Production: IndustryWorks Pictures, American Mary Productions, and Twisted Twins Productions
Directors: Jen and Sylvia Soska
Writers: Jen and Sylvia Soska
Released: 2012 (U.K.) 2013 (U.S.)
Rated: R
Genre: Horror
Runtime: 103 Minutes
Cast:
Katharine Isabelle … Mary Mason
Antonio Cupo … Billy Barker
Tristan Risk … Beatress Johnson
David Lovgren … Dr. Grant
Paula Lindberg … Ruby Realgirl
Clay St. Thomas … Dr. Walsh
John Emmet Tracy … Detective Dolor
Twan Holliday … Lance Delgreggo
Nelson Wong … Dr. Black
Sylvia Soska … Twin #1
Jen Soska … Twin #2
Paul Anthony … Rat
Sean Amsing … Security Guard
Travis Watters … Mr. Realgirl
Marius Soska … Dr. Janusz
American Mary is currently available on VOD and will release in U.S. Theaters May 31st, 2013
During the interview process, in which she oddly provides a resume, Mary is made a spur of the moment offer by club operator Billy Barker (Antonio Cupo) she finds difficult to refuse: save the life of a man who’s been tortured in the basement of the club for $5000. In effect Billy is purchasing Mary’s services and silence which she accepts after a touch of hesitation. Mary returns home later filled with disgust at what she’s done and a sense her life is about to change.
I believe in providing movies reviews as spoiler free as possible so let’s just say a despicable act of violence is perpetrated against the main character which sets Mary on a downward spiral of revenge, murder, and madness as she simultaneously becomes a growing celebrity in the underground world of body modification. Once the film gets moving along, one begins to get the impression things will not end well for a great many of the characters and just about everyone will get what’s coming to them. American Mary doesn’t hop down the rabbit hole of the typical revenge story of a victimized woman though. Mary isn’t some wilting wallflower who spends the entire story getting the hell knocked out of her before she snaps and feeds some man his own nuts.
Maybe I’m reading more into the film than the Soska sisters originally planned but American Mary comes across as focusing on a lot more than just a feminine revenge fantasy. I picked up on beats ranging from narcissism and vanity to social connection and disconnection – in more ways than one…
Mary Mason isn’t a powerless victim. Although the main impetus of her transformation is an evening in which she has no control, the choices she makes afterward are wholly her own. Many of these decisions are ones you and I would never make, regardless of the circumstances, but Mary’s seeming disconnection with right and wrong drives her headlong into an ever widening moral chasm. Lets just say the character takes a very proactive role in her eventual fate.
Cell phone conversations with her Hungarian grandmother further cement the impression something simply doesn’t click right in Mary’s head. Granny wants to provide guidance for her granddaughter and Mary seems to want the advice yet her sides of the conversations sound detached. It’s as if Granny’s words are heard and computed but not fully processed and logged. Later, when Mary’s connection with her grandmother is permanently severed, we know even a minor moral compass has been lost since no one else exists in the film we consider as a friend or confidant.
At one point, as Mary’s advertisement for her body modification services are presented in a voiceover by Isabelle, we hear about things like acceptance, belonging and self love. Isabelle strikes the right notes – as her voice implies caring and compassion to the prospective client – but the knowing viewer already understands those two traits are something Mary surely lacks or feels she doesn’t need. Mary continues her surgeries not only for the cash but also from her need to feed her ego; Mary doesn’t need schooling to be a great surgeon, she just needs practice. The clients continue to flock to Mary’s door driven by their own vain desires to stand out, to be noticed, or possibly to mimic what they mistakenly see as perfection: Betty Boop or a Barbie doll anyone? I also believe the Soskas are using the device of body modification as a bit of dig at the cult of plastic surgery as well as the misguided “Hollywood concept” of beauty.
I have to say American Mary isn’t a particularly scary movie nor is it a grue filled splatterfest; cinematically the Soska sisters add to the sense of disassociation and disconnect as much of the nudity and gore is fleeting or in short beats and a lot of the violence is held just outside of frame. It provides for a feeling of being a standoffish observer to the proceedings through the eye of the camera lens. There is a great sense of creepiness, the bizarre, and underlying dread but I didn’t find any big shocks or jump out of your seat moments in the film. This doesn’t make American Mary bad, in fact I think the approach taken by the Soskas adds to the quality of the movie, but I can’t see fans of Rob Zombie style horror getting too excited.
The acting for the most part is better than one expects from a “B” movie and the dialogue doesn’t provide any out and out head slappers or groaners. I think Katharine Isabelle is pretty impressive as Mary and doesn’t veer too far over the top nor bottoms completely out during Mary’s blank moments. Anthony Cupo brings the right amount of sleaze, alongside concern for Mary, to a character whose operation of a strip club is probably the most legal aspect of all his dirty dealings. I will mention Jen and Sylvia Soska’s turn as German twin connoisseurs of underground body mods is especially odd and disconcerting as they practically ooze vanity and narcissism. Although the Soskas’ decision to affect overly clipped accents make them sound as if they’ve escaped from some otherworldly goth themed Hogan’s Heroes episode. Then again maybe that was their gameplan all along. The twins’ subplot also falls into the disconnection theme as well but I’ll leave it to you to learn how that plays out.
Back to the review…
Some viewers may feel American Mary comes across as anti-male since a vast majority of the men portrayed in the film run the gamut from sleazy to sexually violent and vile to out and out hot blooded killers. While Billy obviously cares about Mary it appears that comes more from wanting to get in her pants more than anything else, as detailed in two of his fantasies of which we’re made privy. The only two male characters coming across as honestly decent are Mary’s bouncer/bodyguard Lance (Twan Holliday) and detective Dolor (John Emmet Tracy) who both show real concern for the student turned surgical artiste. Yet the female characters don’t come across as any great shakes either; two of Mary’s main clients, Beatress Johnson (Tristan Risk) and Ruby Realgirl (Paula Lindberg), obviously don’t have driveways which lead all the way to the street.
You may have noticed at no point in the review have I referred to Mary Mason as the hero of the film. I’d be hard pressed to put her in the category of anti-hero either seeing her poor choices (which lead to even poorer choices) aren’t thrust upon her but instead she rather willing picks up the gauntlet laying in front of her. Honestly, her methods of revenge would lead Charles Bronson to wince and say, “Eeeewwww…” I’ll keep my personal beliefs on what the punishment should be for the great majority of convicted rapists out there to myself – as I believe the punishment for those proven to perpetrate sexual violence against any man, woman, or child is too light for my sense of justice – but to say Mary’s revenge is extreme would be a tad of an understatement.
Some may argue Mary is forced to get the ball of crazy rolling since she’s a broke student grasping at deck chairs in a sea of debt and then has a heinous crime committed against her thus pushing her even further over the brink. My response would be the ball of crazy is already present from the opening shot of the film, although not moving at break neck speed, as early on we see Mary doesn’t appear to have any apparent connection to the world at large other than medical school and her grandmother’s calls. A quick peek into her refrigerator provides us with glimpses of animal parts and meat for Mary to practice her cutting and stitching and little else; the trappings of a very reclusive human being, surgical student or no.
As I’ve already prefaced, I might be reading way more of a message into American Mary than intended by its creators but I think that’s why I like it as much as I do. It didn’t scare me and I didn’t find it overly shocking as I had some familiarity with the world of body modification so there wasn’t a point I cried out, “Sweet lord! What in the world is that?!?!?!” Yet the movie kept my interest throughout and made me think; not only while I was watching it but the day after as well as while I write this now. That’s certainly not something which can be said for the instantly forgettable and disposable horror films clogging the cineplexes these days. Good horror doesn’t has to be a wild roller coaster of entrails and served heads flying across the screen as the slow burn is quite effective as well. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, DePalma’s Carrie and Silence of the Lambs immediately come to mind. A friend I watch the movie with thought it came across as more a black comedy as opposed to anything else. I disagreed though even with touches of very dark humor American Mary doesn’t have the same vibe as a prototypical black comedy of say something along the lines of an American Psycho.
With their second feature under their belts, the Soskas are surely filmmakers to keep an eye on. I don’t mean this simply in the realm of horror or cult film either, as American Mary is sharply shot and moves along at a nice pace so I believe the sisters have real movie making chops regardless what genre they turn their eye upon. It’s certainly not a perfect film (the plot is clunky in some spots with a few noticeably large holes and the Soskas may have thrown a few too many ideas at the wall which don’t stick) but American Mary doesn’t have that cheapo straight to Blu-ray look, mentality, or stink of a lot of what hits the VOD market prior to a U.S. theatrical release. You can see the Soskas, their cast and crew milked every dime out of the budget and every ounce of talent present to put a darn good movie together. I’m even pretty forgiving of the oddball Colonel Klink/Sergeant Schultz accents too when it’s all said and done.
American Mary will probably disappoint the high school aged horror junkies who think the upcoming Carrie is the first adaptation to hit (I haven’t seen it so I’m not knocking the flick but come on… A third time?) but those of a more mature mindset, and don’t rate a movie solely based on the number of buckets of fake blood splashing across the screen or novel ways characters are disemboweled, will find an interesting film to say the least and possibly even a hidden gem to add to their collection.
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