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"Mama" discussion here...

The Ü™

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Saw this movie today and decided to create a new thread to keep it separate from the Last Stand thread. (And maybe we'll actually discuss The Last Stand here.)

This film was executive produced by Guillermo Del Toro, which means, he had no involvement in the film whatsoever aside from his name in the "presents" credit instead of the more conventional "Universal Pictures presents" credit.

Speaking of being unconventional, it seems to have become a cliche that is particularly obnoxious in the horror genre, which makes Mama another worthy contender of a Rev'Ü™, because what seems to be happening with the ghost stories of today is that while they have strong atmosphere and genuine scares (yes, jump scares qualify), they sell it out for a twist ending after teasing us with a more conventional ending that would've ultimately worked better.

While the twist ending in this film isn't nearly as bad as some twist endings in similar movies (like The Woman in Black and Sinister, both quality scary movies until the epilogue with either a mediocre shocking ending or a mediocre happy-ish ending), it's really getting old. Being unconventional has become so annoyingly conventional now, and it's amazing how a five-minute final scene can subdue the impact of the rest of the film, perhaps because it tries too hard to be scary but ultimately fails. And with Mama, it defecates over what could've been a perfect ghost story. In its case, it wasn't scary, it was just dumb.
 

jcloudz

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Saw this movie today and decided to create a new thread to keep it separate from the Last Stand thread. (And maybe we'll actually discuss The Last Stand here.)

This film was executive produced by Guillermo Del Toro, which means, he had no involvement in the film whatsoever aside from his name in the "presents" credit instead of the more conventional "Universal Pictures presents" credit.

Speaking of being unconventional, it seems to have become a cliche that is particularly obnoxious in the horror genre, which makes Mama another worthy contender of a Rev'Ü™, because what seems to be happening with the ghost stories of today is that while they have strong atmosphere and genuine scares (yes, jump scares qualify), they sell it out for a twist ending after teasing us with a more conventional ending that would've ultimately worked better.

While the twist ending in this film isn't nearly as bad as some twist endings in similar movies (like The Woman in Black and Sinister, both quality scary movies until the epilogue with either a mediocre shocking ending or a mediocre happy-ish ending), it's really getting old. Being unconventional has become so annoyingly conventional now, and it's amazing how a five-minute final scene can subdue the impact of the rest of the film, perhaps because it tries too hard to be scary but ultimately fails. And with Mama, it defecates over what could've been a perfect ghost story. In its case, it wasn't scary, it was just dumb.

ok, how do you know guillermo del toro was not involved? how did the ending suck?
 

The Ü™

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ok, how do you know guillermo del toro was not involved? how did the ending suck?

Because an executive producer has very limited involvement in a movie; Del Toro was neither director, writer, nor producer -- as the exec, he just did the legal shit. And why don't you go see the movie and see for yourself?
 

jcloudz

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Because an executive producer has very limited involvement in a movie. And why don't you go see the movie and see for yourself?

i love horror movies, but one thing i cant stand is sitting through something that ultimately being disappointing...say like "the happening" which was not so happening..that m night shyamalan. give me this, did it suck as bad as m night shyamalan movie?
 

The Ü™

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i love horror movies, but one thing i cant stand is sitting through something that ultimately being disappointing...say like "the happening" which was not so happening..that m night shyamalan. give me this, did it suck as bad as m night shyamalan movie?

The Happening was a comedy. This is a horror movie.
 

Totenkindly

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Because an executive producer has very limited involvement in a movie; Del Toro was neither director, writer, nor producer -- as the exec, he just did the legal shit. And why don't you go see the movie and see for yourself?

Here's where you are making no sense: the ending was TOTALLY a Del Toro move and suggests he was more heavily involved. If he hadn't been, I expect the movie might have been more conventional either with the sappy "everyone is happy" ending or the "everyone dies" ending. Instead we got... something different.
 

Totenkindly

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i love horror movies, but one thing i cant stand is sitting through something that ultimately being disappointing...say like "the happening" which was not so happening..that m night shyamalan. give me this, did it suck as bad as m night shyamalan movie?

I think U has different sensibilities than most. I consider it far better than the second half of Shyamalan's career, but it's not as good as Sixth Sense or Unbreakable. (The Happening's opening 5-10 minute sequence was pretty amazing. Then the movie just congealed into a big ball of ****. The ending was pathetic.)

I covered this in the other thread where the discussion began. The movie has a lot of "creep" moments that reminded me of Asian ghost flicks. It's openly manipulative in spots, but it still manages to scare at times. The plot itself is kind of thin -- characters just do stuff, sometimes they aren't consistent, the aunt is a sketch of a character, the shrink is kind of a waste, etc. The best parts of the movie are the various scares... and the best scares in the movies I think are watching the feral girls. The younger one creeped me out, not just in how she'd move around the house but how she'd interact with Mama. Just creepy stuff. And if there was one authentic thing in the movie, it was how the sisters related to each other, especially when the older one started to attach back to people and the younger one did not; their relationship and interactions seemed very authentic to me.

I don't really plan to rewatch it, but I don't regret seeing it. Maybe it's a movie that would be best served on Redbox or something, where you're not paying $10 a ticket.

I think Mama was created mostly with puppets and also by using an actual human being with Marfan Syndrome, with some computer-doctoring of the image. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfan_syndrome. I'll have to confirm that, but this review (a fair one) says it was a guy...http://www.vulture.com/2013/01/movie-review-mama.html
 

sprinkles

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I haven't seen it but I always just want to cuddle the tragically scary things. Like Sadako from the original Ring. Her father killed her and chucked her into a well so she had a right to be pissed off.
 

Totenkindly

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I haven't seen it but I always just want to cuddle the tragically scary things. Like Sadako from the original Ring. Her father killed her and chucked her into a well so she had a right to be pissed off.

I didn't see the original. In the American version, it was her mom who chucked her in the well; then, Rachel goes out of her way to save her from eternal unrest and what does she do? Continue her unholy reign of terror. She was a very pissed off little girl. Rachel gave her sympathy and it didn't fix anything.
 

sprinkles

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I didn't see the original. In the American version, it was her mom who chucked her in the well; then, Rachel goes out of her way to save her from eternal unrest and what does she do? Continue her unholy reign of terror. She was a very pissed off little girl. Rachel gave her sympathy and it didn't fix anything.

In the original there was a way to placate her, it was copying and sending on the tape. If you did that, you were spared.

The same thing happens there except when the deaths continue, the one girl who survived put two and two together and realized that what saved her from death was that she copied the tape and sent it to somebody.

Edit: this is true in the remake as well, now that I remember.
 

Totenkindly

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In the original there was a way to placate her, it was copying and sending on the tape. If you did that, you were spared.

The same thing happens there except when the deaths continue, the one girl who survived put two and two together and realized that what saved her from death was that she copied the tape and sent it to somebody.

Edit: this is true in the remake as well, now that I remember.

Yeah, but I don't consider that reasonable or forgiving. That's still a reign of terror -- to have your pnly refuge be to place others in the role of potential victim, it just expands her victim base, potentially.
 

sprinkles

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Yeah, but I don't consider that reasonable or forgiving. That's still a reign of terror -- to have your pnly refuge be to place others in the role of potential victim, it just expands her victim base, potentially.

Nah. I think she would just want connection in the form of sharing her pain. Yeah, somebody dug her up and hugged her bones, but really she wasn't there - she was still alone.

I don't think the tapes would have been a cry for help. It's not exactly forcing anyone into anything until they watch the tape, and if they brush off her feelings contained therein by ignoring it, it's then that she becomes angry and kills the person.
 

kyuuei

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I always wondered if two people were stuck in the situation anyways--couldn't they just set up something so that they send each other the tape back and forth? Or did it have to be a different person? Did it only save you once to do that, or every time you did it? :shrug: It was all really vague with the conditions and standards.

Anyways, while I am too broke to see this movie right now, I am looking forward to it being at the showboat drive-in theater since I get in that one for free :D
 

swordpath

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Looked like another generic and cliche neo-horror film from the trailers I've seen. The name makes me laugh too. Won't be seeing.
 

Totenkindly

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I always wondered if two people were stuck in the situation anyways--couldn't they just set up something so that they send each other the tape back and forth? Or did it have to be a different person? Did it only save you once to do that, or every time you did it? :shrug: It was all really vague with the conditions and standards.

Well, isn't that how the Asian films kind of work? Great imagery, not so great with logic. The American version is also very imagery and ambiance focused, not as much on what makes sense. (Not that American horror flicks have a lot of sensibility at times either.)

I think since she could watch the film multiple times, but there was only one death sentence, that you could only really copy the film once. Once you copied the film, you were good to go.

So what happens if you copy the film without having watched it? Do you get some kind of buku supernatural privileges or something, like a "get out of jail free card" to spend elsewhere? :)
 

kyuuei

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Well, isn't that how the Asian films kind of work? Great imagery, not so great with logic. The American version is also very imagery and ambiance focused, not as much on what makes sense. (Not that American horror flicks have a lot of sensibility at times either.)

I think since she could watch the film multiple times, but there was only one death sentence, that you could only really copy the film once. Once you copied the film, you were good to go.

So what happens if you copy the film without having watched it? Do you get some kind of buku supernatural privileges or something, like a "get out of jail free card" to spend elsewhere? :)

:laugh: Wouldn't that be awesome?! It'd be like a summoning sequence from final fantasy, only scary. :D
 
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