Ma

Tashena really wanted to see the movie Ma so I took her and her brother (who was visiting from California for her graduation) to see it yesterday.  I don't know that I would have picked this movie on my own but it was better than I thought it would be.  Ironically, Tashena's brother and I liked it more than she did!  Sue Ann (Octavia Spencer) is a lonely, middle-aged veterinary assistant who agrees to buy alcohol for some bored teenagers, including Maggie (Diana Silvers) and Andy (Corey Fogelmanis).  She worries that the kids will get into an accident if they go off drinking so she invites them to her basement which soon becomes the popular hangout for all of the kids in the town.  Sue Ann follows the kids on social media and begins harassing them, wanting them to come over more and more.  Maggie is unsettled by this and soon realizes that Sue Ann went to high school with her mother (Juliette Lewis) and Andy's father (Luke Evans) and that the two of them pulled a public and humiliating prank on her.  Maggie warns her friends to stay away but Sue Ann lures them back and terrorizes them, using tranquilizers from the vet's office, in retribution for what their parents did to her.  In my opinion, this is more of a psychological thriller than a horror movie (which disappointed Tashena) and it is more gruesome than scary with some truly disturbing scenes.  What elevates this above a campy teen movie is Spencer's performance as an unexpectedly sympathetic character (before she goes completely off the rails).  There is the requisite plot twist which didn't really work for me because it didn't add anything to the story and there were some interesting racial dynamics which definitely should have been explored more thoroughly but I didn't hate this movie.  I think it is destined to become a cult classic.