Review. Mara (Video 2012)

First I´d like to thank Filmkoncept for providing me with a screener.
Jenny (Angelica Jansson ) witnessed a brutal, gruesome murder as a little girl. An utterly grotesque act committed by an insane woman. A violent deed that has forever scarred Jenny. Along with four friends, Jenny -- now an adult -- returns to the scene where the murder was committed: a picturesque but secluded house in the woods. The five friends intend to have a nice time and to party, but the stay is also supposed to serve as therapy for Jenny. She wants to confront her past. What was supposed to be a relaxing weekend in the countryside becomes a blood-soaked nightmare when it turns out that the five friends aren’t alone in the house. An intruder is hiding in the shadows. Somebody unknown is out for Jenny, who desperately has to fight for her life. Mara is written by Pidde Andersson, Åke Gustafsson, Fredrik Hedberg and Jacob Kondrup and is directed by Åke Gustafsson, Fredrik Hedberg and Jacob Kondrup. The acting is pretty bad but Angelica Jansson is pretty decent and in my opinion it is perhaps a bit unfair of the filmmakers to rely so heavily on her as she makes her feature movie debut in this. On the technical side, the camera work and editing is pretty good. I got no problem with a slow build up but that´s when we get some proper payoff and in Mara we don´t get any. There is way too many flashbacks in this and they disrupt the pacing and slows everything down. Only one of the kills is gory and that´s it. There is T & A in this, topless nudity is provided by Angelica Jansson and Emelie Frantz Nilsson. But I say that I was expecting more T & A knowing that Angelica Hansson is most known as a Glamor model who has appeared in magazines such as Moore (Sweden), Slitz (Sweden), Playboy (USA) and Sunday Sports (UK).
This review is based upon a passwordprotected online screener, it has english subtitles.
Rating: 1½ out of 7. Mara had potential but ultimately fails to deliver and horror fans will be disappointed due to slow pacing, the lack off a proper payoff and the lack of kills and gore. When I discovered that there are three directors involved in the making of Mara I got worried, that is never a good sign. Then I read at IMDB that the plot of the flick was completely altered during post-production and I can´t help wonder if the original version was better.

/JL