find more to say. They are meant to be brief snapshots of my reaction to a movie without too much depth.
In horror and monster movies it is generally understood
that what remains unseen is far more frightening than what a director can show
you. Jaws is one of the most famous examples
of this. Steven Spielberg couldn’t use the expensive rubber shark through most
of the shoot due to technical issues. The result is a terrifying film because
our imaginations fill in the gaps, conjuring horrifying images of the terror in
the water. Since then almost every monster movie has attempted to repeat the
formula to some extent.
In Mama, a
ghost story written and directed by Andrés Muschietti and co-written by Neil
Cross and Barbara Muschietti, a spirit watches over two young girls whose
father went off the deep end and was about to take their lives before the ghost
whisked him away. The girls are discovered five years later living animal-like
in a cabin deep in the forest. Put into the care of their uncle Lucas (Nikolaj
Coster-Waldau) and his wannabe rock star girlfriend (Jessica Chastain) their
maternal spirit protector follows them, jealously guarding them from any
outside influence.
