Ma (2019)

Directed by Tate Taylor [Other horror films: N/A]

Well, Ma isn’t a terrible movie, but I don’t really think it has enough going for it to really stand out. There’s some decent tension at certain points, and I think the ending’s okay, but for the most part, I found the film somewhat lackluster.

As far as positives go, I did like the lead here, being Diana Silvers. She consistently reminded me of someone, and I still can’t quite place it, but she did great in her role, and of the teen characters, she was easily the most memorable. Octavia Spencer was also pretty good as a mentally-unstable middle-aged woman, and boy, she was creepily possessive at times, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say I was blown away by her. Though she had only a few scenes, I also liked seen Allison Janney (The West Wing) here.

Otherwise, the cast was just sorta there. The same can be said for much of the story, to be honest. While aspects were moderately interesting, such as the slight mystery of why Ma was doing what she was doing, more often than not things just went down a generic road with little standing out.

Honestly, I wouldn’t even call the movie necessarily bad. The problem with Ma is that save a few scenes near the conclusion, and some decent performances by the main characters, I don’t see how this is all that memorable. I can’t say I’m really surprised by this (after this movie was released, I pretty much heard nothing about it), but it was certainly disappointing. Not an awful film, but probably still a bit below average, and definitely not memorable in many ways whatsoever.

6.5/10

Ma was covered by Fight Evil’s podcast on episode #25, so you can listen to Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I discuss this one.