Review
MASTER – Review
A tale of a hanged witch and much more haunt an ancient private university in New England, in Mariama Diallo’s debut feature MASTER, where three Black women struggle against a college’s long racial history as they try to find their place in academia.
MASTER is the latest entry in the category of Black horror, a genre opened up by GET OUT and CANDYMAN, in a tale of New England college haunted by a legend of a witch hanged and by its own racist history. Three Black women, two professors and a new student, struggle to navigate academia at a college older than the country itself, one that seems eager to embrace diversity but is hampered by its past and old habits. Writer-director Mariama Diallo’s MASTER starts out very scary, with strong supernatural elements but by its end, it turns more towards social commentary, with racial issues more a source of horror. MASTER is a strong directorial debut, with some pretty disturbing stuff beyond the usual horror film sense.
This tale takes place at Ancaster College, an elite and ancient New England college whose history comes with a haunting witch tale. The story is that Margaret Millett, a woman living in the Salem witch trials era, was hanged for witchcraft on the land where the college now stands. What’s more, Millett is said to haunt the campus still, particularly Belleville House, a residence hall built where the gallows once stood.
Professor Gail Bishop (Regina Hall) has just been appointed Master of a student residence, the first Black woman to hold this prestigious position. Gail is excited about her new position, hoping to use it as a way to make changes at the somewhat stuffy university. The position comes with a cottage on campus next to the student residence hall, where, as Master, Bishop is expected to serve as guide and supporter for her young charges.
Of course, the residence hall of which Prof. Bishop is now Master is the haunted Belleville House.
Ancaster College is hoping to re-position itself as an institution that welcomes diversity. Gail’s new role comes with higher standing in the college’s academic hierarchy, along with some pressure to serve as public relations symbol of the old college’s new embrace of diversity. She is also on a committee that is deciding whether to give tenure, that prized academic standing, to Liv Beckman (Amber Gray), Gail’s friend and the only other Black woman on the faculty (or at least in her department). Needless to say, the new Master would like to see that happen, so she feels less isolated on the predominately white campus.
Among Professor Gail Bishop’s charges is Jasmine Moore (Zoe Renee), a Black freshman arriving with high hopes for Ancaster. Jasmine is one of only eight Black students on campus, but she is optimistic and determined to fit in. Jasmine is from nice West Coast suburban family and was high school valedictorian, but clearly she is an outsider to the school’s elitist white New England students.
When Jasmine is assigned to a room with a haunted history, it triggers chattering gossip among the students who are greeting the incoming freshmen, who refuse to tell Jasmine the significance. Jasmine eventually learns from another student that the room part of an eerie legend in which Margaret Millett, the woman hanged as a witch on the site of the college, is said to haunt the room, claiming one of the students on the anniversary of her death at 3:33 am. The witch story is a big part of the college’s history but the haunted room tale is more a legend whispered among students.
Despite a rocky start, Jasmine quickly befriends her roommate, who helps her as she encounters both microaggressions and more overt racism and sexism from the other students, particularly male ones. But the roommate has her own problems, which come to play as the plot unfolds.
Weird things happen almost immediately to both Jasmine and Gail, who are the main characters more than the other Black faculty member, Liv Beckman. However, for the most part, the film travels on parallel paths with only occasional overlap between their two stories.
Gail is thrilled to move into the Master’s cottage but it seems the place has not been occupied for awhile. Everything is draped in sheets (which for unknown reasons she is slow to remove), there are eerie noises, things suddenly break or collapse, and opening drawers sometimes reveal infestations or other unpleasant surprises. Although the college sends maintenance to correct these problems, she keeps finding them. Gail is particularly drawn to an upstairs room, which apparently once was occupied by a Black maid, and now is filled old with historical artifacts, including disturbing racist ones. Gail is also haunted by strange visions, which may be either nightmares or supernatural manifestations.
Meanwhile, Jasmine also has strange dreams or supernatural encounters, many having to do with the witch said to haunt her dorm room. When Jasmine learns about what happened to the first Black student to occupy the room decades back, she becomes increasingly obsessed with that tragic story.
At first, the supernatural happenings and reveals about the haunted history dominate the film, including encounters with a strange sect that dresses in 17th century attire and seem to have a link to the witch. But things turn more towards social commentary and the psychological than the supernatural as the film unfolds.
Jasmine is in Liv Beckman’s class, where the students are tasked with analyzing “The Scarlet Letter” for racist undertones. The professor praises Jasmine’s skill as a writer but doesn’t think Jasmine understood the assignment and gives her F for not finding enough racist material in the novel. The freshman disagrees with her grade and pushes back, challenging it formally through the university.
It seems surprising how little Gail, as the residence hall Master, does to support and help student Jasmine, the sole Black student among her charges. Jasmine’s dispute about the grade she received from Liv Beckman puts Gail in a difficult position between supporting the student as she should or the fellow professor she hopes will join her as the only other Black tenured faculty. She counsels Jasmine to not pursue the academic action, which could endanger Liv’s tenure. It is an action that makes Gail look more interested in her own concerns than the student, but may be prompted by pressure from white faculty as well.
That is unsettling enough but more creepy things occur, and the visions and haunting things keep happening. Gail and Jasmine are both put in precarious situations, as the film heads towards a final shocking reveal and a disturbing conclusion that leans more social commentary than horror.
MASTER opens Friday, March 18, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and streaming on Prime Video.
RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars
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