Released in 2019, horror movie Ma proved to be one of the most bizarre studio movies made in years. Despite its tepid critical reception, Ma has garnered a dedicated following, which has led to writer and director Tate Taylor devising ideas for a potential Ma 2, with the idea to resurrect the title character and her nefarious ways in a brand-new environment.
“Can you believe how much Ma lives on? Isn’t that just crazy? I don’t think we thought Ma was going to have this afterlife as this cult thing, and I think it’s worth discussing [a sequel]. I know Octavia would do it, that’s why I purposely left her death ambiguous! My idea is that she’s moved to another town, and she has open houses in another city and kills people in the open house.”
It sounds like Tate Taylor is confident in how Ma’s evil deeds would have evolved for a follow-up, with the director further explaining the details of Ma’s career change from veterinary technician to cut-throat realtor.
“I think she’d be a real estate agent in the Pacific Northwest, and just murder white people looking at McMansions. That’s as far as I’ve gotten!”
Starring Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer as Sue Ann “Ma” Ellington, a lonely middle-aged woman who turns out to be a lot more psychopathic than she appears (the haircut was a dead giveaway in hindsight), Ma follows a group of teenagers who befriend Sue Ann. She decides to let the group throw a party in the basement of her home, but things start to turn weird when Ma lays down a few ground rules: One of the kids has to stay sober, don’t curse, never go upstairs, and always refer to her as “Ma”. As Ma’s hospitality quickly begins to curdle into obsession, what began as a teenage dream turns into a terrorizing nightmare, and Ma’s place goes from the best place in town to the worst place on Earth.
Produced, co-written and directed by Tate Taylor, Ma stars Juliette Lewis, Diana Silvers, Corey Fogelmanis, and Luke Evans alongside Spencer. The movie was a commercial success, grossing $61.1 million against its $5 million budget. Critically however, Ma was met with mixed reviews from critics, who praised Spencer’s central performance for elevating the material, but criticized the movie’s pacing and failure to take full advantage of the premise. Something which Taylor could rectify should a sequel ever come to fruition.
Initially, the idea for Ma came as a result of Taylor’s desire to make a movie about “something f***ed up,” with the sequel sounding a like it has likely come from that same dark place lurking in the recesses of his mind. Spencer meanwhile decided to sign on to the first movie as it gave her the opportunity to subvert a well-known horror trope. “There are archetypes people only want to see me as,” she said upon Ma’s release. “So I had to change that for myself [and] the next young woman of color to be able to play every type of role.”
Ma ends with Sue Ann cuddling with a corpse as her house burns down around her, so bringing her back for Ma 2 could prove a little difficult. Though, if the likes of Michael Myers can return from certain death again and again, why not Ma? This comes to us from Entertainment Weekly.