American Mary

AMERICAN MARY

Directors : The Soska Sisters

Year : 2013

Genre : Horror

Rating : ***1/2

''Because it has something... that you don't have, Max. It has a philosophy, and that is what makes it dangerous'' - Quote taken from 'Videodrome' (1983)





'American Mary' is a 2013 Canadian horror movie which recalls the golden age of the gruesome but important body horror movies of the early 1970's. Reminiscent of the early films of David Cronenberg such as 'Shivers', 'Rabid' and 'Videodrome', 'American Mary' is a cut above all the torture porn inflected horror movies that have sadly infested our multiplexes for the past decade. Despite containing a fair amount of gore and scenes that are quite wince inducing, 'American Mary' is the rarest of horror movies; one that contains subtext, political and social commentary and an overt feminist angle that I found reassuring and subsequently, the movie has renewed my faith in the genre which I had falsely thought was dead and gone.

Katharine Isabelle plays the eponymous Mary, a medical student who is training to be a surgeon at a top end university. Despite showing promise and potential, she faces financial problems and is forced to find ways to make money to keep up with her student bills. After reading an advertisement in a local newspaper that proclaims to earns money, Mary goes for an interview at a local strip club where she is humiliated and forced to perform sexual acts to gain a job. As Mary becomes enveloped in her new job, she is asked ber her boss to perform body modifications due to her previous medical experience.  Due to the success of the first transformation, she is asked to perform more and more modifications and as she develops something of a reputation, she realises that not only can she make money by realising peoples dreams but can also reap revenge on those who have wronged her in the past in hideous and indescribable ways.

The Soska Sisters are two of the most interesting horror directors working in independant horror cinema today. Their first feature was the brilliantly named 'Dead Hooker In A Trunk' which starred both Jen and Sylvia Soska as well as Carlos Gallardo, who is famous for his work with director Robert Rodrigeuz. Made for $2,500. 'Dead Hooker In A Trunk' took the roof off the 2009 Vancouver film festival and as a result, the sisters gained a reputation as visceral and violent exploitation directors.

Mary is played by Katharine Isabelle, who is probably most famous for her roles as Ginger in 'Ginger Snaps' and as one of Voorhee's unlucky victims in the 2003 entertaining mash up 'Freddy Vs. Jason'. For a film which contains a seemingly exploitative plot and good amount of gore, Isabelle brings a fantastic performance to the screen and is able to hold the audiences attention for the entire length of the film. Normally in these types of horror films, the acting is rarely award worthy. But 'American Mary' showcases naturalistic and convincing performances; not only from Isabelle but from a large majority of the supporting cast as well.

The cinematography of 'American Mary' is very impressive and many of the scenes recall the early work of David Fincher, especially the dreaded and hideous 'LUST' scene in his 1995 masterpiece 'Se7en'. Just like Fincher, the Soska's have an eye for horror and sleaze without creating an air of needless exploitation or conventional sensuality. Many of the scenes in 'American Mary' work so well due to the lighting, camera angles and camera movements chosen by the director of photography Brian Pearson, who creates a claustrophic and suffocating atmosphere with ease. Another obvious reference is the torture porn movies which 'American Mary' clearly invokes. Many of the surgical scenes in the film bring to mind the medical moments in 'Saw 3' and the levels of gore shown on screen equal that of many of the 'Saw' and 'Hostel' movies. 'American Mary' is in fact dedicated to Eli Roth, director of the 'Hostel' series and this seems to be a tongue in cheek dig at Roth as 'American Mary' actually contains good acting, a subtext and thought provoking imagery; something that none of Roth's films contain at all.

'American Mary' does contain a few scenes of sexual abuse and this may prove to be the biggest problem in the film for many people. For me, scenes of rape and sexual torment are absolutely abhorrent and usually I would be deeply affected by them. But unlike many films which depict rape, 'American Mary' portrays the violence in a very tasteful and meaningful way; never concentrating on the actual action involved but the pain and suffering going through the victims mind. After these horrific scenes, 'American Mary' does turn into a rape-revenge movie in the same vein as Meir Zarchi's hugely controversial 1978 grindhouse classic 'I Spit On Your Grave'; with scenes of torture, mutilation and suffering. Now, for a long time I have been saying that despite it's hideous rape scenes and torture, 'I Spit On Your Grave' is one of the best and strongest feminist films ever made and 'American Mary' falls exactly into this category as well. Yes, Mary is horribly abused by a male and is forced into intercourse; but just like Jennifer Hills, she seeks revenge and inflicts a terrible vengeance on those who have wronged her. In fact, Mary becomes the most twisted and scariest character in the entire movie; whose revenge and imagination are almost supernatural in it's deranged and darkly ironic nature, bringing to mind the torture scenes in Takashi Miike's astonishing shocker 'Audition'. Clearly the Soska Sisters enjoy their female characters much more than their male ones and the juiciest and most memorable dialogue is given to the lead actress and her supporting female cast.

The scenes of body modification raise the issues of the ethics of physically changing ourselves to look the way we want. While I have no issues at all with people changing their physical appearance for happiness, there are some who find it unethical, barbaric and outwardly strange. 'American Mary' asks us to accept those who wish to change their visage to truly find happiness in themselves and feel comfortable in their own skin. Just like those who change their sex, the film shows us characters who are desperate to become someone or even, something else and that people like Mary are god-sends to a small minority of people who are not content with themselves. Everyone has the right to modify themselves as it doesn't affect others and only if you are small minded and bigoted, you will not and shouldn't be offended by these people just trying to be happy. Unlike many other horror movies, 'American Mary' asks us to accept people rather than shun them away and this is a refreshingly optimistic viewpoint for a 21st century horror movie.

Opening to pretty high box office, 'American Mary' was both a commercial and critical hit. While some dismissed it as a standard slasher movie with elements of the maligned torture porn subgenre, others correctly saw it as a horror which recalls a time when scary movies actually had a meaning, philosophy and subtext. Hopefully, 'American Mary' will allow The Soska Sisters to make more visceral and thought provoking movies and will also make a star of the beautiful Katharine Isabelle.

For fans of David Cronenberg, Brian Yuzna and Takashi Miike, 'American Mary' is an absolute must see. While gory and sometimes hard to watch, the film is possibly the deepest horror movie of the last 5 years. The more I think about 'American Mary', the more I like it and will probably feature in my top 10 films of the year in December. But it is only May and I still have hundreds of movies to watch, so we'll have to wait and see.....



You will like this if you liked : Audition & May