May

I bemoan horribly low-budget movies, but this production is proof positive that money does not make the movie. I am still so disturbed by this effort that I am finding it hard to find the words...

This movie was absolute brilliance. It was creatively written, realistically portrayed, inspirationally directed, and disturbingly sad and dark at the same time.

Angela Bettis is astounding as May. May was born with a lazy eye which caused her have to wear an eye patch. Her mother, a neurotically judgmental woman, raised May to believe that her only choice for friendship was to either hide her differences, or withdraw into her own fantasy.

But there are more differences within May than even her mother could see, and after May realizes that people are not perfect, she goes to any and all lengths to make herself seen.

This is one of the darkest, saddest, most disturbing movies I have EVER seen. Bittersweet and truly mad.

It rates a full 10/10 on the "B" scale.

That's an 8.9/10 from...

the Fiend :.

I'm so glad people are re-discovering horror as a serious genre because the endless SCREAM rip-offs were getting more tiresome than even the previous decade's endless HALLOWEEN rip-offs. MAY not only operates as a great horror film, it also is a wonderful character study of social dysfunction. Angela Bettis is wonderfully painful to watch in her attempts at love. She's an actress to keep your eyes on in the future. The ending gets a little more standard but is just creepy enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.

I have seen "May" about five times or so by now, and it is still as good as the first time I saw it. I found it by sheer random luck in the local secondhand DVD store. I bought it without knowing anything about it or the people starring in it.

What makes "May" unique is the absurdly entertaining story, but also the entire cast. Especially Angela Bettis who performed the role of May to perfection. She was so well-cast for this role. Anna Farris also really performed quite well, and it was nice to see her out of the usual comedy genre that she is in.

The story, shortly summarized, is about a socially inadequate loner named May, who falls in love with a guy she sees on the street, and she tries desperately to get his attention and affection by all means necessary.

"May" is both a story and character driven movie, and it is the type of story that creeps in under your skin and will stick with you. It has a good combination of drama, character acting, thrills and blood. Yes, there is blood!

I can strongly recommend that you sit down to watch "May" if you haven't already seen it. It is one of those movies that is a surprise of a movie.

"May" is not a movie I would nominate for an Oscar, or any sort of award, but it is original. Many scenes totally creeped me out, but what can I say? It's a horror flick! And I commend the director for being unapologetic about this sick, demented material. The film is well-made and well-acted. Just don't expect the feel-good movie of the year. I can watch Jason Voorhies slice a victim's head off with a machete while eating a 3-course meal, but watching a room full of blind children crawl all over a floor and cut themselves with broken glass is pretty damn disgusting to me. Fans of the horror genre definitely won't be disappointed. (7 out of 10)

Some movies use gore to distinguish themselves from other horror movies in a unique way, and boy, do they ever succeed. DEAD-ALIVE, EVIL DEAD, RE-ANIMATOR. Others, rather than settle for OTT gore, try to creep you out with old-school tactics that wriggle under your skin into places that are anything but comfortable...places that you only visit in your dreams. THE OTHERS, THE SIXTH SENSE and SIGNS are those kinds of films.

And then you get those rarities...those exceptional films that are not for everyone, that manage to be both creepy and gory at the same time, in a way that's not quite easily classifiable, and so they are never considered "mainstream" by mass audiences in the multiplexes, or critics into selling sound-bites rather than writing decent reviews.

Films like TOURIST TRAP, THE FUNHOUSE, George Romero's MARTIN, ALICE, SWEET ALICE, SISTERS and SILENT SCREAM are some prime examples. To this list, we can now add MAY.

The less you know about this film going in, the more shocking the denoument is. And even those who have heard quite a bit about it, shouldn't be too quick to make assumptions. MAY goes in a direction that most films of this genre hint at, but never commit to. The result is a tale alternating between twisted tenderness and tremendous terror, like nothing you've seen in a long while. And in the true tradition of creepy/gory/blackly comic films, there's no middle of the road with this one. You will love it or absolutely hate it, but either way, you will not walk away from it unaffected. First-time writer/director McKee has seen to that, and then some.

Angela Bettis may need some serious therapy, following up her role in the CARRIE TV remake with this one. I'd be tempted to call it a pattern, since May does share a lot of similarities with Carrie White; the overprotective, overbearing mothers, the role of societal outcast set at an early age. But that's where the similarities end. Where Carrie's weapon of choice was her soon-to-be-not-so-latent telekinetic powers, May's power lies in her very deceptive talent to appear shy, docile, reclusive and weird, but supposedly "harmless." Obviously lacking in the social interaction department, she still has a quality about her that elicits our empathy and sympathy. The characters she meets in the story feel the same way and...well, you have to see what happens to belive it.

Indie faves Jeremy Sisto (SIX FEET UNDER), Anna Faris (the SCARY MOVIE series) and James Duval (A RIVER MADE TO DROWN IN) round out the principal cast. Not to mention May's first 'friend' that serves as a catalyst for the story...a doll given her by her mother, which may have you swearing off dolls for the rest of your life!

I'm not going to give away the main plot, leaving that to other reviewers and their assessments. I will say this: if your horror movies usually have to be series sequels with a number plastered in front of them, MAY might be too much imaginative derangement for you to handle. But if you're in the mood for something completely different, then rent it NOW, by all means. Just make sure you have a good, stupid comedy to take your mind off of it afterward. Trust me on this; even if it's DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? for the fifteenth time, TAKE IT. You'll feel...well, maybe a little better after watching this.