Ma is garbage. Lurid, gaudy and almost as if the entire concept of artistic integrity has been insulted by this grotesque, excessive expression of immorality and unhinged incredulity to everything considered honourable and decent. It also is one of my favourite films of the year, and most certainly the most entertaining film I’ve seen in months. Ma is not a complex film – by all means, it is your standard low-concept psychological horror with light comedic overtones. In fact, this film is, and I mean this with affection, complete trash. But there is no doubt that this is the very best kind of trash cinema has to offer. This is not great filmmaking that thrives on being poetic, or moving or even slightly original in any way. This is not a film made for audiences to dissect and examine every narrative orifice in the hopes of uncovering some deeper meaning. This is a film made for pure entertainment value, and let me tell you, films do not get more entertaining than Ma. Hilarious, irreverent and deeply outrageous in every conceivable way, its a work of transgressive brilliance, less of an experience and more of a dizzying assault on the senses and a gut-punch to every bit of moral integrity everyone involved harbours, including the audience. There’s no other way to say it: Ma is just pure garbage, and I loved nearly every moment of it.

We all have our secret shames when it comes to cinema (normally validated as being our “guilty pleasures”), and personally, I proudly flaunt my love for many of these sub-genres that don’t exactly qualify as the most dignified artistic work. However, a genre that I’ve quietly kept to myself is that of the trashy psychological thrillers that reached their apex in the 1990s, with their low-budget filmmaking, awful attempts at acting and beyond predictable stories made for truly entertaining cinema (I use the word “cinema” very loosely, as the best in this sub-genre never saw a theatre, rather finding their home on VOD and low-quality TV channels) – I am a self-professed scholar of camp, and the tenets of that artistic concept have never been better demonstrated than in these kinds of pulpy thrillers. Ma is a perfect homage to these kinds of films, and hailing from Tate Taylor, who made the horribly enjoyable and enjoyably horrible The Girl on the Train (a film in which dropping a baby was not a diversion or by-product of the lead character’s instability, but a major driving force to the plot), this film is well on its way to cult status. Taking all the iconic elements from its artistically-dubious predecessors, Ma is a truly remarkable attempt at recapturing the spirit of trash cinema at its finest, and through the force of true conviction alone, this becomes perhaps the most entertaining film of the year, and something that has the audience laughing regularly, especially when laughter isn’t normally discouraged, but also deeply inappropriate.

Sue Ann Ellington (Octavia Spencer) is a lonely woman living in a small town, working as the long-suffering assistant to an abrasive veterinarian, with her life now being one moment of abuse to another from all of those around her. A chance encounter with a group of teenagers, including Maggie (Diana Silvers), who is new in town, leads Sue Ann to finally be able to get her retribution by befriending these underage teenagers and helping them score alcohol and have a safe place to consume it. Ma, as she is now referred to, opens the town’s most exciting new club, where all the youngsters flock every weekend. What no one realizes is that Ma has a secret – she went to school with their parents, and her hospitality harbours ulterior motives, as she is set on getting her revenge from a lifetime of being bullied and derided. It also helps that Ma is an unhinged, violent psychopath who has killer moves when it comes to both dancing and murdering innocent people in cold blood. Slowly, Ma’s past is unearthed, and her tendencies towards manipulation and violence become very clear – but by the time everyone realizes it, it might just be a little too late and trust me when I say Ma is intent on getting back at those who harmed her all those years ago, and she’s doing it in style.

There are some roles that are just too good on the page to ever been perfectly realized when it comes to portraying them. Fictional characters are always more outrageous in concept rather than in execution. However, from time to time, an actor comes along that fits the material so perfectly and manages to interpret the character with such fierce conviction, it almost feels unreal. In this case, Octavia Spencer takes on the titular role of Sue Ann “Ma” Ellington and has nothing short of a field day with one of modern cinema’s most shockingly ostentatious characters. Spencer has been a consistently great character actress since her breakthrough with The Help in 2011, but Ma is the first time she’s been given a leading role, and it is also one that is worthy of the immense and unique talents that have made her such an irreplaceable part of contemporary Hollywood. With her performance here, Spencer doesn’t only play the role – she grips it with a relentless ferocity and delivers one of the most compelling, riveting performances of the year. It’s one thing to have fun with a role, and another to derive every bit of possible value from it. Ma may be a flawed film when it comes to its story, but no one can ever accuse it of not having a great performance in the central role. Spencer has always elevated even the most paltry of material, so its hardly surprising that, when given the opportunity to let loose and play her most entertaining character to date, she does so with an unprecedented velocity that makes this, despite the genre, a truly impressive performance. I cannot ever express how much I loved Spencer in this film – its a rare feat for a performance to both make me laugh, and terrify me to my wit’s end, and the fact that she does here is a great accomplishment. Ma may be a divisive film, but there’s no doubt that if there is one glowing merit that everyone can agree upon, its that Spencer is utterly remarkable here.

Naturally, with such a dynamic performance at the core, nothing else really should matter when it comes to Ma. Spencer is the reason to watch this film, and I highly doubt anyone is seeing the film for any other reason than to watch Spencer chew the scenery with brute intensity. Without her, this film would just not succeed. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t merits to it that extend beyond the main character. The best part about this film is that absolutely no one was intending to make a quality film – everyone knew they were involved in something that was essentially glorified trash cinema, which is precisely why this film is so entertaining, and why it keeps us captivated to the very end. Unlike many similar films that are blissfully unaware of how dreadfully poor they are, Ma has a certain self-awareness and a terrific sense of humour. It knows it is rubbish, and it embraces that point, because without this trashy sensibility, this story would not nearly be as riveting as it is. There are some films that just excel when they’re made poorly, and stupidity, on the rare occurrence, can be the best approach when it comes to such outrageous stories. Had Taylor attempted to make an intelligent, subversive psychological thriller from this material, it wouldn’t have only not worked as well, it would’ve been unbearably boring. Ma is a film that practically begs to be derided – the negative reviews to this film are, in actuality, the very purpose, and benefit it far more than glowing raves would. I’d also put money on the fact that the most cynical of critics that purport to despise this film were the ones having the best time in the theatre. In all honesty, Ma makes trash cinema look classy, which is an admirable feat and something that should be celebrated.

Ma is just so much fun. It’s not necessarily smart cinema, but it doesn’t need to be. It is trashy in the best way possible – it takes a silly premise and dials it all the way up to eleven, crafting a film that is hilarious when it isn’t supposed to be. I could name all the outrageous moments that make this such an entertaining film, but that would rob prospective viewers of experiencing them first-hand. This is a truly outrageous film that never dares play down its inherent excessiveness, being an impulsive but entertaining mess of a film that truly unadulterated fun in every possible way. I really do admire this film – it takes a lot to make something so confidently insane and strange, and to sacrifice nearly everything artistically-resonant about cinema and abandon all morality in making something so undeniably foolish, but it just works to the film’s benefit, with Ma being the best kind of trash cinema – it is a riot of a film, and it never takes itself too seriously. It can be chilling at times, which only makes the more erratic moments all the more effective. Ma is ridiculous and relentless in realizing its absurd premise, and while the rest of the year may present us with much better films, I highly doubt any of them will be nearly as entertaining as this unhinged camp masterpiece.