Mama.
Utterly disappointed. What is the point of a story about a protagonist with no ability to overcome adversity?
Here are some question from the film:
Why was the father running away?
Why was the father suddenly frustrated with the daughters?
Did he know where the cabin was?
Was the cabin the ghosts home when she was alive?
If so, why was it so well furnished?
If not, why was she there?
Why was the father going to kill his daughter?
Why did the ghost kill the father?
What was the relevance of the cherry pits when we later see the youngest eating moths? Obviously they did not survive on cherries alone?
What was the relevance of moths?
Why did the ghost appear from a vagina in the wall?
Why was there even a question of custody for the girls?
Why were the girls emaciated while in the cabin but well fed and nourished when adopted? This suggests that some time has passed since their ordeal. If so, then why was the younger daughter still acting like an animal after so much time?
Why was new mama willing to forsake her life with the rock band for the sake of her man and his nieces upset when her man acknowledged the importance of those nieces to him?
Why was the skeptic doctor suddenly convinced of supernatural existence having not yet perceived the ghost?
Why was the old man in drag "concerned about child abuse" over bruises on girls who had been surviving like animals for 5 years? Moreover, why was he "concerned about child abuse" over bruises on children after having raised children of his own? Was he unaware of how easily children bruise? Had he ever actually encountered a child before?
Why did the uncle wander around in the woods for days on end after finding the bridge from his dream?
Why did the dad beg his brother to "save his girls" when he was willing to kill them in his brothers dream?
Why was the superstitious new mama suddenly a skeptic after having perceived the ghost on several occasions?
Why was the old man in drag possessed?
How did the old man in drag get to the cabin?
Why was new mama suddenly attached to the eldest daughter?
Why was the eldest daughter suddenly attached to new mama?
How am I supposed to feel empathy from a mass murdering ghost who suddenly receives a bag of baby bones.... only to cast those bones away?
Why did she cast those bones away?
Why didn't she kill new mama and the uncle when she had been willing to kill so many others throughout the movie?
Why did the ghost explode into a cloud of moths?
Why did the not ghost younger daughter also explode into a cloud of moths?
The end result is that without a story of growth and experience in a film, it's difficult for the audience to connect. Moreover, a cartoon dead lady is just not frightening... not even when she moves cartoony-fast. "Jump-scare" tactics are NOT scary, they're surprising.
My advice? This could have been an amazing movie! The scenes with the girls acting like animals were genuinely suspenseful and well directed. There should not have been a supernatural creature in this movie. That removes all suspense from the movie. There was no ability for the protagonist, the main character, to grow or overcome that which opposes him. The "mama" aspect should have been emphasized as a creation of the girls imagination as a survival method, just as the doctor suggested. This could have been a suspenseful and genuinely frightening movie about the extremes to which a human being is willing to forsake their humanity for survival and the redemption found in the affection of extended family.
Instead, it was crap.
