‘Master’ Review: Echoes of Historical Crimes Permeate a Haunted College in This Stylish Horror Film
variety.comTomris Laffly There is something inherently unsettling about an elite university’s aura of vanity. Few other contemporary locations summon such a sense of reverence, exclusivity and historical angst — especially if the college is somewhere in brisk New England and adorned with the Ivy League distinction.
Through an unnerving blend of supernatural horror and psychological drama, fiercely talented writer-director Mariama Diallo’s debut feature “Master” reflects on the roots and customs of one such illustrious school of eerily beautiful stone buildings and handsomely dim, wood-heavy chambers.
It’s a fictional prototype called Ancaster, erected near where the Salem witch trials were once carried out. Diallo knows exactly what makes the grounds and hallways of these often lily-white institutions spine-tingling as she dissects their historical footprint, real and imagined, through the ghosts of those who left it.
The result is a stylish, sometimes terrifying genre film that shares DNA with Nia DaCosta’s “Candyman,” and likewise has much on its mind around intersectional notions of race, class and gender, with their past and present echoes.
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