Horror films over the last ten years have become a rather bloated, remake heavy, sequel thick area of film. Luckily we have had a few great horrors coming out from the likes of Ti West, Lucky McGee, Jason Eisener and now we can add another pair of directors to this list of hope, the Soska Sisters.
Having released their low budget Dead Hooker In A Trunk, from that title you can already tell it’s going to be an exploitation heavy affair. The Soska twins sophomore effort takes what made Dead Hooker great and adds (thanks largely to a bigger budget) a tight stylistic and fresh horror with American Mary.
Following the titular character, played fantastically by Katherine Isabelle (who horror fans may remember her from Ginger Snaps and Freddy Vs. Jason). Mary is a successful yet financially lacking surgical student. Disenchanted by her peers and worrying how to pay the bills Mary replies to a job in a seedy strip club, unfortunately for her something happens and her talents for surgery are discovered, which leads her down a dark and increasingly depraved world of extreme body modification.
The great thing about American Mary is its freshness. The Soska sisters don’t conform to the standard horror traits that have plagued many horrors over the last few years and you genuinely find yourself scratching your head at what is going to happen next. The cast is strong and the sisters do a great job of turning gender roles on their heads.
As with their previous feature, the Soska sisters appear in Mary as a German set of twins who have been undergoing heavy body modification and come to Mary for a procedure that is going to bring them even closer together. The film has some genuinely shocking setups that are both grisly yet exciting. The sisters aren’t afraid to show gore but never go into the tasteless torture porn territory we have seen of late.
Katherine Isabelle does a great job as Mary, who as the film goes on starts to take the masochistic tendencies of her clientele to heart. Speaking of her clientele, most of them start as rather freakish characters but what could have been easily turned satirical and perverse the Soska sisters bring a sense of heart to their unconventional characters. It becomes clear that the film has a strong underlying message, with the sisters questioning what society deems as conventional or perfect.
Stylistically the sisters have tipped their caps to the master of body horror, David Cronenberg, from the colour pallette to the costume. Mary’s red surgical scrubs conjure up images of Dead Ringers. American Mary could have easily been a torture porn flick in a similar vein to Saw but the Soskas are rather mature in the depiction of violence and go for subtlety rather than all out deprived gore.
American Mary is a fresh and startling modern horror which bodes well for the Soska sisters future career. With a strong cast and enough scares to keep everyone cringing. But underneath the dark storyline there’s definitely heart and a strong message.
Overall Verdict: A great modern horror with enough gore to keep the Saw fans happy but with a great story and cast this will excite die hard horror fans for sure.
Special Features:
Behind the Scenes
An American Mary in London
Reviewer: Gareth Haworth