Mama

A bohemian artist (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his goth-rocker girlfriend (Jessica Chastain) gain custody of his two young nieces when they are found in a remote forest cabin five years after being kidnapped by their suicidal father (also Coster-Waldau)—and they also acquire the malevolent presence that kept them safe all that time. A story so removed from reality is bound to be creepy and unsettling—it's the menace in the commonplace that makes for real horror—and director Andrés Muschietti pulls every cheap trick (including executive producer Guillermo del Toro's trademark bug fetish) to the usual cheap-scare effect. Chastain nobly carries a script patently unworthy of her; her rise has been so swift that here she is “paying her dues” in junk when she's already got two Oscar nominations to her credit.