Movie Review: Ma (2019) seen in theatres, on DVD and on Netflix

Horror/thriller: not recommended for young children; coarse language, violence, gory scenes, nudity, minor sexual content, and brief child endangerment throughout.

The movie follows a lonely middle aged woman named Sue Ann, (played by Octavia Spencer,) who decides to invite teenagers to her basement to give them a place to party after the teenagers enlist her to purchase their alcohol as they are underage.

Sue Ann is a veterinarian’s assistant who is shown to be lazy and constantly ignore her responsibilities on the job which prompts obvious complaints from her boss. She is seen to be a single woman and is not married, (though I cannot remember if she was married at one point,) and lives a solitary existence. As she is walking past a corner store while walking one of her dogs, she is stopped by numerous teenagers who ask her to purchase alcohol for them as none of them are legal age to do so. Seeing her opportunity to make friends, Sue Ann accepts and buys the alcohol. As the children drive away, Sue Ann stops the van to give them their change. The teenagers believe Sue Ann is cool for doing this and resolve to make this a new thing to have her purchase alcohol for them.

After police catch the teenagers at their normal hideout and shut it down due to the curfew laws put in place due to the age of the teenagers, Sue Ann secretly offers to host the gang in the basement of her house and promises to have snacks, beer and food for them, which they accept but Sue Ann stresses the fact at the same time that no one can know about what she is doing with them.

On their first night at her house, she instructs them not to go upstairs for an unknown reason, (which she says is because she wants the rest of the house to herself,) which the children accept until one of them needs to use the washroom and the one downstairs is occupied due to a sexual encounter. When she finds herself unable to wait, she suggests that she will go upstairs really quick so as not to be caught and brings one of her friends to be a lookout to make sure Sue Ann does not find her. Sue Ann catches the friend standing guard of the bathroom and forces the two of them back downstairs. After engaging in a mild conversation with the rest of the crew, (who are unaware of what happened,) she forces one of the male teenagers to strip naked while holding him at gun point. After he does, she remarks that he is handsome before allowing the party to continue and going back upstairs.

Days go by but just as most of the children are getting used to partying in Sue Ann’s basement, Maggie, (played by Diana Silvers, who is actually the movie’s main character,) voices her dislike for partying at Sue Ann’s any longer as she notices Sue Ann becoming more and more fixated on them and wanting them to come over every night when they have other things to do or it is a school night as well as stalking them when they refuse.

Meanwhile, a new group of teenagers, (different from the movie’s normal group,) have began to notice Sue Ann’s house and they decide to party with her. When Maggie finds her boyfriend has decided to return to Sue Ann’s despite his promise to her that he wouldn’t, she breaks up with him as the new group of teenagers leave. Before Maggie and her now Ex boyfriend can leave however, Sue Ann closes and locks the trap where they enter from. When the others find out about this, they try to save them only to find themselves trapped as well.

Meanwhile Maggie’s mother has grounded her after she found out that Maggie had been going to Sue Ann’s house and has forced her to spend the day with her shopping. She goes into Maggie’s room to find she is not there. She begins to panic and calls everybody Maggie knows to see if she’s there. With help from a friend as well as the father of one of the male teenagers, (who is shown to strongly dislike Sue Ann for issues that took place when they were in high school,) her mother is able to track her down.

The father goes into Sue Ann’s house and tries to get his son back where he is knocked unconscious by a needle and placed in a bed where he is stripped of all of his clothing and hooked up to in IV with it holding the blood from Maggie’s now deceased dog.

Meanwhile, the group of teenagers are seen barely conscious and being held against their will. One has an iron pressed against his stomach while the other gets her mouth sewn shut, (after Sue Ann took offense to a comment made by her earlier in the film, which she uses to taunt her as she is committing the crime.) Sue Ann then sits a fire in their basement to stop them from escaping when Maggie’s mother along with the rest of the parents are able to pry the door open and allow them escape. After Maggie’s mother pleads with her not to stab Maggie, Sue Ann’s daughter, (who is confined to the house because of an illness, however this illness is irrelevant to the main plot of the film,) is able to subdue her.

The movie ends as the parents are reunited with their children as Sue Ann is seen lying in bed next to the kid’s father who is now deceased from having his human blood replaced with dog blood as the fire continues to burn within the house.

While this movie was good, it’s whole premise should be illegal when you think about it. From start to finish, Sue Ann pretty much ignores every law there is just to befriend the teenagers. I mean, right away she should have known that it’s illegal for teenagers to be in possession of alcohol and that she could be arrested for buying it for them.

Also I cannot forgive the main plot of this movie which is it’s showcase of pedophilia throughout, though very mild, forcing underage teenagers to undress and trapping them in her house. From where I stand, a middle aged woman has no business with teenagers in her basement unless they are her son and/or daughter. This is creepy and I think all of the parents of these children acted appropriately when they found out what happened. She could have been arrested just for inviting these underage children to her house. I believe that if Sue Ann was lonely, she should have tried to find someone who is at least an adult instead of endangering the lives of children.

I also found there her place of employment didn’t fit her character given how the father dies in the movie. A veterinarian who drains all of the blood out of a helpless dog and puts it in a human being….a human being cannot survive with the blood of another species in it and vice versa.

The biggest fault I have with this movie actually doesn’t have to do with the movie itself. The actress who plays Sue Ann, (Octavia Spencer,) bears a lot of resemblance to a person I once knew but I was not very fond of. This was a woman named Sally and she looks so much like her that when you look at this actress, you can safely assume it’s Sally and vice versa. Also, throughout most of the time I knew this person, she treated me the same way that Sue Ann treated everybody in this movie….like a victim which is how I felt during my last ever fight with Sally which is totally unrelated to this blog. The key point is that they are a lot alike…both in appearance and mannerisms.

If you’re a fan of the horror genre, I would recommend this movie.

Movie rating: 5 out of 10.

I feel the need to explain the low rating I gave this movie despite it being a good one. Seeing Sue Ann just reminds me of Sally in so many ways and I do not want to remember her at all. This movie brings back bad memories for me hence I have to give it a low rating.

However, it was a good movie though