Over the past month, advertisements and previews of the movie “Ma” have been showing up on almost all forms of my social media. A “scary” movie with the queen herself, Octavia Spencer, playing the lead role? How could you not be hyped?

So, I saw a 7:00 p.m showing at Regal 18 Thursday, the night it came out. I am going to bring all of you through my experience from beginning to end with as little spoilers as possible.

In the beginning of the movie, things start out slow. Everyone watching is introduced to the high school protagonists that you see in the previews, and at first, it feels like you’re just watching a quirky feel-good movie about someone’s adolescent  journey. I’m going to let you guys know now, that this was my favorite part of the movie.

Things remain slow throughout the middle of the movie, but we are introduced to our obvious antagonist, Ma. As shown in the previews, Ma displays herself as a sweet older woman doing the high schoolers a favor by buying them alcohol and allowing them to party in her basement. What bothered me at this point in the movie was the fact that the kids were fine with just going to a random woman’s home prior to getting to know her. Once I got over that point, the rest of the movie was pretty predictable.

Keep in mind, this movie is about two hours long, and I want to stress that the majority of the movie is everything leading up to what most viewers attended the movie to see. This was a big factor in my personal enjoyment of the film.

Towards the end of the movie, you begin to see what the previews mostly displayed, but all at once. An over-load of sorts. I was able to predict the ending, but it was still somewhat enjoyable. My biggest critique, if you can’t tell, is the timing of this movie. I walked out feeling stiff due to everything happening all at once. If that was the goal, then they did a good job of getting me there, but I have a feeling that wasn’t the case.

I will give this movie some points for including some nice foreshadowing and a minor plot twist or two. Octavia Spencer did a wonderful job playing the role of Ma, and I believe the high schoolers also hit the nail on the head with their acting as well. The scenery and location of the movie made it more enjoyable and believable for me as well.

I’d rate this film a solid six out of 10, but I highly suggest seeing the film yourself to form your own opinions on it.

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