Don’t go to Ma’s house… or this movie for that matter
Octavia Spencer has taken a variety of roles throughout her career, but one she has yet to take on is the villain of a horror film. That is, until Ma of course.
Directed by Tate Taylor, the movie follows Sue Ann (Octavia Spencer), a lonely middle-aged woman who invites some teenagers to her basement to party in. As she grows closer to the kids, she transitions from the friendly “Ma” into an obsessive monster that terrorizes their lives.
While a fairly good concept, Ma doesn’t deliver much to enjoy. The pacing is flawed, with the build-up feeling slow and clunky. Most of the characters are one-dimensional, resulting in you having no reason to care for their well-being. There’s a few surprises but there’s not much actual substance beyond teenagers partying or being stalked for majority of the film. It’s a horror movie without much horror in it.
Even the climax didn’t surprise if you’ve seen the trailer. Most of the spookiness was flawed in the fact that I already knew most of what was going to happen because they’ve shown in it promotional footage. Sure, once it actually gets intense, it’s a bit thrilling, and the final showdown is fun to watch, but it’s still not enough.
To top it all off, there’s really no closure to be found at the end. The action heats up, the big climax hits, and then suddenly the credits are rolling. We have no clue what happened to any of the main group of kids and the connected main characters. You’re just left wondering.
The real saving grace for the movie is easily Octavia Spencer. She’s obviously a phenomenal actress, but Ma shows that she can do a little bit of everything. She made the character unsettling in every way, and showed the gradual transition from kind but a bit awkward into a full-blown unstable psychopath.
This redeemed many of the scenes for me, with every moment involving Ma being better than the ones without. While her backstory was a bit strange, Spencer sold it nonetheless. She was able to transition from emotion to emotion seamlessly as she manipulated the people around her.
Nonetheless, I left the theater underwhelmed. The only real reason to go see Ma is if you want to see a B-movie horror and have already gone to see Brightburn (or really any other thrilling movie out in theaters). The silver lining of it all is we might be able to see Octavia Spencer pick up similar roles in the future, which could have spectacular results if paired with better writing or direction. Ma’s motto may be “get home safe,” but you won’t have that problem if you just stay home instead.
The Movie Hall 
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