American Mary (2013) was body horror unveiled but wasn’t as horror as I’d hoped. Unlike another one, The Human Centipede, American Mary plays down the visible gore and cranks up the revenge motive. There’s a lot going on here including a brief trip into the body modification community. Some may find it tries to be too much. Nonetheless, when looked at as such, it works as a simple horror film that fans of the genre will likely enjoy.
“The allure of easy money sends Mary Mason, a medical student, into the world of underground surgeries which ends up leaving more marks on her than her so called “freakish” clients.” -IMDB
Katharine Isabelle Mary Mason
Antonio Cupo Billy Barker
Tristan Risk Beatress Johnson
David Lovgren Dr. GrantJen Soska, Sylvia Soska
Drama, Horror
R
Fri 11 Jan 2013 UTC
103min
IMDB Rating: 6.3
Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska are the directors. They are also identical twins. These two have come out blasting their own breed of horror and shock entertainment. I will be watching for what they come up with in the future. Incidentally, they play twins in the film who have their forearms amputated and switched with the other twin. Odd indeed. Other surgeries featured are a live Betty Boop and Barbie doll.
Mary is played by Katharine Isabelle, well known for the horror trilogy starting with Ginger Snaps. She plays the role way understated but it works since we have no idea what her character might be thinking or feeling in this extraordinary plot.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This film seems to be made for Netflix or another cable provider. It stops just short of commanding a theater presence. Perhaps the directors need more time to develop their “chops” (no pun intended). Still, I think it’s just as good as the Human Centipede and almost as great as Tusk, these two being films in the body horror genre. It’s a great revenge flick and I recommend it to those out there who are into films like these. And finally, to repeat, I will be watching the Soska Sisters’ future directing projects.
6/10
Well i was expecting this to push past Tusk :P,
If you want to see how talented the Soska’s are go way back and see their first film ‘Dead Hooker in a Trunk’ and if you made it through See No Evil they did the sequel that was better.
Tusk is better as a horror film and it also has a comedy element American Mary doesn’t have.
“Mary” isn’t bad though. I enjoyed the film. I would have like to have seen more details about how Dr. Grant got to how he was. Also, seeing how those facial things were accompished would have been interesting. It was pretty minimal on the actual surgery stuff.
I like the freakish presentation of the twins. I plan to see the Hooker in a Trunk film as well as the other you mentioned. Thanks.
Dead Hooker in a Trunk was a little under produced but I liked its raw energy. I can see they have a style. Some of the dark humor might have raised the score of American Mary for me. Ill have to see the other sequel you mentioned in the future.