Just call her "Ma"

What is it about psycho-stalker movies that makes Hollywood love making them so much?  ‘Ma,’ the latest directorial feature from Tate Taylor (‘The Help,’ ‘The Girl on the Train’), is the third such movie so far this year following ‘Greta’ and ‘The Intruder.’  Oh, that’s right.  It’s because people like me keep going to see them regardless of how bad they may be.  Guilty as charged.

 

At least Taylor is well versed in suspense movies, having previously directed the slow-burning ‘The Girl on the Train’ starring Emily Blunt.  In ‘Ma,’ Taylor reunited with Octavia Spencer, who won an Oscar for her role in ‘The Help’ under the Best Supporting Actress category.  ‘Ma’ is a homely and unpretentious middle-aged African-American single-mom (hence "ma") who works as a veterinary assistant in a small town.  That is, until one day she was accosted by bored teenagers outside a grocery store to help them buy beer and gave in against her better judgment.  Being lonely and lacking friends, she decided to relive her high school days and befriend the teens by converting her basement into a rad party pad for them.  Then things get really interesting (and scary for the high schoolers) from there.

 

As unbelievable as this movie’s premise and story development may be, I have to admit it has a certain Je ne sais quoi that draws us to it and its inevitable, nihilistic conclusion.  The talented Octavia Spencer is an interesting if odd choice for a crazy psychotic woman, which makes ‘Ma’ that much more off-centered and unsettling. 

Grade: B