Release Date: May 31, 2013 (Limited)
Directors: Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska
MPAA Rating: R
Film Pulse Score: 6.5/10
Jen and Sylvia Soska (“The Twisted Sisters”) developed something of a cult following after their 2009 feature debut Dead Hooker in a Trunk garnered a decent amount of attention despite its extremely low-budget quality. Jump to today and we now have their second feature, titled American Mary, which has a bigger budget and all but solidifies the sisters as new household names in horror. It’s not a perfect film by any stretch, but like the film itself, it embraces imperfection and proves to be one of the best entries in the genre this year.
The film explores the dark world of underground body modification by introducing us to Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle), a broke medical student who stumbles into a career as an illegal surgeon. Before long things begin to spiral out of control and Mary loses herself in this strange, often macabre reality.
It’s a cautionary tale of sorts, starting with Mary being a naïve young student and ending with her having a psychological transformation not unlike the surgeries she performs on willing (and some unwilling) participants. Because of the monsters that violate her, she becomes a monster herself.
The camerawork, cinematography, and set designs all fit perfectly into the seedy underground sub-culture vibe of the film, and although I personally have no connection to this scene, it’s how I imagine it would look. Everything is dark and dirty and creepy, almost as if the proprietors are intentionally going for that look, only adds to the overall bizarre tone of the film.
And bizarre is definitely a compliment when you’re attempting to make a film that focuses on extreme body modification. There’s no CG used in the film what so ever, so all of the surgery scenes and various bits of blood and gore all look incredibly real and extremely disturbing. Again, if you’re making a movie that relies so heavily on surgical procedures, you better make it look real and the Soska sisters, who brought in Todd Masters for the effects work, knocked it out of the park. There are so many cringe-inducing moments in this it’s amazing.
Unfortunately, the film begins to falter near the beginning of the third act and has difficultly recovering, which results in an abrupt and slightly dissatisfying conclusion. There’s a lot going on in this film, with Mary juggling multiple clients, love interests, cops, and the rapist she has locked up in a storage facility, so the plot becomes scattered near the end.
The good news is Katharine Isabelle’s performance is enough to forgive the rocky final act. The development of her character is so defined and natural that I was transfixed to the screen wanting to know how this arc was going to turn out. Isabelle also won the Best Actress Award at Fright Fest, where the film had its premiere.
Though American Mary certainly has its flaws, it’s still a solid entry in a genre that rarely produces anything noteworthy or ambitious. It’s a film that focuses on the psychology of the protagonist rather than filling the runtime with murder and mayhem. It’s the type of horror film that gets under your skin and lingers with you for days after seeing it, and for genre fans, it’s a must-see.
