"American Mary" stars Katherine Isabelle of "Ginger Snaps" fame, and is directed by twins – Jen and Sylvia Soska, who also play a cameo role as Bloody Mary's clients.
The film has its problems – the rape victim trope – a disturbing scene that had me screaming at Mary Mason never to accept a drink she hasn't mixed herself. Some of the scenes seem to be shot through plastic, an original but not particularly successful idea. And it suffers from some below par acting. However, as a schlocky gore-fest it is great fun, and I found Mary Mason a compelling psychopath who I could imagine swapping notes over dinner with Hannibal Lector.
Mary begins as a medical student. Despite seeming like a high-flying student she is verbally abused by her lecturer. Due to financial problems she answers an ad in a strip club, but is offered a very different job than the one she expected. The friendship formed between her and the club manager is tender at times, but mostly disturbing. The least believable scene is when she jealously assaults one of the club workers for blowing this manager.
She is contacted by the surreal looking and sounding Beatress whose friend desires surgery to transform her into a sexless doll. Mary's client base grows and she specialises in helping people express their true selves through surgery. A well paying career. “I quit med school today, that shouldn't come as a surprise to you. I'm changing specialties Dr. Grant. Have you ever heard of body modification?”
Her rapist becomes her living, breathing, suffering practice dummy, because surgeons can't afford to make mistakes. And she becomes a significant part of the Seattle underworld.
Katherine Isabelle plays Mary as a highly sexualised, dominatrix style surgeon. The end lets it down, but is perhaps one of the most visually stunning scenes despite this. It isn't a perfect film, but it is a fun and disturbing movie in a style reminiscent of David Cronenberg's “Crash” and Takashi Miike's “Audition”.
4/5 stars