User reviews

This will mean a lot more to certain people than it will to others. If you have lived through an experience like the main characters are going through - you will understand. There is a heavy message, not even hidden in the movie. And the actors are doing their best to put it on screen.

It is three stories of sorts that are being told. And all have their shades of grey in them ... there are scenes that are quite crystal clear too of course. Like a party scene, where you can literally feel the anxiety and the stress our younger heroine has to go through ... some of it may be in her head ... doesn't make it easier to endure. For her or for us - even if we are just watching the scene unfold.

There are things that are thrown into your face and there are other things that are way more subtle than that. And then there are scenes that will shock and maybe haunt you. This is not just a drama ... it is horror too. Everyday horror but also ... something different. If you can't put your finger on it ... you try to explain it ... that can work or not ... the movie does try to put a lot in it ... and tries to convey a message ... one that needs to be said and told ... unfortunately it loses focus on more than one occasion ... and while the ending could and almost is a punch in the gut (in a "good" sense) ... some of the impact has been soften by all the extra noise woven into it ... still a decent effort to say the least ... and again, will work for some more than for others.

Love the intro (10-15%), slow modern clean but low quality acting.

The dynamic and contradicting relations are done good but too obviously make it bit childish not sophisticated enough.

Like the party red strobe scene nicely done.

Interesting scenes... Like how the director pick actors that had a humor sticking image and turning them into real actors without the humor character coming out.

Ok camera work The speed of the scenes are done greatly The mind game is done nicely the plots, the twists.

Deep story but there is so much unclearness to be resolved.... Felt in the end it is being rushed compare to the beginning (first half)

A disappointment. It started out so good until and it kept being good until one point. It became so boring after and so slow that it made me not wanna pay attention to it anymore but I did to see how this film was gonna end up. I was waiting for the whole supernatural thing to be solved but nothing happened, just dialogues. It sure had a deep meaning but Regina Hall can do a lot better than this.

It is an allegory. It is about racism that is still smouldering.

It is not a bad movie but 'selling' a 'drama' movie as a horror, science fiction or whatever type movie is generally not a good idea.

I still liked it, it is smartly written with good performances, but i can imagine others feel 'betrayed'.

Creepy horror music, shadowy figures, witchcraft references, similar in style to Get Out, I expected something true to actual horror movie style in the end result. Racism shown along the lines of Get Out would have fit in as well.

Racism on its own is indeed a horror and it's horrible but why depict mixed in with this crap? It's certainly not going to reach or hit home with someone might be intended for. And the rest of us? Who already get the true injustice of elitism and racism, we deserved better.

White entitlement...a movie depicting the harm in real terms? Fine, go for it. But leading everyone down an obscure path of witchcraft inuendo to try and depict? Maybe done well could work, this definitely wasn't.

The writer and director showed no perspective and just left most of us lost. Too many disconnected scenes with no evident purpose simply tossed in as filler.

Horrible movie (not horror) with an even more horrible ending. Very disappointed.

5.6* I like the whole perspective it took on racism but there was something lacking. It's like it kept getting to this point where there the suspense is high and then nothing happens. It continuously gave this uneasy feeling that you get when watching a horror film but never delves deep enough into the story to have a true feeling of horror. A lot of the story could've been elaborated on. The writers definitely had a message they wanted to express but most of the meaning is buried somewhere outside of this film. Regina Hall and Zoe Renee were excellent though.

PS.... As with all film about racism, yt people will try to drive the score down way more than it should be (just as they did with candyman) so watch and form your own opinions.

Master (2022) is a movie I recently watched on Amazon Prime. The storyline follows a woman who joins a college and serves as both a teacher and overseas one of the dorm halls. She quickly realizes something is off with the staff and their outlook. Meanwhile, a young black woman is given a specific room in her dorm with its own checkered past.

This movie is directed by Mariama Diallo in her directorial debut and stars Regina Hall (Scary Movie), Zoe Renee (Jinn), Julia Nightingale (Evil), Talia Ryder (West Side Story) and Ella Hunt (The More You Ignore).

The storyline for this movie had so much potential but didn't attack the depths of the topics the way I was hoping for. The acting is solid and the topics referenced are real, but how the characters handled them came up short. The horror elements had potential and some eerie elements; but again, didn't push the elements deep enough to excite me.

Overall this is one of those almost good movies that falls short. I would score this a 3.5-4/10 and recommend skipping it.

Ok this is not a traditional horror movie that many were expecting but instead it's more of a horror/drama film. It was intriguing throughout and held my attention. It's clever and smart showing that all may not be well as it seems. Give it a chance.

It's nowhere close to Horror in any manner. It has some racial discourse and nothing else. Wasted my time watching this hoping it's horror! Switch and bait is all it is.

Ignore the low rating if you like creepy, slow burn, deep and dark horror movies.

The low ratings are posted mostly by people who don't understand what's happening in this movie. Some complain about loose ends, of which there are none if you can follow a story that is below the surface of the plot. If the viewer is attentive there are no loose ends and everything makes perfect sense.

Others complain that it is boring or slow. Those reviews are posted by people who don't understand how to experience suspense and the methodical buildup of story and character. Predictably, some reviewers complain about what they perceive as preachiness.

So, the first two kinds of low reviews are easily dismissed, since they are written by people who are just not very sophisticated movie watchers in the first place. That's not the movie's fault.

The third kind of low reviews, written by viewers who complain about the preachiness, are more interesting, if wrong-headed. The screenwriter/director made a conscious decision to not be subtle about the movie's messages and themes, and to literally speak them out loud. One of the most fascinating elements of Master of is that, despite the lantern that is hung on the themes and the messages, the movie itself is so very subtle with its use of symbolism, enigmatic-but-meaningful story and plot elements, and a complex cast of characters who represent numerous facets of racism: from sloppy, overt racism to the maddening racism of white liberals who think they are not racist, but whose lack of awareness of their own privilege makes them full contributors to systemic racism and the related insidiousness of self-satisfied denial. This movie is uncommonly deep and complex in its depiction of themes and characters, all the more impressive given that, as some have noted (while completely misunderstanding the point), the messages and the themes are almost literally shouted from the rooftops.

In addition to the above sophisticated and compelling aspects of the movie, Master stands on its own as a superb horror movie. A sense foreboding intention permeates every frame from the opening seconds. In addition, there are numerous moments of sheer creepiness, and, it would appear, more than a hint of Dario Argento in the cinematography. In fact, if you've seen argento's Suspiria you'll recognize Master's direct visual homage to the scene in which a character lying in bed hears an old woman moaning from the other side of a red backlit curtain. (Oh, and Argento's maggots make an appearance.)

Master is a very good horror movie in its own right, and the sophisticated way in which it develops and shares its story, characters, and themes, makes it one of the best American horror movies of the last several years.

Master is more concerned as a social commentary instead of as a horror film, but that doesn't mean negates its "scarryness." One must give Mariama Diallo a credit for her strong direction. Master definitely fascinating to watch. However, the film also suffers from a lack of a solid focus while the conveying process of its theme can a little bit falter sometimes. The ambiguity of its many aspects doesn't help either.

I love a scary movie! This has the potential & never got there. They were so focused on discrimination and carrying that storyline throughout that they forgot the horror. Yes, discrimination is horrible but there should be a rating for that! They touched briefly on a couple of ways the story could've gone to make it interesting even terrifying but instead redirected back it back to racism. It's a great movie for someone looking to get riled up about the injustices of racism but I hardly think that this attempt at a titled "horror" Movie is going to change a racists mind about their biases.

OK the writing of this was horrible....it really had the guts of a great movie but where was the story going ? Soo many unanswered questions that didn't make sense. I really was hoping it got better but didn't and the ending?? Well I lost 99 mins and I'm shocked Regina Hall accepted this project.... Regina is awesome but the writing and the direction was horrible...I'm done!!

Movie was neither too good nor too bad as the ratings indicate. The director had good intentions behind but execution ended up mediocre.

People with broad and open mind can understand the pain that the main characters are going through in this movie.

What worries me is the trend in Hollywood for consistently down rating the movies that talks about prevalent and historic racism. This act itself says the we need more and more movies like Master.

I love this dialogue in the movie - " It's not the Ghosts, It's not Supernatural. It's America and it's everywhere. "

I was the person who listened to the review that said it's not as bad as the bad reviews... I wish I would have listened. I can't get my time back but hopefully I can save yours! Absolutely dumbest ending...had potential that took a nose dive about 20 min in. Ugh what a waste.

I went into this hoping for a good, creepy Ghost Story, and got something completely different. I am a Caucasian American who has in only the past month or so, especially after studying the article written by Clint Smith for The Atlantic, finally thrown off the burden of the Lost Cause narrative--yes, the same narrative that this film is all about. As Ghost Stories go, this one is fair-to-middlin', but as a teaching narrative and a cherry on top of the recent upheavals here in America ignited by shootings of innocents and perverted profiling based in the deep-seated belief that Caucasians are somehow superior to People of Color, it stands out loud and proud.

Well that was confusing. After it finally ended I had no idea what the point of this film was. It started out ok but about half way in I was completely lost. The last half of the film was a complete mind ****. How I got through it is beyond me. It was shot well and has some good acting so 5 stars for a basic film.

Ignore the Boogaloo Boys' reviews. This movie is an eye opening, tense thriller. Perfectly acted and with a twisty plot that almost needs multiple viewings to unravel. It is superior to "Get Out" in that the horrors are real.

I thought it was a decent movie. I usually trust the ratings on IMDB and they're always spot on but when it comes to movies based on race and racism, you have to take the low ratings with a grain of salt. It was a better than average movie for me. Definitely had a lot of similarities to Jordan Peel's "Get Out". My issue is that there were so many random scenes. The scenes weren't connecting. I felt there were a lot of missing scenes in the movie. Overall a good movie.

Since Jordan Peeled created "Get Out" there are more and more of these racially charged thriller / horror projects emerging and none of them come close to being as good as Peele's project. I am a huge Regina Hall fan, but this movie was straight up weird and failed to hit the mark for me.

Master

This movie was quite a mixed bags of different themes, all of them being different aspects racism. However we never saw any specific targeted attack except for some graffiti and an object on the doorknob, this followed a party where Jasmine had stole her roommate boyfriend, so we were expecting some retribution.

The movie had a nihilistic overtone where nothing would ever change and nothing could be done, if this were truly the case you would move to a place where you were outwardly the same as everybody else. The movie suggested further that her place in the school and that of 8 others students of colour was mere tokenism, thus seriously stretched a point.

Over these issues we had some horror, racial appropriation and repeating figures from the past.

It was a mess, it could have been good, really good had they stuck with the English professor who was not what she seemed.

I'm giving this a weak 5 outta 10, the atmosphere was good but the script let this down.