Octavia Spencer's Divisive Thriller With 55% On Rotten Tomatoes Deserves Its Streaming Success

While 2019’s Ma might have divided critics when the movie was first released, the Octavia Spencer vehicle has now proven a surprise hit on streaming. Directed by The Help’s Tate Taylor, Ma was an unexpected project for both Taylor and its star, Octavia Spencer. Spencer was best known for a string of acclaimed historical dramas, including The Help and Hidden Figures.

Taylor, meanwhile, was best known for directing The Help, as well as the James Brown biopic Get On Up. As such, when Ma’s ending involved gruesome dismemberment and multiple violent murders, it is fair to say that both its star and director took an unexpected turn. That said, this wasn’t necessarily a bad move.

What Is Ma About?

Ma tells the story of Spencer’s titular lonely veterinary technician, a quiet woman who becomes involved with a group of small-town teens after buying them beer. At first, it seems as though the teens might take advantage of the sweet, unassuming Ma’s generosity, but then Ma’s story takes a twisted turn.

Without spoiling anything, suffice to say that the teens have a connection to Ma’s past, and she intends to get revenge for some misdeeds the kids don’t even know about. What follows is an unhinged horror comedy that takes full advantage of subverting Spencer’s reliable screen persona as a sassy, lovable older woman.

Octavia Spencer Delivers A Great Performance In Ma

Spencer brings the same sardonic charm she perfected across dozens of performances in movies and shows to Ma, but the horror movie turns the audience’s expectations on their head with her role. Starting out campy, Spencer eventually unearths both real pathos and genuine menace as Ma’s rampage of revenge reaches its end.

Although Ma divided critics, and Taylor is not quite up for the task of staging an authentically chilling scare, Spencer’s performance alone makes the Blumhouse hit worth a watch. Like Kathy Bates in Misery, Spencer’s mercurial performance vacillates between cold, chilly detachment and unexpected intensity with disarming regularity.

Ma Is Worth Watching Despite The Mixed Reviews

Ma’s reviews were mixed when the movie arrived in cinemas and, in retrospect, it is easy to see why. Not all the movie’s twists work, and some of its deaths are a little too broadly comedic, but none of this can diminish the appeal of Spencer’s performance.

Throughout Ma, Spencer chews the scenery with the verve and invention of a polished professional who has waited decades to show another side of their extensive range. In the process, the star makes what might have been a corny throwaway horror into essential viewing by humanizing Ma’s complex protagonist.