Ma (2019)

June 2, 2019 3:25 PM

A lonely woman befriends a group of teenagers and decides to let them party at her house. Just when the kids think their luck couldn't get any better, things start happening that make them question the intention of their host.

How scary is Ma? Slate's Scaredy Scale.

More Slate: Ma is the Best Kind of Trash

Slant: Tate Taylor’s Ma Makes a Cruel and Mocking Case for Reparations

Nick Allen at RogerEbert.com: "The thrills come extra cheap and late in Tate Taylor’s “Ma,” a horror movie torn between campiness and compassion, all while an Oscar-winning actress struggles to hold it together."

Letterboxd.

posted by Gin and Broadband (2 comments total)

I will follow Octavia Spencer anywhere, and if that means dispatching a few teens... I was firmly in the "top-tier trash" mindset for this, appreciating the casting, low-key humour, a portrait of a grey and dingy Americana where kids have nowhere better than a literal pile of rocks to hang out in.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 3:29 PM on June 2, 2019

a portrait of a grey and dingy Americana where kids have nowhere better than a literal pile of rocks to hang out in.

I haven't seen this, but I'll note that in certain rural parts of the U.S., "dirt parties" are a thing, wherein kids get beer and hang out on a patch of open dirt (at least, they were a decade ago). Small, rural, dying towns are grim.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:42 AM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]