Universal Home Video has announced the Blu-Ray release of Andy Muschietti’s horror film Mama for May. The Guillermo del Toro-produced film stars Jessica Chastain.
I absolutely hate PG-13 horror films. Especially ones that attempt to shock you by way of horribly built-up jump scares and that constant lack of balance between showing and telling. Mama is one of those horror films that tells you all about its creepy characters, but never really shows you them.
Newcomer director Andy Muschietti struggles finding a way to execute this Guillermo del Toro-produced film. The atmosphere is wobbly at best and the only decent performance comes from Jessica Chastain, who really only gets points for attempting to play a character that we’ve yet to see her play. She doesn’t really make the character all that memorable, but she does change her appearance and general dialogue delivery.
Mama is exactly the type of movie that comes out in January and sneaks away with a few bucks in its pockets, due to almost no other good movies being released during that time. That does not make it the year’s first great horror movie though, it’s actually one of the year’s worst movies.
Our very own Matt Donato had this to say about the film in his review:
Mama is an enchantingly dark fairy tale mixed with horror and fantasy, playing off the emotions of a mother’s undying love, shown in a powerful light and supplemented by true scares.
The film comes to Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack with the following bonus material:
- Matriarcal Secrets: An in-depth exploration of the digital and practical effects employed to shape the film’s phantom presence. Blu-ray exclusive.
- Deleted Scenes: Deleted scenes with optional commentary by director/co-writer Andy Muschietti and producer/co-Writer Barbara Muschietti
- Original Short: Original short with introduction by Guillermo del Toro and optional commentary with Andy and Barbara Muschietti
- The Birth of Mama: Mama began as a chilling short that announced a new voice in the horror genre. Exclusive interviews with Guillermo del Toro and the filmmakers track the bloodline of the feature and explore changes needed to make the transition to a film.
- Feature Commentary: Audio commentary with Andy and Barbara Muschietti
Mama will be available to purchase on May 7th, 2013.