TRAILER: Jessica Chastain Stars In Guillermo Del Toro-Produced Horror Mama: Like Stepmom, With Ghosts?

Jessica Chastain's had an incredibly good run of prestige films in the brief span of time that she's been in Hollywood: Take Shelter, Coriolanus, Tree of Life, The Help, and this summer's Lawless have made quite the highlight reel. So it was inevitable that the starlet would pop up in a horror film sooner or later. Might as well be a spooky one like the Guillermo Del Toro-executive produced Mama, right?

Well — spooky, silly, horror movies tend to be both of those things these days and Mama, from first time feature director Andres Muschietti (adapting his own short film), doesn't look to be terribly groundbreaking. Lucas (Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend Annabel (Chastain) take in Lucas's two young nieces, who are discovered living near-feral existences on their own in a desolate cabin in the woods for five years following their parents' death. Adjusting to life with the adopted tykes isn't so easy, though - Annabel begins to suspect that something sinister ("Mama!") has followed them. And it probably doesn't like seeing a new mommy tucking the kids in at night.

Moody atmospherics, supernatural suspense, spider-crawling ghouls, Chastain with a black dye job and heavily-lined eyes at her very Gothiest... nothing seems all that original here. Despite Del Toro's involvement and Chastain's abilities, this is hitting theaters during the dumping grounds of January, so temper your expectations.

Verdict: Looks like that Julia Roberts movie Stepmom, with ghosts. Meh.

Mama is in theaters January 18.

[Via Apple]