Spoiler Alert: This article contains for the 2019 movie Ma.
Summary
- Fans are excited about a potential Ma sequel despite concerns about an ambiguous ending.
- Questions remain about how Octavia Spencer's character could return given the original ending.
- Director Tate Taylor hinted at a Ma 2 storyline involving real estate, leaving fans curious about the character's fate.
As a horror fan, I like checking out every new Blumhouse release, and I was impressed by the 2019 movie Ma. The film stars Octavia Spencer as a lonely woman named Sue Ann Ellington who goes by "Ma" and invites local teenagers to party in her basement. The movie has several elements that I look for in a good scary story, from a final girl/young adult character who is smart, rebellious, and misunderstood to plenty of surprises.
Blumhouse has made many beloved horror movies, including Happy Death Day and Get Out, and Ma has gained traction in the past few years. Variety reported that Blumhouse greenlit a sequel to Ma and mentioned that fans discovered the movie after its release and have made countless memes about it. But, as excited as I am to see another impressive performance from Spencer, I have one big question.
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Blumhouse Is Making Ma 2, But Didn't Octavia Spencer's Character Die At The End Of The Original 2019 Horror Movie?
While it remains to be seen how Scream 7 will bring back dead characters like Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) and I'm open-minded, I think it's a tall order to ask audiences to believe that a character could die and then come back to life. Sure, that might work for a supernatural story, but Ma is a fairly grounded and realistic horror movie. At the end of the movie, Ma lies down in bed with Ben Hawkins's (Luke Evans) dead body, and since her house is on fire, she appears to die. So, if Octavia Spencer's character comes back for Ma 2, how is that going to work?
It seems hard to believe that Ma could survive her house burning down, especially since she didn't make any moves to escape. I would also argue that the ending of Ma is tragic and unforgettable. If Ma was going to come back for the sequel, then I would have preferred another conclusion entirely. Perhaps Ma could have driven or walked away from her house, which would suggest that she was leaving town and starting fresh. Then, the Blumhouse horror sequel could pick up where the first movie left off.
What are Blumhouse's 2025 horror movies?
- Wolf Man (January 17th, 2025)
- The Woman in the Yard (March 28th, 2025)
- Drop (April 11th, 2025)
- M3GAN 2.0 (June 27th, 2025)
- The Black Phone 2 (October 17th, 2025)
- Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (December 5th, 2025)
Usually, I would guess that a dead character would come back to a horror movie in flashback form or as a ghost, and that could happen with several characters in Scream 7. However, that doesn't seem to be the case here. Since Spencer is reprising her role of Sue Ann/Ma, that suggests that perhaps she didn't really die at the end of Ma. As long as audiences are given a real explanation that makes sense, I would be okay with that.
However, I would be happy if Ma 2 was a prequel and took place several years before the events of the 2019 film. Otherwise, the ending might not have the same impact. It would be interesting to learn what Ma was up to between her traumatic high school years and the 2019 movie.
Director Tate Taylor Talked About A Ma Sequel In 2021
A few years ago, Ma director Tate Taylor gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly and talked about a potential sequel. Since audiences don't see Ma die, but the movie seems to suggest that she perished in the house fire, Taylor said, "I know Octavia would do it, that's why I purposely left her death ambiguous!"
Taylor mentioned a possible storyline for Ma 2 and said:
"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. I think she'd be a real estate agent in the Pacific Northwest... That's as far as I've gotten!"
I think it would be fun to see Ma sell real estate, and I like this idea. Since Ma is one of my favorite Blumhouse movies that doesn't involve the supernatural, I'm hopeful that Ma 2 will properly explain what happened at the end of the original movie. I'm definitely curious what the complicated main character has been up to all these years.
- Release Date
- May 31, 2019
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
- Director
- Tate Taylor
Cast
-
Kyanna Simone Simpson -
Diana Silvers -
Octavia Spencer -
Victor Turpin
- Writers
- Scotty Landes, Tate Taylor
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