“MA” Oscar winner Spencer is the creepy loner Sue Ann who is on a mission to get revenge on her high school bullies. What unfolds in this Blumhouse production
is (Maggie) Diana Silvers a doe-eyed teenager moves to a new neighborhood with her mother Erica (Juliette Lewis). For Maggie and her new friends, there is not much to do other than ask passersby outside a liquor store to buy them booze. And in pops Sue Ann who works at the local vet clinic in scrubs and a very dated haircut she wins them over by agreeing to get the drinks and recalling her own rampant days, which we learn from the flashbacks are not quite true. Soon it becomes “cool” for the teenagers to hang out in Ma’s basement and “partay”.
Things become very sinister very quickly as she takes a liking to (Andy) Corey Fogelmanis and we soon he discover is the son of her childhood crush Ben (Luke Evans) and what she has in mind for him is very chilling. When Maggie ventures upstairs she sees a side to Ma that scares her, Ma is keeping someone locked up. Ma has house rules: one of the kids has to stay sober, no cursing, do not go upstairs and call her “Ma.” But hospitality turns to a terror fueled nightmare for the teenagers.
Spencer puts in a performance which plays to the signature style of Blumhouse and there are moments of complete hilarity, as both victim and villain Spencer does the really creepy loner Sue Ann well. This is colour-blind casting as the film makes no reference to her being African- American, she is just a crazy woman who wants revenge. Lewis and Silver make a nice team as mother and daughter racing to save the day. There are some real chilling moments when MA starts her killing spree overall the 99min film is topped for box office success Blumhouse knows how to collect at the box office making MA with a small 5 million dollar budget. If Insidious is anything to go by the film, it grossed over $97 million worldwide on a budget of $1.5 million, MA could well follow. Fans of “Get Out” would be in for a treat, it is not diehard horror but horror fans will get it.
Stars: Allison Janney, Andrew Matthew Welch, Corey Fogelmanis, Dante Brown, Diana Silvers, Dominic Burgess, Gianni Paolo, Heather Marie Pate, Juliette Lewis, Kyanna Simone, Luke Evans, McKaley Miller, Missi Pyle, Octavia Spencer, Tanyell Waivers, Victor Turpin. Directed by Tate Tayler (The Help (2011), Get on Up (2014), and The Girl on the Train (2016)
MA is in UK cinemas now.
