‘Master’ is a modern-day Giallo horror | Sundance review

Three Black women navigate the horrors — both real and supernatural — of working and attending a predominently white institution in Master

Master is playing at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. It will be released on Prime Video in March.

The most horrifying scene in Master, the feature debut of director Mariama Diallo, takes place at a house party. There’s nothing quite supernatural about it, despite the core of the movie involving a legend centering on ghosts and witches. In the party scene, freshman Jasmine Moore (Zoe Renee) is having the time of her life as the song playing switches to Sheck Wes’ “Mo Bamba.” Around her, white faces illuminated in red begin to crowd around her and scream the lyrics without regard: “I be ballin’ like my n— Mo.” Except they don’t censor themselves. Diallo directs the scene with intense precision. The swirling camera blurs the faces around Jasmine until they look inhuman. It’s claustrophobic.

That’s the overwhelming feeling throughout Master: an atmospher…