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The Rotunda
Wednesday, May 7, 2025

If 'Mama' Ain't Happy, Ain't No One Going to Survive the Night

While “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D” made its flop in theaters, its competition came to theaters Jan. 18 in the form of “Mama.” The movie stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nélisse, Daniel Kash and Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain.

After dismissing the need for his medication a father of two, Jeffrey (Coster-Waldau), kills his associates and wife and steals his young daughters, Victoria and Lily (Charpentier and Nélisse), to escape into the forest. Unforeseen circumstances lead them to an abandoned cottage in the woods where, against their beliefs, the torn family is not alone and a mysterious figure takes matters into her own hands and kills Jeffrey — leaving the two girls without their father. 

Five years pass and the girls remain in the forest under the supervision of the entity known only as “Mama.” However, Jeffrey’s twin brother Lucas (also played by Coster-Waldau has refused to give up hope on his search for his family and finally his search party finds his nieces wild and alone in the cabin, or so they think. When Victoria and Lily regain their memories and parts of their civility, they are put into the custody of Lucas and his unprepared girlfriend, Annabel (Chastain), with the agreement that the girls will continue their therapy with a specialist, Dr. Dreyfuss (Kash).

As the days go by, though, Annabel begins to slowly notice how distracted and distant the girls are and how they are attached to their wall drawings and speak to the wall, singing and saying “Mama.” Lucas is injured after witnessing Mama’s reign of terror and leaves Annabel alone with the girls. During the alone time, Victoria, eldest of the girls, confides in Annabel, telling her that Mama is becoming jealous of her and she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her.

But while Victoria pulls away from Mama, Lily is unable to let go of her mother figure. The doctor continues his research into the girls as well, discovering a secret that goes back to over a hundred years earlier. Dr. Dreyfuss realizes before anyone else how much the danger the girls are really in.

The events over the following several days lead to an infuriated Mama, a confused little girl, and one scared-out-of-her-mind woman. Mama will not lose her girls — and she would go to any length to make sure they are always hers.

“I jumped at least five times,” confessed Longwood sophomore moviegoer Gary Steele. “I’m not a big fan of [gory] films, really, so this one was just awesome, I think.”

“Mama” is not the typical horrifying, gory, stomach-turning film; it stays away from the blood splattered walls and severed heads that envelop scary movies during this day in age. With its PG-13 rating, the amount of cussing, gore and body parts is cut down to a limited amount leaving only the suspenseful camera shots and sudden movements that audiences crave in a horror movie.

The movie does, however, lack certain aspects of most scary movies that typically please many viewers. For instance (without giving anything away), the ending does not finish with the haunting conclusions some have come to be infamous/ famous for (i.e. “Paranormal Activity,” “Insidious,” “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”). While some may not have the greatest storylines, they make up for it with chilling endings. “Mama” seems to have missed the reminder that it should leave viewers wanting more and went straight for the interesting plot line.

The one conclusion to take away from the film: if Mama is not happy — run.