Mara is a 2018 supernatural horror film directed by Clive Tonge, starring Olga Kurylenko, Javier Botet, Craig Conway, and Rosie Fellner. The film follows criminal psychologist Kate Fuller, who investigates the murder of a man and is haunted by a mysterious demon who kills people in their sleep.
The thing about Mara is that it’s not a film that tells an original story. There are films like Smile or Case 39 where we see a professional figure witness something supernatural and begins their journey down the rabbit hole as they deal with it. Mara is formulaic in style, but the execution does create a level of intrigue that makes us root for the protagonist while finding interest in the antagonist. The beginning’s slow but when the spooks begin to happen the story becomes tense and edge of your seat. The ending was very unexpected, and I appreciated that.
Our main protagonist is Kate Fuller, a criminal psychologist, who becomes involved after investigating the death of a man with his wife seemingly the killer. She’s tolerable. There’s nothing unique about her but she’s a likable enough hero for us to want her to survive. The supporting characters are okay with Detective McCarthy, the wife Helena, and Dougie being the standouts. And our antagonist Mara is actually a pretty cool villain. Kind of reminds me of the ghost from the 2013 film Mama. She’s pretty creepy, and the tall, lanky, bones cracking does a good job of creating a tense atmosphere around the character. It’s cool that Mara is seen as a force of nature rather than a fleshed-out character like Freddy Krueger and Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Overall, the story and the characters are decent. (3 out of 5)
This film looks good, and the presentation works well for the story that it’s telling. There are a lot of good shots utilizing the darkness to generate unease with the presence of our villain. There are more than a couple times good camera work made for a good jump scare. Even when we come to the look of our villain, it’s simplistic but the lack of focus, the off-camera shots, the quick glimpses, keep the character mysterious and that mystery emphasizes the creep factor. The best example of this is the bathroom scene. The makeup and costume design for the villain is done well. Overall, it’s a decent looking film.
Even when it comes to the sound design. The sound design is pretty good, though the music is pretty generic. When it comes to the scares, there’s a good sense of buildup and along with the music makes them that much more impactful. That weird technique where editors have that pause before an intense scene works here. And the cracking bone effect for Mara is so unsettling. I do feel that there was a slight overuse but not to the detriment of the effect. The overall design is good. (3 out of 5)
The casting is pretty with Olga Kurylenko as the main lead. I’ve always enjoyed her performances because she’s a talented actress and it’s nice seeing her in horror. Although I do think the character could’ve been written better Kurylenko does the best with what she’s given. The supporting cast is decent with there being really no real weak links. The cast includes Craig Conway (Dougie), Rosie Fellner (Helena), Lance E. Nichols (McCarthy), Melissa Bolona, Mackenzie Imsand (Sophie), and Javier Botet as the infamous Mara. Thumbs up to Botet because I like that although he doesn’t have any lines, the physical movement of his character gives it so much personality. And how the hell he moved the way he moved is beyond me, but he did his thing.
The film was directed by Clive Tonge, and he does show a good understanding of horror. I would like to see more from the director. The writing is decent and as a horror film it works. There isn’t any gore but it’s deeply unsettling. It isn’t bad but outside of the lore of Mara and the interesting way the writing plays with sleep paralysis it doesn’t really stand out. The film is long enough to tell the story that it’s telling but the pacing could work better with some tweaking to the editing. There are some pretty solid scenes with some really effective jump scares. As stated previously, one of the best scenes is the bathroom scene. Another is the death of Dougie. And even the ending, that ending was sweet. Really my biggest issue revolves around the characterization. I wanted stronger characters and even though they’re decent, the story would’ve been stronger. Still, the direction and writing is decent. (3 out of 5)
The Verdict: In the end, Mara is one of those films that will probably fly under the radar for most but it’s a decent horror flick. Although it’s pretty by the numbers it’s still a decent watch. You probably won’t come out of this feeling as disturbed as after watching Lights Out but it’s definitely better than Ax ‘Em. The film has good direction and decent writing, Olga Kurylenko’s fine, the casting and characters are fine, the sound design is cool, and the antagonist is creepy. Mara gets 3 out of 5.
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