Ma

The concept is gold: maladjusted adult tries to live her unfulfilled teenage dreams. The realisation is absolutely terrible tho: after an adequately creepy start, the movie script becomes more and more implausible. There are a lot of over the top moments which I won't spoil which are well delivered but aren't valorised enough. The final twist feels wasted.

If they fixed a few problems earlier in the movie this could have been a really good movie. It took her forever to go off the rails in my opinion

New high school transfer student Maggie Thompson (Diana Silvers) lives with her mother Erica (Juliette Lewis) who moved back to her home town after various failures to work as a casino waitress. Maggie is befriended by Haley (McKaley Miller) and her friends. They try to recruit adults to buy them beer and Sue Ann (Octavia Spencer) agrees. Later, she invites them to party at her house and it becomes a student hot spot. She asks them to call her Ma.

This could be a functional horror movie. I can see a crazy Octavia Spencer turning on a group of hapless teens. It doesn't work here for a variety of reasons. It tries to slow burn the story. It tries to have another layer with her daughter. It tries to explain her by giving her a history. The ending has a lot of bad decisions and bad turns. Octavia is giving it all into the role but it's a top price steak in a sour stew.

Don't understand why people get stuck on realism when they judge this movie. Sure there are a few over-the-top moments, but why does that matter? Not every movie needs to be Oscar bait. It's creepy and menacing, just like it's supposed to be.

Obviously, Octavia Spencer nails it as a former high-school wannabe, who struggles with breaking free from her past. Naturally most people like her wouldn't take it this far, but I'm from a small town, and that post high-school trauma is very real for a lot of people. And this being a horror movie, why not exaggerate a few things and have some fun with it?

Juliette Lewis also deserves a mention. She does not have a lot of screen time, but surely makes the most of it. I can not understand why she isn't getting better parts, in even greater movies, because she is fantastic.

7/10

Oh, call 911! No? Okay, how about now? Still no? Surely you'll call 911 this time. Dammit!