American Mary (2012)
A much needed breath of fresh air has been blown over the horror genre courtesy of The Soska Sisters.
American Mary is a dark, intense film about Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) who when first introduced is down on her luck while attending medical school. Mary finds herself applying for a job at a strip club owned by a man name Billy Barker (Antonio Cupo). He finds Mary interesting because of her resume that she brings with her and he actually reads through it.
Mary is quickly thrust into the underworld of extreme surgery thanks in large to one of the club dancers Beatress (Tristan Risk), she has had a lot of surgeries done on herself to where she looks like the real life version of Betty Boop. After witnessing some of Mary’s work that she performed on someone at the club during her “Interview”.
Beatress brings more work to Mary thanks to a friend of hers Ruby RealGirl (Paula Lindberg)who wants to be transformed into a human doll by having her nipples and her labia removed. At first, Mary takes issue with this(who wouldn’t right?) but after Beatress offers to pay her alot of money which Mary desperately needs, she goes ahead and performs the surgery.
Things begin to take a turn when Mary, who is now doing better with her life, starts her residency at an local hospital. She gets invited to a Doctor’s party by Dr. Walsh (Clay St. Thomas). Mary goes and sees her med school professor Dr. Grant (David Lovgren) who drugs her and films her while he rapes her. This causes Mary to transforms in a way herself on the inside.
I really enjoyed this movie. It’s very well written by Jen and Sylvia who took a lot from their real experiences in the film industry and reworked it into this tale, and very well acted by the cast of unknowns to me with the exception of Katherine Isabelle.
Isabelle does a great job as Mary who transforms a few times through out the movie not physically but mentality. She’s like a sexy angel of torture, if there is such a thing. The relationship she forms with Beatress is good and even though at first Mary seems bothered by her, but over time turns to her friendship, which is very played out.
Tristan Risk gives the standout performance as Beatress, where just about all of the other characters are dark and shady types, Beatress is the one bright light of the bunch. Even though she might look the oddest she seems to be the most normal one.
Antonio Cupo gives a complex performance. When first introduced he seems like the type of character that has been seen in other films, but there are just enough nips and tucks to the character that makes you empathize with him.
Directors Jen and Sylvia Soska make a nice cameo appearance in the film as, who else, than two twisted twins. They call upon Mary to do some unique surgery on them. I’d like to see a feature length film about those two and their travels around the world post surgery.
The special effects here are really done well, as a fan of practical makeup effects in films. In this era where CGI has basically taken over it’s always good to see real effects on real people. Not only are the gore effects top notch but I was really impressed with the makeup work on Tristan Risk and Paula Lindberg characters.
The only problem or complaint I have with the film is with the ending. I understand why and how it all ended, just the way it all went down was done too quickly. It doesn’t take away from an otherwise very good movie.
I must admit this is the first Soska Sisters feature that I’ve watched but definitely will not be my last. I will be going back to watch their first film Dead Hooker In A Trunk and also checking out their most recent film, See No Evil 2, and anything else going forward that has their names attached. They have a new fan and follower of their work now.
