Horror movie fails to scare, relies on cheesy plot and cliches

One of the year’s first and most promising horror films aims high — but falls, crashes and burns miserably.

“Mama” is about two little girls who were left in the woods by their father who accidentally killed their mother and tried to kill them. They are found years later in an old abandoned house living like animals and mentally scarred. They are taken in by their uncle and his girlfriend who hope to bring them back to reality, but something is visiting the girls to tuck them in at night, who they refer to as Mama.

This is the directorial debut for Andres Muschietti, whose original short film of the same name was spotted by esteemed director Guillermo Del Toro. Del Toro serves as the executive producer, helping Muschietti create his first full-length film.

“Mama” is a blend of three different movies. The first is ”Nell” with the children who are now socially awkward from an extended trip outdoors. The second is “Paranormal Activity 3,” with girls who converse with a ghost who really likes them, but doesn’t care for the uncle and girlfriend The third is the ghost from “Lady in The Dark,” where she is an old hag with parenting issues who gets her jollies by screwing around with her victims.

The first flaw in this film is the illogical script. It’s ridiculous to think the police wouldn’t be able to find the children within five years, let alone five days. The father busted through a highway railing, 20 miles from their home, leaving the wreckage behind for all to see. The ghost’s actions and motivations are also very unclear.

In the opening scenes the ghost straight up murders the girl’s father, but doesn’t mind two strangers dragging the girls out of the house where the ghost took care of them. And it’s never clear why the ghost doesn’t just kill their uncle and girlfriend early on so she can just have the kids to herself.

The movie also makes sure to throw in a good helping of horror clichés: the weird old lady who is supernaturally inclined; the cuts of something spooky dashing out of the characters view; the ghost nestling on the shoulder of the victim to say “hi” to the audience; the bitch aunt who is there simply to get killed; and the doctor/science guy who is also destined to die. When you have a cast this small, it’s pretty easy to spot the people who are gonna bite the dust.

“Mama” also commits one of the big no-no’s of the horror genre by relying almost entirely on jump-scares. Every time the music stops, you can’t help but wait for the . . . BOO!!! It’s like having some jerk popping a balloon in your ear every 20 minutes.

Good horror gives the audience a sense of dread, not heart attacks. However, when “Mama” isn’t busy winding up its next jump-scare, there are a few truly harrowing moments that provide some much more satisfying scares. One scene in particular that utilizes a camera flash in a rather inspired way had me breathless.

I’ll cut the moaning for a second to note the movie’s one saving grace, which is a batch of solid performances. Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty”) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”) are both talented actors who give some likeable performances as Annabel (the girlfriend) and Lucas (the uncle). However, the real show stealer is the youngest sister Lilly, played by Isabelle Nelisse, who’s mental damage makes her behave and act erratically. She crawls on all fours, eats things she shouldn’t, and straddles the line between humorous, disturbing, and cute. Just about every scene featuring her is gold.

Ok, back to the whining.

The movie really starts to suck near the end, because when the ghost is shown front and center, it’s pretty disappointing. She is not particularly scary without all the smoke and mirrors hiding the crappy effects and terrible design behind her.

Movies like “Paranormal Activity” and “The Blair Witch Project” have shown us that if you don’t have the budget to make your ghost look scary, don’t show it. Leave the fear to the imagination of the audience.

In the end, the movie is topped off by a depressing, unsatisfying and ludicrous ending. Just about everyone in the theater looked at each other and said, “What the hell was that?”

The frustrating thing about “Mama” is that there is good movie here that just didn’t have enough time to incubate and ends up feeling underdeveloped.

I suggest saving your money on this film. Even die-hard horror fans will leave theaters unsatisfied.

—The film opens today, is rated PG-13 and runs 100 minutes.