History Film / Ma

* DisproportionateRetribution:
** Yes, Sue Ann has reason to hate [[spoiler:Ben and his friends for having abused her in high school.]] But her resort to torture and murder makes her even worse than them, especially because she treats all of her classmates as equally to blame and drags their kids into it too.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Ma kills both [[spoiler:Mercedes and Ben]], who were both either directly or indirectly responsible for her high school trauma.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** After getting on so well the first night, Ma invites the kids out to drink with her a second time, but they reply that they can't because they all have homework and other responsibilities. You can't party ''all'' the time.
** While most high school outcasts don't become as unhinged as Ma, the movie does highlight the fact that a victim of severe bullying can be haunted by the trauma for the rest of their lives, while the bullies themselves are able to grow into functional adults and write off their past behavior as childhood immaturity.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Even after Ma points a gun at Chaz and forces him to strip, the kids still keep going over to her house for booze and parties.

* CategoryTraitor: When Ma gives out a different "punishment" to each of the four kids, she paints Darrell's face white on the grounds that he cared more about being down with the popular white kids than about respecting her as a fellow black person. She also sews Hayley's mouth shut after being told that [[YouNeedToGetLaid she needs a man]].

* SanitySlippage: Granted, Ma wasn't that stable to begin with considering her kleptomania and MunchausenSyndrome, but she only turns openly murderous after Hayley's "block Ma" campaign and Ben's ReasonYouSuckSpeech at the restaurant.

* TragicVillain: Ma has shades of this. [[spoiler:Viciously bullied during high school for her appearance, bookishness, and implicitly her race, she became the butt of a particularly horrific prank that the whole school got to witness, partially orchestrated by her crush. In the modern day, it's unclear if Ma began the story as a psychopath or if she really was just trying to make the friends she never had in her youth. On the one hand, her treatment of Genie is horrific, but on the other hand, her desperate attempts to make right by Maggie and Hayley and her childish excitement over Ben's invitation to dinner belies the fact that she never did recover from her high school abuse.]]

-->'''Sue Ann:''' But you didn't! You didn't! (crying) You didn't!

* DirtyOldWoman: Ma targets Andy, the son of her high school crush, and forces Chad to strip naked at gunpoint before making comments on his body.

* CategoryTraitor: When Ma gives out a different "punishment" to each of the four kids, she paints Darrell's face white on the grounds that he cared more about being down with the popular white kids than about respecting her as a fellow black person and sewing Hayley's mouth shut after being told that [[YouNeedToGetLaid she needs a man]].

* AutoErotica: Ben is in the driver's seat of his car getting a blowjob from Mercedes, when they're interrupted by a call on his cellphone.

* BaitAndSwitch: Ben takes his dog to the vet, recognizes Sue Ann at the counter, and warmly invites her to dinner. Sue Ann gets excited and dresses up, thinking she finally has a chance at her old crush (Ben is a widower). [[spoiler: Ben is actually trying to confront Sue Ann over his kids going to her house to party. He ends up cruelly telling her that "some people just don't change," which seems to be the final insult that causes Sue Ann to snap; the very next scene, she murders Mercedes.]]

* BedTrick: As shown in the flashback to when all the grown up characters were in high school, [[spoiler:Ben took Sue Ann into a dark closet so that she thought she was performing fellatio on him, but when they come out she discovers that Ben tricked her by switching himself with another guy and telling everybody to wait outside to mock her afterwards.]]
* BestServedCold: Sue Ann was treated horribly in high school by people she thought were her friends. Now middle aged, she's going to take her revenge on both those classmates and their high school-aged kids.

* BlackComedy: Shades of this throughout. In particular, the bit where [[spoiler: Sue Ann impulsively murders Mercedes by running her over so that the body does a flip in the air, after which Sue Ann just keeps on driving and starts playing "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire as if nothing had happened. The WhamShot of Mercedes' bloody corpse while the music plays is the icing on the cake]].

* HateSink: Ben and Mercedes bullied Sue Ann back in high school by tricking her into performing a [[BedTrick blowjob on a total stranger]] in a dark closet while her classmates waited outside to mock her. Unrepentant even years later, Ben threatens Sue Ann and additionally reminds her that she was a loser. As such, both receive little sympathy when Sue Ann murders them.

* KickTheDog: After the main group of teens turn down Ma's second invite, she tries to win over another group by buying them booze like she did with Maggie and her friends, but when she leads them to her house, they just drive off with the alcohol and egg her truck for her troubles.

** After the teens block her and stop coming to her house, Ma tells them she has pancreatic cancer and explains her off-putting behavior as a side-effect of the cancer drugs she's on. Maggie figures it's a lie Sue Ann came up with to regain their trust.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: That second group of kids who ditch Ma after she buys them booze. To them she was just a gullible adult, and despite the dickishness of egging her truck, they were ''definitely'' better off for wanting nothing more to do with her.

* ShamefulStrip: On the first night that the kids come to her basement, Ma takes offense at something Chaz says and suddenly pulls a gun on him, forcing him to take his clothes off. Finally she breaks the tension by laughing and claiming she was just kidding, which relieves everyone but proves to be an early red flag.

* DirtyOldWoman: Ma targets Andy, the son of her high school crush.

* MadDoctor: Ma works as a veterenarian's assistant, while secretly using her skills and the medical supplies she steals to drug and torture her victims.

* CategoryTraitor: When Ma gives out a different "punishment" to each of the four kids, she paints Darrell's face white on the grounds that he cared more about being down with the popular white kids than about respecting her as a fellow black person.

* BlackComedy: Shades of this throughout. In particular, the bit where [[spoiler: Sue Ann impulsively murders Mercedes by running her over so that the body does a flip in the air, after which Sue Ann just keeps on driving and starts playing "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire as if nothing had happened.]]

** While most high school outcasts don't become as unhinged as Ma, the movie does highlight the fact that a victim of severe bullying can be haunted by the trauma for the rest of their lives, while the bullies themselves are able to grow into functional adults and simply write off their past behavior as childhood immaturity.

* AdultFear: Imagine your children getting close to a [[FauxAffablyEvil seemingly-harmless]] woman who just wants to show them a good time... but who slowly reveals [[AxCrazy just how utterly unbalanced she is.]]

* ArmorPiercingResponse: As Sue Ann is about to kill him for what he did to her back in high school, Ben protests that he was just a kid then. Sue Ann simply retorts, "So was I, [[PrecisionFStrike motherfucker]]."

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ma_8.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time!"'']]
->'''Maggie:''' There’s something off about Ma.\\
'''Andy:''' Seriously? She’s harmless. And her basement’s pretty much the best drinking spot in town.

** While most high school outcasts don't become as unhinged as Ma, the movie does highlight the fact that the trauma of bullying can haunt you for the rest of your life, while the bullies themselves are able to grow into functional adults and simply write off their past behavior as childhood immaturity.

** While most high school outcasts don't become as unhinged as Ma, the movie does highlight the fact that they have to live with the trauma of bullying for the rest of their lives, while the bullies themselves are able to grow into functional adults and write off their past behavior as childhood immaturity.

* RealityEnsues:
** After getting on so well the first night, Ma invites the kids out to drink with her a second time, but they reply that they can't because they all have homework and other responsibilities to see to. You can't party ''all'' the time.
** While most high school outcasts don't become as unhinged as Ma, the movie does highlight the fact that most bullies are able to grow into functional adults and write off their past behavior as childhood immaturity. Meanwhile, their victims have to live with the trauma for the rest of their lives and their mental health is worse off for it.

* ScaryBlackWoman: Ma becomes murderously obsessed with the teens she hangs out with as the film goes on.

* BeautyToBeast: [[spoiler:Haley, the prettiest and most popular girl in the school, is scarred and disfigured from having her mouth sewn shut. She will never be the "hot girl" at school again.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: Haley is the [[AlphaBitch resident mean girl and popular, hot, queen bee of the school]]. After [[spoiler:Ma sews her mouth shut to punish her for being a talkative mean girl]], however, [[spoiler:she becomes disfigured and she loses her beauty. She will lose her status as one of the pretty girls for the rest of high school and likely her popularity, and even if she undergoes long-term surgery, she will never get her old looks back.]]

** While all the teens are traumatized and physically injured, [[spoiler:Ma's treatment of Haley is particularly horrific, as she sews her mouth closed and disfigures her.]]

* FacialHorror: [[spoiler:Haley's]] face is horribly mangled after her mouth is sewn shut by Ma.

* PunishedWithUgly: Ma sews [[spoiler:Haley]]'s mouth shut to punish her for being talkative and her mean girl tendencies, [[spoiler:which disfigures her and deprives her of her beauty.]]

** While most high school outcasts don't become serial killers, the movie does highlight the fact that most bullies are able to grow into functional adults and write off their past behavior as childhood immaturity. Meanwhile, their victims have to live with the trauma for the rest of their lives and their mental health is worse off for it.

** Ma tries to win over another group of teens by buying them booze like she did with Maggie and her friends. When she leads the teens to her house, they just drive off with the alcohol.