Octavia Spencer is showing off her sinister side in “Ma.” A newly released trailer for the horror pic kicks off with a familiar scene: teens approaching an adult asking for help to buy booze. Ma (Spencer) reluctantly agrees. Then things go in an unexpected direction. Upon returning with the goods, Ma offers an invite: “You guys wanna party like rockstars?” she asks. “Follow me.”
Ma leads the teens to her — isolated, creepy-looking — house, and directs them to the basement. “You’re free to do whatever you want down here but nobody goes upstairs,” she explains.
The underage teens are delighted to find a place where they can drink and cavort freely — so they are willing to overlook the weirdness of Ma sending them texts the next day when they didn’t give her their numbers.
Maggie (Diana Silvers), a new teen in town, can’t help but think something’s “off” with Ma, though her friends are quick to dismiss Ma as harmless. But as more and more evidence piles up, it’s clear that Ma is anything but harmless — and it seems she has unfinished business with the teens’ parents.
“Ma” re-teams Spencer with her “Help” director Tate Taylor. She won an Oscar for the 2011 period pic, and has also received nods for “The Shape of Water” and “Hidden Figures.”
Check out “Ma’s” trailer to see what happens when Maggie wakes up with bruises on her body and jewelry missing — and no recollection of the night before. The film opens wide May 31.