You never always know the hearts of other people. You can only make do with their actions and what they say, but even at that, it could be a risky bargain. And we'll see this from a cynical perspective in the film, Ma... a rather terrifying one.
The idea of a much older woman at the center of a thriller/horror with a bunch of kids had me concerned about who was going to get the short end of the stick and just how "bad" things could get. Well, it turned out that things got really bad. But besides that, I had mixed feelings about the movie, as it generally felt like a fine use of my time, as well as making me feel like "meh" for some parts.
Sue Ann, a middle-aged woman, allows a group of teenagers to party in her basement but on some conditions. Though the friends are elated with the idea, they soon discover her true character.
You know how high school tends to influence people for a long time? The activities they participate in, people they hang out with, and the good and bad times. Ma subtly centers on this idea by spinning its story on two generations of high school students, both connected to themselves and the one affecting the other. With a personal vendetta, things went south quickly enough.
With the group of high school kids, each one of them having particularly unique personalities and lifestyles, the film portrays how the people we surround ourselves with could influence our destiny in some way. I liked that the film was heavy on this part, because many things didn't make realistic sense from my third-person view.
For example, if someone's aura makes me feel unsafe, I'd likely totally withdraw... But with a friend insisting that there's no need to be fearful, I could let my guard down. Something like that is how it was in the film, which is only typical in real life.
Labeled as horror, you don't really get into that kind of vibe until much later in the film. Ma slowly builds momentum in a way that makes its viewers deduce by themselves how bad things could get. When you factor in the idea that someone's had a vendetta at heart for well over three decades, you can begin to imagine where it could all end.
If you are, however, looking for something really intense, something that'll send shivers down your spine, yeah, this isn't it. At least for me. It was more like a thriller film with a lot of gore. It does have a tiny bit of a sexual gore, but nothing more than that. And I was fine with that. It's just that how it ends was just meh. It was neither here nor there. There was a lot of fire, though, if that's dramatic for you.
Putting the performance of the actors in perspective, I honestly didn't care to consider. It was, to me, like watching one of those a little bit older kind of films with high school students where everyone just did their parts with nothing particularly extraordinary. And what would you know? It was released in 2019—and that's becoming a long time now.
Can you watch this with family? Definitely not. But is it worth your time? That really depends on what opinions you have formed having read so far. Maybe take a look at its trailer and see what you could be getting.
All images from IMDb
