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Ma

Tyler Harlow

Starring: Octavia Spencer, Diana Silvers, Juliette Lewis, Luke Evans, Corey Fogelmanis, McKaley Miller, Gianni Paolo, Dante Brown, Missi Pyle, Allison Janney

Director: Tate Taylor

Maggie (Diana Silvers) and her mother Erica (Juliette Lewis) have moved back home to small town Ohio after Erica's divorce. It's awkward for Maggie, joining a new high school suddenly in the middle of February, but she soon makes friends with Andy (Corey Fogelmanis), Haley (McKaley Miller), Chaz (Gianni Paolo), and Darrell (Dante Brown) who spend their time either driving around and drinking/smoking or doing those same activities at the rock piles. Trouble is, to drink they need to convince an adult to do it. Enter Sue Ann (Octavia Spencer) a vet's assistant who surprisingly helps them. Something is not right about Sue Ann, who insists the kids call her "Ma" and starts to let them throw raging parties in her basement. The only rule is "Don't go upstairs". It soon becomes clear that Ma is up to no good, with her intentions with the kids being quite sinister.


This movie works because of Octavia Spencer. She is able to imbue Ma with a sympathy that is uncommon in most horror films of this ilk. You're almost rooting for her and that's a huge credit to Spencer. She's an award winning actress for a reason and it's delightful to see her take on a horror villain.


The rest of the cast isn't so successful. Outside of Diana Silvers, who also appeared in last week's Booksmart and appears primed for stardom, the teen ensemble is weak and you don't really care about them. There was actually one of them I was actively rooting to be offed by Ma.


Dark right? Well the movie does end up in a pretty dark place. Ma has some sinister plans and the final 15 minutes are shockingly gruesome.


I don't know if its necessarily the marketing's fault, but what you see in the trailer is what you get. There are no grand twists that change the game. There is a small one that if you're paying attention to the movie you should figure out pretty quickly.


I find director Tate Taylor's career interesting. He started as an actor, and plays a small role in this, and transitioned to directing with his debut being the awards friendly, The Help. He then went on to direct the James Brown biopic Get On Up, the thriller The Girl on the Train and now Ma. It's quite the wide ranging filmography and I'm honestly interested to see where it goes next. He has a good eye but his thrillers have been pretty generic.


All in all, this was better than I was expecting but it's because of a dynamite Octavia Spencer. See it for her.

C-

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