Ma (2019)

 I went into Ma knowing I liked Octavia Spencer's work that I had seen in the past so I gave it a shot even with some of the shaky reviews I've read.  I mean it even has a decent supporting cast; Allison Janney, Juliette Lewis, Luke Evans, and Missy Pyle all play smaller roles.  Most of the movie is just a little offbeat thriller where we have the loner older lady making friends with some local high school kids.  This all happens after they ask her to buy them booze so they can go party at the rock pile.   

 

 

 

Eventually, she invites them to do their partying in the basement of her house where she joins in with them.  This is a slow burner with things escalating on small scales.  Not all of the kids feel she is that threatening at first and keep hanging out at her house even though other kids have plenty of reasons to suspect Ma isn't as nice as she seems to be.   

 

 I try not to put too many spoilers in my reviews so all I will say is this revenge pic comes together when it is revealed that Ma went to school with all the parents of the kids she is partying with.  You can use your imagination from here.  Like I said I like Octavia Spencer but I feel after seeing this and The Help where she puts her own pooh in a pie she bakes for her boss (I know I probably have that wrong but it's close) I don't think I can trust her at all now.   

 

I guess this could be scary for the preteen crowd with it's message of abstinence but for me I can only muster up two bottles of fireball out of five for this typical Blumhouse disappointment.