Ma (15)***
Dir: Tate Taylor
With: Octavia Spencer, Diana Silvers, Luke Evans, Juliette Lewis
Runtime: 99 minutes
CLEVER old Hollywood, making a film that is going to stop pesky teenagers standing outside off-licences asking adults to buy booze for them. That modern scene is the starting point for Tate Taylor’s effective horror, which rattles along in fine style before ultimately jumping the tracks.
Juliette Lewis and Diana Silvers play a mother and daughter returning to mum’s home town for a new start. Cool teen Maggie (Silvers) immediately falls in with the in-crowd. They like to drink and hang out, provided some adult can be persuaded to buy the alcohol for them.
Who should come along one evening to say yes to their plea but Sue Ann (Octavia Spencer). Sure, they don’t know her, and she’s a little intense, but she’s a middle aged woman and a vet’s assistant. What could possibly go wrong? Before you can say stranger danger the gang have affectionately dubbed her Ma and are partying in her basement any time they like.
Taylor (The Girl on the Train) worked with Spencer previously on The Help. He knows what a commanding presence she is on screen and makes the most of her. Ditto Juliette Lewis, and the up and coming Silvers. While there are many points when credulity is stretched close to snapping point, the performances are always convincing.
Plenty of twists keep the tale powering ahead, and flashbacks to Ma’s high school days fill in the backstory. Everything is going terribly well, until matters take an unfortunate turn for the nasty towards the end. Following the success of Get Out, horror is an increasingly crowded and competitive market, but Ma ups the ante on the shock front in ways that leave a bad taste in the mouth, particularly so in one case.
Spencer’s is the standout performance, playing Sue Ann as a woman who can switch from sinister to soothing in a flash, but mention in despatches to Allison Janney, playing a spectacularly crabbit vet who barks orders at her assistant.
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