American Mary

There's no doubt she is by far my favorite actress and all started when I watched Ginger Snaps. In my opinion she is definitely an underrated actress who's acted in several movies but few of them have played such an important role in her acting career like this one and of course Ginger Snaps. American Mary is a well-developed movie that I very much liked it because it combines blood, flesh, drama and a good storyline with such a great acting from Katharine Isabelle besides I must confess that I'm totally delighted by her work, I really but really loved it. The movie is interesting from beginning to end, funny at times but mostly intense and what I liked the most was the evolution of Mary, at first you're gonna see a student, pretty and very smart living alone, working and doing little things in order to get some money but you'll end up seeing someone totally different, a girl with no fears, vindictive but mainly unstable. Well, in case I hadn't said enough I wanna add the fact that unlike the typical gore movies where you'll only see deaths and blood with no sense, American Mary has a very good storyline about revenge.

Now you might be wondering why after this review I gave only 8 stars out of 10 and that's because of the ending, I didn't like it but I'm not sure if another one could have been better. Anyway, it's worth watching.

Even at this early stage this interesting feature from Canada has the look of a future cult movie. It's decidedly left-field in subject matter. In it a female medical student with financial troubles turns to the shady world of underground surgeries. Before long she is carrying out more and more outlandish procedures. Pleasingly this one is directed by women. It's ridiculous in this day and age how rare it remains for women to be given the director's reigns. This film shows that the female vision can be very twisted and macabre indeed. The directors are identical twins Jen and Sylvia Soska who appear in a cameo as Eastern European sisters who crave bizarre body modifications. Their direction is very stylised but with grit where necessary. I'm not usually queasy when it comes to movies but I can honestly say that one surgical scene left me looking away. The third female presence is star Katherine Isabelle of Ginger Snaps fame. She is very good in a dark and sexy performance. She is a great anti-heroine and her revenge moment on a man who attacked her is one that had me inwardly cheering.

Seeing as this is a Canadian horror film perhaps a comparison with David Cronenberg is inevitable. But in this instance it's a fairly relevant one as in many ways this is another example of the body horror sub-genre. It's a film that combines contemporary sadistic horror with a view of an unusual subculture of people who modify their bodies through surgery. It isn't a very story driven film to be fair and it sometimes lacks a bit of overall dynamism but this is only a relatively minor observation and it is pleasingly original for the most part. Overall the feature could perhaps best be described as what would happen if Clive Barker was to direct a film that combined elements of Hard Candy and Audition.

American Mary is a sleek and sexy film that is unpredictable and fairly unique. The story is dark, daring and entertaining, and solid production gives it clean and smooth look. It's body modification theme is edgy yet tasteful, and at times quite thought provoking. Katherine Isobelle plays the lead brilliantly; cold and brutal, but at the same time, empowering and elegant.

As for Faults, well, American Mary is a great film, but it peaks two-thirds of the way in, and by comparison it's ending feels a little timid and noncommittal.

Now, this is a bit over critical on my part, and it's only a minor flaw, but one that stands out as there are so few in the film. It's the cameo from the Soska sisters, I get it, I do, If I made a horror film, I'd want to be in it too, but this just wasn't the parts for them. Although I suspect they probably wrote it with themselves in mind. It's only a short scene but one with so much potential. The Soska sisters play big characters in a scene that could have been wonderfully unsettling, but instead its a bit flat and clumsy. The girls just didn't have the physical presence or screen confidence required to fill out the roles.

American Mary would have been excellent if it wasn't hindered by a few minor flaws and a weak ending. Overall, a delicate, but by no means tame, addition to the torture porn sub-genre. This film could easily become a horror cult classic, and deservingly so. I will be interested to see what the Soska sisters do next.

Mary is a promising medical student who has a traumatic encounter with a surgeon who is her professor. Things turn bloody when after a few surgical body modifications to earn money, Mary seeks revenge on her attacker. The sadism is pretty stomach turning, and the film uses Schubert's Ave Maria once and Bach's version twice before it is over, a very strange choice of music, indeed. The premise is interesting and Katharine Isabelle is compelling in the lead. The patients seeking bizarre physical alterations is fairly disgusting. Jen and Sylvia Soska are the directors, and judging by this work, they are seriously disturbed women. The movie is extremely dark and it kept me interested to the last scene which was a bit disappointing. As a thriller, it is slightly above average, and a 6/10.

This movie grew on me. It's great fun watching poor Mary (Katharine Isabelle from Ginger Snaps) transition from an overworked, money-deficient med student into a hardened lass with an affinity for slicing and dicing. Hey, got trouble paying for tuition and other bills? No sweat, let's do some body modification surgery on people! Fun for everyone! This is a pretty gory, gruesome movie, and *maybe* it ends a little too neatly for my tastes, but it's well executed. The directors also cameo as special (and creepy) clients of Mary.