AMERICAN MARY
Directed by: Jen and Sylvia Soska
Written by: Jen and Sylvia Soaks
Starring: Katharine Isabelle, Julia Maxwell, and Paula Linberg
Synopsis: A medical student gets involved in the world of body modifications.
I'm not normally one to preface my reviews, but
let me start this one by saying that I'm an overt feminist. I don't go to films
and complain about the lack of strong female characters, or support an artist
just because she's a woman. I like to consider myself more of an equallitist
(totally made up word). It shouldn't matter what color, sex, race, clothing, etc.
that someone has, everyone has the right to be treated equally in society.
Okay. Now with my preface over and with a bit
more of an understanding about me, the horror film, AMERICAN MARY, is the worst
case of female empowerment of any kind that I've seen recently. Directed by the
Soska Sisters, who apparently are HUGE horror fans, the film follows a
promising medical student, Mary, as she gets involved underground surgical
world of body modification because she's broke. Now, she's not a real doctor
yet, but I guess going through a few years of medical school is close enough.
The thought of exploring the "underground" world of body modification
could be intriguing, but unfortunately, that intrigue gets swept under the rug
by the sheer stupidity of this film.
First, there is absolutely no time frame
for this film and earthly concept of the amount of time passing between events. And apparently Mary is such a
great surgeon that you can have surgery and walk out almost a day later with no
issues or recovery time. But honestly, that's just a minor detail of why
this movie sucks so much. As I prefaced, I'm not an uber-feminist that burns my
bra on the weekend. However, I do take offense of what the Sisters did to women
in this film. In fact, every character is just a stereotypical joke. All the
men are assholes who just want to get laid and rape women, and I mean that
literally.
Katharine Isabelle, who plays Mary, shows glimpses of a great performance
and minor formations of a character, but she is just able to work with the crap
she was given. Also, I understand that the horror genre generally speaks to the
male gender, so it is refreshing to see women tackle the genre. However, the
Sisters know their audience, and instead of trying to break stereotypes, all
females in the film are always scantily dressed in short dresses, high heels,
and leather. Because, as you know, us females cook and clean and perform
surgery in leather aprons and high heels. I was in disbelief. This is how these
Sisters expect to gain respect as filmmakers? They're not empowering women at
all. They're playing to the crowd to the lowest denominator.
It's a cluster of a film with a cohesive plot
hanging on by a thread. The characters are awful, but not in a
suppose-to-be-because-we're-making-a-point-and-being-deep way. Like they are
truly horrible human beings with no motivation or drive. Let me take that back.
Mary has some motivation. At one point in the film, she's invited to an elusive
happy hour with some of the hospital's surgeons, including her professor. So,
she shows up in a satin blue dress with a neckline so plunging and slutty,
you'd think she's a call girl. Yep, this is what you wear to impress your new
coworkers. Well, like most happy hours, she gets drugged and raped by her
professor. So, interweaving this desperation of trying to make money plot, the
film becomes part revenge thriller. But again, not in the empowering women sort
of way.
This film is awful. Flat out horrible. It felt
incandescent and utterly amateurish. Based on this film alone, the Soska
Sisters have not an ounce of originality between the two of them. I don't know
how this film got made. It might be fun to laugh at after a six-pack or to play
a drinking game with, but please don't pay money for this.
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