Rating summary
Movie | | 4.0 |
Video | | 4.5 |
Audio | | 4.0 |
Extras | | 3.0 |
Overall | | 4.0 |
American Mary Blu-ray Movie Review
She Sutures to Conquer
Reviewed by Michael Reuben June 16, 2013
The Soska Sisters, Jen and Sylvia, have aptly named their film company "Twisted Twins
Productions". As writers, producers and directors, they might normally be dubbed a triple threat,
except that everything about them seems to revolve around duality, including the supporting roles
they wrote for themselves in American Mary as—what else?—a pair of kinky twins. American
Mary is the Soskas' second feature after the no-budget Dead Hooker in a Trunk, whose guerilla
aesthetic was inspired by Robert Rodriguez's El
Mariachi. The sisters' follow-up has a more
polished and professional look, but the Soskas have lost none of their glee in exploring splatter
cinema on their own distinctly female terms. They delight in subverting some of the genre's most
familiar tropes, and the result is one of the most original horror films in years.
Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) is a med student who is just about to begin her surgical
residency in Seattle. Her only living relative is a Hungarian grandmother, whom she dutifully
calls on a regular basis. Otherwise she lives alone, has no friends and works constantly to satisfy
her demanding professor of surgical technique, Dr. Grant (David Lovgren). Grant is tough and
challenges Mary to the point of bullying, because he sees great things in her (or so he says). To
an outsider's eye, his conduct might border on sexual harassment, but Mary doesn't spot it,
because she idolizes the medical fraternity to which she so badly wants to belong.
Mary's work would improve if she weren't in such dire financial straits that she spends much of
her energy fending off creditors. Desperate to make money in her evening hours, she applies for a
"no sex required" job at a strip club called Bourbon a Go Go. To the amusement of the owner,
Billy Barker (Antonio Cupo), Mary presents a résumé at her interview, which is not something he
usually sees. As luck would have it, though, an unexpected development in the back room of
Billy's business requires immediate "off the books" medical attention—and Billy just happens to
have someone with medical training sitting in the club. When Mary returns home, her money
problems are solved.
Several days later, though, one of Billy's dancers named Beatress (Tristan Risk) comes calling.
With an immobile face surgically altered to resemble Betty Boop and a helium voice borrowed
from Ellen Green's Audrey in
Little Shop of
Horrors, Beatress belongs to the underground world
of "body modification", in which people pay significant sums to have themselves reshaped to
conform to some inner ideal. It's plastic surgery used to make fantasies come true. Beatress
offers Mary $10,000 to perform various procedures on her close friend, Ruby Realgirl (Paula
Lindberg). It's too much money to turn down.
As word of Mary's work spreads through the body modification community, demand for her
services increases. She receives the ultimate imprimatur when two German twins (played by the
Soskas) who run the largest body modification website in the world choose Mary to perform a
critical operation that will bring them even closer together. (See the film if you want the yucky
details.) Mary earns enough cash from this one operation to move into an upscale loft equipped
with a fancy surgical facility.
Mary's success does not come without cost. Her teacher, Dr. Grant, and the jovial surgeon in
charge of her residency, Dr. Walsh (Clay St. Thomas), note the upgrade in her attire and the
change in her demeanor, and they make stereotypical assumptions about how an attractive single
woman must be making money that aren't entirely wrong, given Mary's initial application at
Bourbon a Go Go. By the time Mary operates on the twins, she is no longer enrolled in med
school. She's also been viciously attacked by a group of medical colleagues, but she's found her
own way to get even. Between the services of Billy and his muscle, Lance (Twan Holliday), and
her own surgical skills, Mary has become a truly dangerous person to antagonize.
The authorities are not absent, just clueless. An earnest police detective (John Emmet Tracy)
appears from time to time, inquiring after people who have gone missing, but Mary handles him
easily. The real danger arises out of her surgical work. In all classic horror films, everyone
eventually pays for their transgressions.
The Soskas don't skimp on sex and violence, but their approach has an unmistakably feminine
sensibility. A male director would showcase an actress' bare breasts for the male viewers who
fetishize them. The Soskas' most explicit and prolonged display of a shapely female chest occurs
in connection with an elective procedure to remove the nipples. (And yes, they show enough of
the operation to make you squirm.) In a rape scene, they focus on the victim's face, because (as
they explain in their commentary) everyone knows what is happening elsewhere, and they're
more interested in the victim's
emotions. Likewise, when the victim takes revenge on her
attacker with the assistance of Mary's surgical skills, the focus remains on the rapist's face,
because . . . well, you'll see (if you don't turn away).
Katharine Isabelle's performance as Mary is a triumph of restraint. By holding back, Isabelle
keeps Mary a mystery to those around her, to the audience and ultimately to herself. As much as
she tries to do the "right" thing (which is what makes her vulnerable to someone like Dr. Grant at
school), Mary hides deep reserves of anger and darkness that are suddenly set free when she
tastes the power that comes with practicing her own form of "medicine", achieving a strange kind
of celebrity and earning her own money. The thrill of that empowerment is what makes her
unresponsive to Billy's growing interest in her. It's also what makes her blind to the growing
danger she's in.
American Mary Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
American Mary was shot with Red Epic cameras by Brian Pearson, a frequent second unit DP,
who also served as cinematographer for Final Destination
5 and The Butterfly Effect 2.
Pearson used darkness and shadows effectively to create atmosphere and extract the maximum visual
value from the Soskas' tight production budget. Most of the film takes place indoors, and
Pearson's spaces are always dim and mysterious.
The image on XLrator's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is clear, detailed and sharp, as is generally
the case with projects originated on Red. Blacks are deep, with well-delineated shadows and
detail, so that items that are supposed to be visible in shadow can be seen, if only dimly. Details
of faces, costumes and props (including bizarre surgical implements) are readily discernible
whenever they are in focus. The generally cool hues of Mary's environs (notably, med school and
her residences) contrast with the warmer tones of Billy's club and a few outdoor locations, but
overall American Mary is a chilly-looking movie. Even the redness of blood has been somewhat
dulled, probably in post-production.
Some light banding occurs here and there, but most viewers will never notice. Otherwise, no
artifacts were in evidence. Red footage generally compresses well, and except for a few scenes,
American Mary doesn't have a lot of rapid activity. The average bitrate of 19.94 Mbps appears to
be sufficient.
American Mary Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
American Mary's DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is atmospheric more than immersive. It has a general
sense of ambiance for various environments, but the film is generally set in locales and features
actions that offer little in the way of opportunity for elaborate surround activity. Even the
Bourbon a Go Go club and a raucous party that Mary attends do little except place music at
appropriate volume into the surround array. The dialogue is clear, and the sound effects are
appropriately unsettling. The score by prolifie Canadian composer Peter Allen contributes to the
creepy atmosphere, but more notable are the multiple versions of "Ave Maria" heard at key
points throughout the film. Their reproduction is flawless; their effect is increasingly disturbing.
American Mary Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- Commentary with Directors Jen & Sylvia Soska: The Soska Sisters are joined by star
Katharine Isabelle (via what sounds like a Skype connection) and co-star Tristan Risk for
a rowdy group commentary that can be difficult to follow, especially when Isabelle is
speaking, but conveys in its overall tone the fun these players had making American
Mary. Interesting tales from the set are told, and intriguing bits of trivia emerge, including
the fact that Dr. Grant's advice to Mary is modeled on director Eli Roth's advice to the
Soska (a truly twisted joke, once you've seen the film), and the initial plan to have the
character of Billy Barker speak in Clive Barker's English accent (hence the last name),
which had to be abandoned when actor Antonio Cupo couldn't do a convincing rendition
of the horror icon's intonation. (John Emmet Tracy's cop was the closest anyone could
manage.)
- The Making of American Mary (1080p; 1.78:1; 17:32): This is one of those rare behind-the-scenes
featurettes with no voiceover or intertitles, composed entirely of behind-the-scenes footage that is entirely self-explanatory for anyone who has seen
the film. All
that's been added is an occasional on-screen title identifying a key crew member. One of
the most interesting sections is watching the Soskas sit unself-consciously being video-recorded in the lengthy makeup session for their scenes, both
wearing nothing more than
bikini briefs and tape across their breasts. The session is interrupted by an A.D. who calls
that he needs "a" director, and one of the sisters leaps up, throws on a robe and dashes to
the set.
- Trailer (1080p; 2.35:1; 1:35): "Have you ever heard of . . . body modification?"
- Additional Trailers: At startup, the disc plays trailers (in 1080p) for Saturday Morning
Mystery and Inbred, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not
otherwise available once the disc loads.
American Mary Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
One can quibble with American Mary on numerous points, and it's easy to imagine studio
executives "noting" the film to death. Mary's backstory remains opaque; the character of Billy
hovers somewhere between thug and white knight; and it's hard to believe that the underground
culture of "body modification" manages to flourish without a frightening number of casualties
from post-surgical complications. But all this is beside the point. Effective horror movies aren't
about realism, but about establishing an alternate dreamworld that feels real while it lasts. The
Soskas have done that with American Mary in a manner that stands favorable comparison with
acknowledged masters such as Clive Barker and David Cronenberg. Highly recommended.