Presented by Guilleꦚrmo del Toro, Mama falls short of but beats hell out of .

Duri🔯ng the financial crisis, a ruined man slaughters his co-workers and wife then hightails it with his two young daughters.

They wind upಌ in a cabin in the woods, the kids saved by a supernatural force just as daddy is about toꦑ shoot them.

Discovered five years later by the man’s brother Lucas ( Game Of Thrones ’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his goth girl💝friend Annabel (Jessica Chastain), the girls are feral.

But attempts to domesticate them incur the wrath of tha𒁃t which saved them from papa’s gun.

It seems that ‘Mama’ is not ready to let go of her two young charges… Mama ’s quick-moving set-up jams a lot of nasty business into one cꩲauldron of unease, and for a good portion of the film, there’s an intoxicating anything-goes feel to the proc🌟eedings.

OK, so the horror clichés mount and too much sloshing around in a grunge atmosphere o🎐f flickering lights dashes momentum, but there are chilling images and precision stings.

This is a film with aspirat💫ions far beyond the cynical wave of torture terrors and found-footage horrors, even if a surrealist finale will leave some viewers scratching their heads.

As for Argentine director Andrés Muschietti, it’s easy to see why del Toro championed him. Mama is fleshed out from his three-minute short Mamá , and it’s got its fai🐼r share of gothi🌄c poetry.

The performances, too, areꦍ strong - especially by child actors Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse.

Mama c🧸ould be the start of a directorial career worth watching.