Horror, as a genre in the world of art, has always been about subverting expectations.
It’s honestly the main purpose of horror. Yeah, when looking at the genre on a surface level, succeeding at being scary sounds like the main goal to prioritize. After all, what good is a horror movie if the actual horror content is unable to do its job and scare the audience? It’s these expectations that have motivated studios and horror filmmakers to ramp up the “scary” factor to an 11 and fill their movies to the edge of the brim with aggressively executed sequences that prioritize jumps over slow-burns. In the moment it may be scary and possibly even downright terrifying, but were expectations subverted? Was there something in the film that encouraged a reexamination of personal biases or did the movie play out exactly as expected while feeding into the increasingly broad range of stereotypes?
By stereotypes, I don’t just mean the ones exclusive to the world of horror. The stereotypes of horror have long been the subject of multiple horror satires over the years. The stereotypes of the “final girl” being a down-to-Earth virgin, the black characters dying first or early in the movie, and characters having to follow certain horror movie rules to survive have already been commented on and deconstructed in the likes of Scream, The Cabin in the Woods, Get Out, Revenge, and countless other horror movies. I’m talking about stereotypes that exist outside of the world of movies. Social and racial stereotypes that reinforce the status quo we have been raised to believe. These stereotypes often play into our real-world fears and prejudices, such as an inane fear of what we do not know. We naturally become skeptical at the concept of something that we do not fully understand, so horror movies exploring that area of fear can make for an uncomfortable movie-watching session that makes a rewatch practically impossible.
These variables are exactly why I find the concept of the new Blumhouse horror-thriller, Ma, incredibly intriguing. On a first glance, Ma is presenting itself as the all-too-familiar slasher flick that has us bear witness to a group of unfortunate teenagers meeting their demise at the hands of a crazed serial killer. It’s the type of horror film that looks to follow in the bloody footsteps of Halloween, the Friday the 13th series, and the countless slasher flicks that have used this well-worn formula. Ma is deviating from this formula by having the main villain portrayed by a seemingly kind-hearted woman played by Oscar-winning actress, Octavia Spencer. With that casting choice alone, Ma has already successfully subverted expectations in a unique and disturbing manner. But why though?
Octavia Spencer’s presence as an actor doesn’t scream “horror villain” in any particular way, does it?
After all, the Oscar winner has spent a bulk of her career working up her reputation as a character actor since her first role in 1996. Her roles were consistent, but never noticeable and it wasn’t until her Oscar-winning performance in Tate Taylor’s The Help in 2011 where Spencer gained mainstream attention.
But even as her career skyrocketed with appearances in the Divergent series, Snowpiercer, and two additional Oscar-nominated roles in Hidden Figures and The Shape of Water, Spencer’s filmography reinforced a trend with her acting style. To be specific, Spencer was (and still is with some of her recent features) confined to the role of a supporting character whose purpose is to help build up the story surrounding the main character(s) with a sassy attitude and sharp wit to boot. These roles seem to have gradually confined her to the role of the lovable friend who only has others’ best interests in mind. Even her co-lead role in Hidden Figures has her sharing her screen time with two other leads (granted, this is understandable given the real story behind these women of NASA). It’s gotten to the point where her role in the story could easily be considered a “type” and when Spencer appears in a movie, it’s familiar and even comfortable to see her in exactly what is expected of her nowadays.
Ma is where this stereotype looks to be flipped on its head.
Instead of playing the supportive lovable friend to the main character, Spencer is taking charge as Sue Ann, a veterinary aide who develops an unhealthy obsession with a group of teenagers she befriends after being asked to buy alcohol for them. Obsession turns into slasher violence as it is heavily implied that she will wreak terror upon the kids and anybody who happens to stand in her way. There’s no undead monster with a machete to run from. There’s no dream demon lurking in nightmares to avoid. The movie’s ultimate baddie is someone that you wouldn’t be blamed for doubting sinister intentions with. Instead of an unstoppable creature that cannot be understood, Sue is a familiar person who would seem fun to have a beer with. The trailer shows her laughing it up with the kids and partying hard with a giant smile on her face. This makes her grim turn unexpected and that’s arguably even more terrifying than a tall serial killer with no emotion.
It’s difficult to accept a darker perspective on something that was previously shown in a positive light. We’ve all had those moments to some degree. Something happens that completely, or at least partially changes our mind on what we thought to be the truth. Sometimes the realization is minor, other times it can be sad and depressing, and in the case of Ma, it proves to be deadly. The preconceived idea of a seemingly harmless and out-of-the-way person like Sue being such a disturbed person is hard to comprehend, especially with the beloved Spencer playing the role. But as mentioned before, horror aims to subvert expectations and this can prove to be too much to handle if done with the right situation.
Horror is a genre that not only relishes in twisting expectations, but encourages a shift in thinking when it comes to the various topics the genre has covered. When The Stepford Wives came out in 1975, it pushed for people to take the time to think about what life is really like for seemingly happy trophy wives living in nice and quiet neighborhoods. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre placed the bulk of its horrific content on a hot and sunny day, bringing the terrifying murder spree to the natural spotlight of the sun. Pet Sematary and Children of the Corn made audiences look at young children with a slightly more skeptical eye.
Horror, above all things, wants to make us feel uncomfortable with what we’re seeing.
Sure, any horror film with gratuitous amounts of gore can inspire squeamishness and a possible loss in appetite, but a horror film that actively takes something positive and transforms it into something creepy and disturbing is one that is most likely to stick. Ma’s popularity on social media comes from the trailer’s depiction of Spencer and the fact that there’s just something off about seeing a typically friendly face like hers splattered with blood. The blinds are opening to give us a peak inside the mind of an otherwise kindly medical aide and what we’ll find is something we may or may not be able to comprehend.
It remains to be seen just how much impact Ma will have on popular culture post-release, but the attention the movie has gained on social media proves that people are interested, if not simply curious to see what ‘Ma’ has up her sleeves. Brightburn just gave us a reason to fear the alien boy we have celebrated in comics for decades and Ma may give us a reason to not be so trustworthy of “cool” strangers that love to party. It’s not a comforting thought to have our personal world views be questioned at its core, but horror has never been known as a stable safe space to begin with.