BEFORE: Octavia Spencer carries over from "The Nines", and this is another case where I'm really hoping this turns out to be a horror movie of some kind. I can't be sure, as I haven't seen it yet, and I don't want to just look up the plot on Wiki to find out, I'd prefer for this to happen naturally, either it counts as horror or it doesn't, the chain is good either way, and I've learned to give that preference over being strict with the rules about what counts as what. After I've seen it, it counts as whatever it is, even if that isn't much. So, umm, maybe this is a horror film?
The film studio (Blumhouse) certainly pitched it that way, mentioning that this comes from the same producer as "Get Out" and "Happy Death Day". It's funny, you never hear anybody say, "Oh, yeah, I want to see THAT movie, I hear that the producer is very, very good...." Yet the studio persists in its thinking that you'll want to go see a film if they can say that a producer on a very popular film was also the producer on THIS one. Sorry, that doesn't work that way...but I suppose if they said "From the director of "The Help" and "Breaking News in Yuba County" then you wouldn't get a horror-movie vibe from it, and then since you were really looking for a horror movie, you'd skip this one and move on. It's very silly.
THE PLOT: A lonely woman befriends a group of teenagers and decides to let them drink at her house. Just when the kids think their luck can't get any better, things start happening that make them question the intention of their host.
AFTER: This film is about a divorced mother and daughter who move back to where the mother grew up, so she can get a job in the local casino. (This could be set in AnyTown, USA, but it was filmed in Natchez, Mississippi.). Maggie, the daughter, has a tough time fitting in, until she meets a few other teenagers in school who like to hang out, get drunk and smoke weed. All normal teenage behavior I suppose (unless you care about high school, like I did...) but the teens find it hard to buy alcohol, the drinking age being what it is and all that. So, they hang out near the liquor store and ask passersby to help them out by buying them beer and various spirits. (Teens are the only ones who drink Fireball, the movie gets that right, at least.)
They luck out when Sue Ann, a worker at a veterinarian's clinic, helps them out by buying the booze, and then after they get busted for drinking by the rock pile, she helps them out even more by letting them drink in her basement. Sure, it seems a little weird, but if they're going to drink anyway, why not do it in a safe place, where an adult can at least make sure they're sober before they drive home? NITPICK POINT: If they've got the money for buying alcohol, why don't they also have the money to take Ubers home? Or why don't they just drink in their own basements, or in the back of the van? Because then I guess we wouldn't have a movie...
They start calling Sue Ann "Ma" because she's looking out for them - but is she? She's also checking out the teens' social media feeds and finding out their last names. Then she's FaceTiming them and sending a bunch of text messages encouraging them to come over and party. But Maggie and her friends find that the alcohol starts hitting them harder than usual, and then they realize that some of their jewelry is missing, so what's Ma really up to? Well, it turns out that Ma's got more issues than a newsstand, and seeing the kids interact with each other triggers some flashbacks of emotional trauma that happened to her in high school. Also, why doesn't Ma want the kids to leave the basement and see the rest of her house, what's going on THERE?
It turns out that Maggie's boyfriend, Andy Hawkins, is the son of Ben Hawkins, who pulled a prank on Sue Ann back in high school, and now, years later, she's decided she wants some form of revenge. Ben lets his son drive one of the company vans, and they have tracking devices, so Ben starts to wonder why his son is spending so much time at Sue Ann's place. Ben confronts Sue Ann, but it only sets her off more, because he's not at all apologetic for the prank he played on her in high school. OK, so it wasn't a bucket of pig's blood at the prom, but it was still traumatic and not cool.
With the help of drugs from the vet clinic, Sue Ann holds Ben and the teens hostage, and she's got some pretty weird ideas about what to do with them when they can't fight back. Finally, we get to something close to a horror film, so my including this one here is justified, in the end. Some might say this is reminiscent of the "Saw" films, but I wouldn't know, I didn't see "Saw". Maybe if I saw "Saw", I might say that I've seen this in "Saw". Maybe one day I'll see "Saw", but I don't know, we'll have to see.
The flashback story was added to the original script, and I think that was a smart idea. Without it Ma would be a totally unsympathetic character, but knowing that she was bullied and traumatized in high school explains a lot, not to the point where her actions against the teens are justified, but at least you can understand how she got broken inside, and how the actions of one generation can be felt by the next. I have to admit that this is pretty clever in the end, pertaining to how some things can come full circle, but with unintended results. But maybe I'm overthinking it, maybe it's just about a person in a small town who's very messed up.
Also starring Diana Silvers (last seen in "Ava"), Juliette Lewis (last seen in "Breaking News in Yuba County"), McKaley Miller (last seen in "Wish I Was Here"), Corey Fogelmanis, Gianni Paolo, Dante Brown, Tanyell Waivers, Dominic Burgess (also last seen in "Breaking News in Yuba County"), Allison Janney (ditto), Tate Taylor (ditto), Heather Marie Pate, Luke Evans (last seen in "Message from the King"), Margaret Fegan, Missi Pyle (last seen in "Feast of Love"), Kyanna Simone Simpson (last seen in "The Immortaly Life of Henrietta Lacks"), Andrew Matthew Welch, Skyler Joy, Nicole Carpenter, Victor Turpin (last seen in "Killing Hasselhoff").
RATING: 6 out of 10 photos cut out from the yearbook
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