[soliloquy id=”492″]
For those who like to go ‘WTF’, I’d say check out The Soska Sister’s American Mary.
American Mary is based around pretty student Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle- Freddy Vs Jason) trying to complete her medical training as so she can become a surgeon. She ends up walking into her local strip club and auditioning for the owner to try secure a part-time job to help pay for the mounting debt she is getting herself into.
The club owner, Billy Barker (Antonio Cupo- Elegy), takes a shine to Mary and gives her a job that night to showcase her talents in a different way; providing emergency medical care to one the club’s more unlucky patrons. The allure of money persuades Mary, fattening her pockets more than she thought but distressing her psyche more than intended.
One of the witnesses to Mary’s medical intervention is Beatress (Tristan Risk- Darkest Hour), one of the strippers at the club. She has had herself surgically modified to look exactly like Betty Boop and manages to sneak into Mary’s apartment, begging her to help her friend Ruby become the plastic fantastic version she desires. Mary agrees and goes ahead with the rather controversial procedure, which adds to her medical knowledge, and her purse, but the operation is not something she particularly wants to discuss or think about again.
During schooling the following day, Mary gets invited out to a party with the qualified doctors of the hospital, something that excites trainee Mary. She glams up and heads out happy to be attending a party with so many surgeons. Unfortunately for Mary the night very quickly goes from good to gut wrenching as her drink is spiked and she wakes up the next day never to be the same again.
Mary drops out of medical school and with the help of Billy, gets revenge on the people that encouraged her to quit her previously beloved training. Beatrice becomes Mary’s accidental best friend and Mary soon finds herself within a world of weird and wonderful body-modification operations, becoming an infamous underground surgeon in her own right. Mary takes genuine pride in helping people realize their ideal selves, splitting people’s tongues and implanting horns in their foreheads, and this generosity of spirit makes her an anomaly of sorts among horror-movie surgeons.
Katherine Isabelle does an admirable job as Mary and I found myself transfixed with her many transformations from rational, cynical, devastated, angry and excessively morbid. I was also impressed and pleasantly shocked with some of more disturbing scenes of American Mary, with The Soska Sisters (writer/directors of American Mary), making a great appearance within the movie as the evil twins.
American Mary definitely has its shock values and if you’re looking for something a bit different, this film should suffice nicely.
Rihanna should take note, American Mary is a real good girl gone bad.
WICKED RATING: 6.5/10 [usr 6.5]
Title: American Mary
Director: Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska
Writer(s): Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska
Stars: Katherine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk
Year: 2012
Studio/ Production Co: IndustryWorks Pictures, American Mary Productions, Evolution Pictures, 430 Productions, Twisted Twins Productions
Budget: Unknown
Language: English
Length: 103 mins
Sub-Genre: Crime, Drama
