Days before watching Mara, I watched the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, and noticed a few similarities; a scene at a facility that analyses a sleeper's dreams; victims running down the darkened streets, screaming; characters petrified in their beds after shooting awake. Films have exhaustively explored nightmares and night-terrors, with sleep paralysis, the focus of this film, having had less of a focus, and yet, instead of being a real stand-out, Mara treads very familiar ground. On that note; is Mara a decent horror flick? Well, it's neither good nor bad, but fine.
What Mara does especially well, is create a tense, unsettling atmosphere. This ambiance manages to last for half of the film's run-time, which in and of itself, is enough to make the audience unnerved. Despite the occasional jump scare, it is the character's reactions to Mara that really sets the tone; their mouths agape in fear; their bodies awkwardly positioned. This macabre nature could have been further used for greater appeal.
Kate (the always fantastic Olga Kurylenko), a novice criminal psychologist, is assigned the case of a murdered husband by Detective McCarthy (Lance E. Nichols). The wife of the deceased, Helena (Rosie Fellner) is the lead suspect, whose erratic behavior results in Kate having her incarcerated at a mental hospital, while Helena's daughter, Sophie (Mackenzie Imsand), goes into the care of her grandfather.
Despite the outcome, Kate becomes transfixed on the wife and daughter's testimony that an other-worldly being is the killer. By tugging on this line of inquiry, she meets Dougie (Craig Conway) at an anonymous clinic for sufferers of sleep paralysis, who claims a creature is after him. The movie would have you believe that sleep paralysis is important, and other than giving us an explanation, it is unfortunately used only as a gimmick. Kate's investigation inevitably leads to her being threatened by the entity. Similar to the aforementioned A Nightmare on Elm Street, none of Kate's superiors believe her, and she is forced to use everything at her disposal to save not only Helena and Sophie, but herself, before it is too late.
The film does create a backstory for the titular Mara. It's not particularly original, though it is understandably engaging, while refusing to answer 'why does Mara paralyze victims during their sleep?' This backstory also inadvertently disables much of the film's attempts at horror. The oppression of the malicious spirit is categorized in stages, with 'stage one' being the least threatening, and 'stage four' being the most. In that case, we feel no concern for characters during the initial 'stages' because they are largely safe from harm. On a logical note, these 'stages' are referred to only by those who suffer from Mara's presence, but towards the end, every man and his dog suddenly has an understanding of this concept. Is this a movie mistake, or lazy screenwriting? You decide.
As the investigation unfolds, the film becomes a touch melodramatic in the film's latter half, as characters desperately try to stay awake, to avoid sleep, and therefore, avoid the potential for paralysis. The resolution the film proposes makes sense in accordance with the plot, but also feels very weak, though not nearly as weak as the conclusion itself, which decides to reveal Mara to us in all of her glory; and to be frank, she ain't none too glorious. There is a reason Jason Voorhees wears a hockey mask; not only is he damn ugly, it keeps the audience in suspense, as we fear what we cannot see. Revealing Mara to us in full at the end renders the magic moot. Mara also suffers from the creaky bone fetish that permeates many horror films now-a-days (Light Out, The Possession of Hannah Grace, etc), only adding to the genre familiarities.
Mara opens strongly, hooking us with a familiar, yet decent idea, that could have been better executed. The film's dark tone roots us to the screen, until the halfway mark, when it really becomes formulaic and loses some of its original fire. It then limps to the finish line and ends with a whimper, rather than a scream. The film's strengths can make repeated viewing possible, but this horror film will never end up on your 'best of' list.
What Mara does especially well, is create a tense, unsettling atmosphere. This ambiance manages to last for half of the film's run-time, which in and of itself, is enough to make the audience unnerved. Despite the occasional jump scare, it is the character's reactions to Mara that really sets the tone; their mouths agape in fear; their bodies awkwardly positioned. This macabre nature could have been further used for greater appeal.
Kate (the always fantastic Olga Kurylenko), a novice criminal psychologist, is assigned the case of a murdered husband by Detective McCarthy (Lance E. Nichols). The wife of the deceased, Helena (Rosie Fellner) is the lead suspect, whose erratic behavior results in Kate having her incarcerated at a mental hospital, while Helena's daughter, Sophie (Mackenzie Imsand), goes into the care of her grandfather.
Despite the outcome, Kate becomes transfixed on the wife and daughter's testimony that an other-worldly being is the killer. By tugging on this line of inquiry, she meets Dougie (Craig Conway) at an anonymous clinic for sufferers of sleep paralysis, who claims a creature is after him. The movie would have you believe that sleep paralysis is important, and other than giving us an explanation, it is unfortunately used only as a gimmick. Kate's investigation inevitably leads to her being threatened by the entity. Similar to the aforementioned A Nightmare on Elm Street, none of Kate's superiors believe her, and she is forced to use everything at her disposal to save not only Helena and Sophie, but herself, before it is too late.
The film does create a backstory for the titular Mara. It's not particularly original, though it is understandably engaging, while refusing to answer 'why does Mara paralyze victims during their sleep?' This backstory also inadvertently disables much of the film's attempts at horror. The oppression of the malicious spirit is categorized in stages, with 'stage one' being the least threatening, and 'stage four' being the most. In that case, we feel no concern for characters during the initial 'stages' because they are largely safe from harm. On a logical note, these 'stages' are referred to only by those who suffer from Mara's presence, but towards the end, every man and his dog suddenly has an understanding of this concept. Is this a movie mistake, or lazy screenwriting? You decide.
As the investigation unfolds, the film becomes a touch melodramatic in the film's latter half, as characters desperately try to stay awake, to avoid sleep, and therefore, avoid the potential for paralysis. The resolution the film proposes makes sense in accordance with the plot, but also feels very weak, though not nearly as weak as the conclusion itself, which decides to reveal Mara to us in all of her glory; and to be frank, she ain't none too glorious. There is a reason Jason Voorhees wears a hockey mask; not only is he damn ugly, it keeps the audience in suspense, as we fear what we cannot see. Revealing Mara to us in full at the end renders the magic moot. Mara also suffers from the creaky bone fetish that permeates many horror films now-a-days (Light Out, The Possession of Hannah Grace, etc), only adding to the genre familiarities.
Mara opens strongly, hooking us with a familiar, yet decent idea, that could have been better executed. The film's dark tone roots us to the screen, until the halfway mark, when it really becomes formulaic and loses some of its original fire. It then limps to the finish line and ends with a whimper, rather than a scream. The film's strengths can make repeated viewing possible, but this horror film will never end up on your 'best of' list.