MARA (2018)

There are few moral debates as difficult as picking exactly which dubious-quality movie to put on Netflix around midnight. Sometimes you'll get lucky and one has a particularly god-awful poster, or tantalizing description, but most nights I waste as much time trying to make up my mind as I do actually watching. And yes, I'm aware this is the pinnacle of first world problems.

In the case of MARA, a movie I'd never heard so much as a peep about before yesterday, my mind was made up by the presence of Javier Botet. The Spanish actor broke through with the REC trilogy, but these days he seems to pop up everywhere, which is fine by me as every single one of his performances manages to scare the piss out of me. Even otherwise mediocre films are guaranteed to at least be a notch better with his presence instead of cheap CGI.

The movie follows a criminal psychologist, trying to figure out exactly what the everloving shit happened when a man is murdered and both the wife and kid insist a sleep demon did it. This takes her on a weird journey involving sleep paralysis, sleep paralysis support groups, and how to be an impossible skeptic in the face of overwhelming evidence, like any good cop in a horror flick. The entire industry might collapse in on itself if, just once, the token cop was open-minded and compassionate. Too far-fetched, I guess.

This one was an interesting watch for me personally, as I've had sleep disturbances of varying types ever since I was a kid - which, incidentally, may be to blame for some of my horror obsession. Sleep paralysis is significantly more common in men than women, though I've suffered from it a few times, but no matter how many times you endure it, it really doesn't stop being terrifying. For those unfamiliar, your mind is partially awake while your body is still locked down for sleep - frequently including panic and hallucinations, often of shadowy, menacing figures. The fact there aren't more horror movies about it is, frankly, baffling to me.

The use of sleep paralysis as a way for an eerie shadow-figure (portrayed by Botet, bless his creepy heart) to claim victims is very clever, as is the support group that introduces the various "stages" of Mara influencing people. It feels a little too convenient for me, but I guess sometimes you just gotta take a big steaming infodump.

LET'S SMOKE SOME CRYSTAL AND JOIN A CULT

The side-character of Dougie, one of the fellow sleep paralysis sufferers who was friends with the murdered father, is easily the most entertaining. He's adapted to Mara and the sleep paralysis by sleeping in twenty minute intervals, complete with loud music and alarms. This endless lack of sleep gives him roughly the appearance and mannerisms of a rural Idaho meth head, which is kinda fitting.


It's hard to do any horror where people are trying not to sleep without mentioning NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. I mean, c'mon. But a few dumb jokes on my part aside, they definitely didn't seem to be trying to leech off it consciously. It's 2019 in horror, kids, completely original ideas are rarer than a good torture porn flick. Let's all accept this and move on with our lives.

As far as acting goes, aside from Botet the movie is decidedly "fine". Not amazing, but no one stands out as terrible - though the main character's
untraceable accent bothered me at times, as it seemed to noticeably fade in and out. Given that everyone else sounds completely whitebread american, it stands out. The character of the daughter is one of the better examples of the token Traumatized Child(tm) in horror who don't make you want to beat your head against a wall until they stop talking, and the young actor does well. Other than that - and, I suppose, the authentically cracked-out Dougie - no one is particularly noteworthy.

That's a good description of this movie as a whole, really. It's good. It's not great. There were some nice creepy parts. The design of the Mara demon is simple but effective. I love the concept. Didn't feel like I was wasting my time watching it. I have basically zero desire to rewatch it, except maybe to show to a fellow sleep-paralysis sufferer, but I genuinely hope there's a sequel - the Mara demon is creepy, and it's a simple concept that could be reused infinitely. Evidently the director has mentioned wanting to make this into an INSIDIOUS style franchise, which I'd be 100% onboard with. (no, not just because even mentioning INSIDIOUS gives me a raging lady-boner... though that doesn't hurt)
It's not perfect, but you could do way worse on a quiet night prowling Netflix.

This movie does, in fact, pass the Bechdel test with flying colors, with multiple well-realized, interesting female leads. See, kids? It's really not that hard.

3 out of 5

This movie is available for streaming on Netflix.