By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I saw this in the theaters twice and the last time was with my best friend. We shared a flask of honey whiskey and a vape pen and then went out for margaritas afterwards. It was a fun night!
MA (2019) is a great send up to 1980s revenge flicks. It’s like CARRIE (1976), SHOCK EM’ DEAD (1990) and SLAUGHTER HIGH (1986) mixed with a bit of PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971) and FATAL ATTRACTION (1987).
The film begins when our female lead protagonist Maggie (Diana Silvers) moves to her mother’s old hometown. Her mom Erica (Juliette Lewis) had left years ago to make it big, but she ended up divorced and penniless. She takes a job as a waitress at a casino while Maggie tries to fit in at school.
She immediately meets a few friends. Haley (McKaley Miller) is a popular pretty girl with a bit of an attitude but a certain strength I admire. She’s of the “I don’t give a fuck” variety and you know who else if of that variety? That’s right. It’s A Missy – so I like her!
Haley’s boyfriend Chaz (Gianni Paolo) is a bit of a tool, but he means well. Haley’s love interest Andy (Corey Fogelmanis) is a great cat with a shitty father. Lastly among their group is Darrell (Dante Brown). Darrell is nice and also the only one to raise any early concerns about Ma (Octavia Spencer).
The kids decide to try to coerce an adult to buy liquor for them. Everyone is turning them down, until Ma/Sue Anne approaches. At first she turns Maggie away, just as the others did. Then, she sees Andy. Sue Anne crushed on Andy’s dad, Ben (Luke Evans) in high-school. Ben is a dick. Ben has always been a dick. He not only turned her down in school, he humiliated her and basically set up a sexual assault where she ended up giving a blow-job to someone in a dark closet who she thought was Ben, but was actually some other dude. Fuck Ben. Ben’s a fucking loser. I wish the rat from WILLARD (1971) killed this Ben just for sharing his name.
Ma has some PTSD and who the fuck wouldn’t? I’m not defending all of Ma’s crazy actions, but she’s not just a nut-job. These fuckers from her hometown pushed her into being crazy and then sit back and act shocked when shit goes down. You can only push a woman too far and this woman was pushed too goddamn far! I wish she was nicer to her daughter Genie (Tanyell Waivers) who is undoubtedly a victim of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Still, there’s only so much Ma can be blamed for.
Ma buys the booze and starts to have weird feelings for Andy reminiscent of those she had for his father, before Ben decided to go all REVENGE OF THE NERDS (1984) style switcheroo sex.
In the beginning, Ma is just happy to have youthful cool friends. She invites the kids back to her place and they party. She gives them the full basement but tells them never to go upstairs.
Things soon spiral out of control as Ma gets super needy. When the kids have other stuff to do, she feels used and abused. As those feelings grow, the parents in town begin to find out Ma has been letting their kids get drunk and high at her house.
In the end, a massive showdown ensues between the kids and Ma while Erica attempts to find and save them.
This was a fabulous flick. The acting was great. The villain was sympathetic and expertly cast as Octavia Spencer. In one scene, Ma helps some other kids get their drinks on and instead of thanking her they make fun of her. She breaks down crying in her car and I seriously felt awful for her! I wanted her to destroy those motherfuckers. I would have been fine with her killing those assholes. Fuck them! She’s trying to be nice, risking her job for these punks and they shit on her! God, I fucking hate most teenagers.
All of the acting was amazing. Juliette Lewis was fabulous and one could understand her plight both as a teen who saw what went down with Ma and did nothing and as an adult who still has a difficult time taking charge, both at work and at home. Unlike the other teens with Sue Anne, Erica wasn’t cruel. She was however complacent, which is sometimes worse. When you think someone has your back and will protect you, but instead stays silent or disappears in the crowd so they don’t have to speak up, it’s a harsh betrayal. Erica was a coward and it sucks, but she is redeemable.
Diana Silvers was great as the female protagonist. When Maggie starts questioning Ma’s motives and mental well-being, it’s not done in an over-the-top or a disingenuous way. Maggie realizes things slowly and she takes in what she knows. As she begins getting more uneasy the viewer’s hair stands on the back of their necks with equal tension. It’s a cool transference of energy between the character and the audience which Silvers nails.
The supporting cast was just as excellent. I really don’t have a bad word to say about any actor within the production. Every player had a significant role in pushing the story forward and they all did a wonderful job doing it.
Go see this movie while it’s still in theaters. It’s fun, dark, crazy and emotional which is four components every horror fan looks for in a scary good flick.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10
