"MASTER" // SXSW 2022

BY MATEO MORENO

Institutionalized racism is the subject on hand here, as MASTER presents itself as a different kind of horror film. Not only does it feature the bumps in the night, but it tells of the terror in the dark, especially as a Black student in a predominantly white school. The film focuses on several black students and faculty members. Regina Hall is Gail Bishop, the first African-American Master at New England University Ancaster. This isn't lost on anyone, especially the staff who seem to continue to pat itself on the back for being so "diverse" to choose a black woman as the university's master. There's also the Freshman named Jasmine (Zoe Renee), a hardworking and doesn't understand why her papers in Professor Liv Beckman's class (played by Amber Gray). She's also told about the curse of her room, room 302. Supposedly, the campus was built on the grounds of a witch burning in the 17th century and anyone who is unlucky enough to live in room 302 will be haunted by her curse. Why room 302 in particular? Seems that there's another dark secret that happened within that room involving a young black woman.

Gail herself starts to witness strange things in the shadows and slowly starts to see through the fake progressiveness of the institution that she works for. Her friend Liv is called out by Jasmine to the University, as Jasmine believes that she is being treated unjustly by the Professor. Secrets begin to unravel and the horror stories that seems to be sneaking around in the darkness begin to clash with the horrors of modern day racism and white privilege.

Is MASTER a horror film? A cautionary tale of institutionalized racism? It's both and much more. Writer/director Mariama Diallo has crafted a powerful film here, with a stunning performance by Regina Hall anchoring the entire film. But it should also be noted how good Zoe Renee and Amber Gray are as well. With brutal honestness and a no holds bar approach, this is a film that tears the genre apart and doesn't want to even put it back together. It leaves the scars of what we just witness lying on the ground, still broken, still shattered with a profound story left in our memories.

GRADE: A

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Mariama Diallo STARRING Regina Hall, Zoe Renee, Talia Ryder, Talia Balsam, Amber Gray. SELECTED AS PART OF THE 2022 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: MASTER