American Mary

My condolences to whoever financed this dross and to all whose taste has been so numbed to poor quality art that they perceive this film to be watchable. The synopsis gave the impression of an interesting movie, such promise was annihilated from minute one. Surely there are better actors who could be cast for such a film than the collection of clowns used in this production. The kindest thing that could be said about the lead actress is that she at least has the ability to read. The remainder of the cast were of equal talent and thus no one looked out of place in this travesty. I must confess that I was unable to endure the film in its entirety, 15 minutes was punishment enough.

I was looking forward to seeing this movie, I like Katherine and the concept looked good. This movies was a complete failure. Katherine acted so emotionless throughout the movie that the character became boring and her motivations were not understood. I especially hated her money problems, a American med student would have a crazy amount of debt, and she had already been dealing with it for years. Also the rape scene...ugh...This movies would be-more interesting if based in reality, the surgeries should have been more realistic, arm transplant would be impossible and it would have been cooler if the surgeries would have been failures. The ending came out of no where. Don't see this movie it sucked.

Female directors are rare. Female horror directors even rarer. Female twin sister directors who do horror movies? Well we found one pair and the movie I had the pleasure to watch was really good. The idea as it is might not be original (especially if you follow the media, there are some cases of this beauty craze in Russia and other countries), but it does fit fine into this story. Plus we have a great female lead. You might feel that her drive is slowed down at one point mid-through the film, but that would mean you're missing the point. It's more character driven than story driven. And it works that way. Social commentary and other things included of course. Watch it if you can

This is pure crap, believe you me, and judging by the lackluster and tame affair we are being served here, I sincerely hope that the talentless Soska-sisters never get to put their name on a horror-film ever again. There is not a single redeeming aspect to be found here; considering the plot you would think that a plot like this at least would deserve some delightful gore here and there, but no, the hacks decided to take the bloodless and implied-route. And that is a position that could have been defended if this turd of a film actually had a noteworthy atmosphere and a decent script, but both are non-existent. The Soska-sisters, the future of horror?! That is simply put the biggest f***ing insult you could throw at the horror-genre, in no way or form does this anemic bore-fest deserve the holy tag of horror. Blasphemy. To think that this pile of dung has garnered so much anticipation, attention and downright praise is the real horror here. The stuff of nightmares.

I was at first a bit hesitant to watch this movie, because the description made it seem like torture *. Only after seeing many reviews that did not paint it as such, I decided to give it a try. In retrospect, I wish someone would have called it torture * to keep me from watching it. Getting that out of the way, I am not labeling this movie as torture *, but it is the furthest thing from it. I have to commend the filmmakers for taking a concept that screamed of a torture * plot but avoided making it such. The writers and directors tried to make this film less about the body modifications as it was about the change in personality of the lead character. However, they did such a poor job doing this that they should have just made an idiotic torture * movie. "American Mary" is basically a film about a poor med student who begins to take body modification jobs to keep her bills paid. At first she is reluctant to do so, but this changes over time. When one of her former professors drugs her and rapes her, she quits med school and after beginning a long revenge scenario with him, she becomes a very distant shell of what she previously was. The nice girl trying to get through school becomes emotionally blank and immorally bankrupt. This movie fails because its plot is way too unlikely. Mary's change happens too quickly and it seems to come about as the means for a plot device and not her character. By the time you get half way through the movie, any sympathy for Mary is gone. She has no morals and no redeeming factors. This is a dreary and boring and terrible film I suggest you skip over.

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 * 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.

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.

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