Master
**Seen for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
“Master” is very much up my alley in a lot of ways when it comes to horror. I like slow burn, suspense over gore, horror films that work our nerves over our threshold to tolerate violence. That would be enough, however, but writer-director Mariama Diallo also gives us social commentary that feels like the sweet spot between the recent “Candyman” and “Get Out” in how racial tensions play out when white communities feel obligated to “throw Blacks a bone,” as it were. As the film unfolds, it’s clear that the university this takes place at is just looking to earn affirmative action cred, rather than make any significant steps towards inclusion.
Jasmine (Zoe Moore) is here on move-in day for freshman at Ancaster College in New England. Right away we should be weary of things when their mascot is the Witches, and indeed, the university is not far from where a Salem-like persecution occurred. Even more concerning for Jasmine is how her room is in a newly re-opened house on campus, and her room in particular is where a student killed herself back in the 1960s. Jasmine also feels like the only Black student on campus.
Gail Bishop (Regina Hall) is a tenured professor at Ancaster. She is also the master at Jasmine’s house. It feels as though she was just given the position because of her race, and she gets that sense from even her colleagues. The only one she has a real friendship with is Liv (Amber Gray), a Black professor whom will lock horns with Jasmine over an assignment, and is a possibility for tenure. All three end up being intertwined in their fates, especially when past terrors rear their heads.
I’m very much of mixed mind on certain things in regards to “Master.” I think the ideas on systemic racism, tokenism and prejudice land quite well, and don’t feel too cut-and-dry, especially when someone from Liv’s past calls into question her heritage. I think any ideas connecting all of that to 17th Century witch trials fall flat, although we do get some striking images that Diallo and her cinematographer, Charlotte Hornsby, lens in a way that has an impact when they occur. When the film digs into the original mythos its laying out regarding horror on campus, however, it’s a direct hit. I love the way “Master” builds up its supernatural elements in subtle, powerful ways that play into the thematic ideas Diallo is exploring, whether it’s maggots finding their way in the house or how the tragedy on campus that haunts Jasmine feels like a manifestation of the racial discrimination that is clearly a part of the college’s history. Jasmine and Gail are the clear main characters, but Liv ties so effortlessly into their eventual fates that all three are important to the story, and Moore, Hall and Gray are terrific in their roles.
“Master” is not as challenging of a horror film as I think it wants to be. That’s not to say there aren’t strong ideas at work in it, or that it doesn’t sufficiently build in tension. What I mean by that is that, I don’t think “Master” has any ideas a rational viewer could challenge, or not easily figure out. That’s not a bad thing. The most important thing is how it works as a genre film. In that respect, it’s a pretty successful one, with a conclusion that doesn’t feel forced or out of place. For a horror film dealing in ideas, sometimes that’s difficult to pull off. Diallo makes it look easy.
