She’s desperate, smart and diabolical, a woman who finds a way to fill her need for the bizarre. She’s American Mary, a medical student with a dream, yet to most, a nightmare. Now on DVD, the movie gives horror fans a fill of what they’re craving with this instant cult classic.
The film centers on Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) a young medical student who is putting herself though med school. She’s becoming a brilliant surgeon, but has been finding it hard to pay her bills. Being one of few scholars to keep up with the teaching doctors, she’s looked down upon for being a woman in their field. She gets invited to one of the doctor parties making her feel on top of the world. At the party she finds herself being drugged and brutally raped by her teaching surgeon. Not being able to respond to the treatment and with very little funds she finds herself on a perverse track of sex with the appeal of quick cash doing illegal surgeries.
The movie has directors Jen and Sylvia Soska in their element with the follow-up of their one hit wonder Dead Hooker in a Trunk that has a huge following. The two are referred to as the “Twisted Twins” and it’s easy to see why from this sordid tale of wickedness and gore. Using Isabelle for their show, the two put the hot little devil through some very sinister scenes as a tough ghoul that loves her trade and uses it as a chance to get even.
I think Katherine Isabelle has a good chance of making it big in the film industry as long as she can break out of her B roles. She needs to get noticed and this could be a great showcase for her acting abilities. With shock producer John A. Curtis watching over her, she just may make the grade. Certainly under the wicked twin Soska sisters this gig has done her a lot of good and may kick her up a notch on the want list.
American Mary won 5 Screamfest Awards including Best Picture, Best Director for the Soska sisters and Best Actress for Katherine Isabelle. While the film was released in theaters in 2012 in the United Kingdom this is the first time it’s available in the United States direct to DVD and Blu-ray.
The DVD has a very good bonus feature along with commentary by the Soska sisters who wrote the screenplay and both Katherine Isabelle and Tristan Risk who plays Beatrice Johnson in the film.
BONUS FEATURE:
“A Revealing Look at the Making of American Mary” In this very cool insight into the world of Jen & Sylvia Soska we get a close up look at their set work visually taking us through key scenes. I like the way they are relaxed and openly frank about how they put the film together including make-up and the use of several cameras.
I was sent a DVD review copy of the film and although it can be viewed without a lot of distortion, I wish that I was able to get hold of the Blu-ray as it’s a stunner and would have been much more enjoyable to view it in that format. The dark scenes that include some of her surgery and a night club meeting with the Twisted Twins (played by Jen and Sylvia Soska) get danker in that lighting situation rather than visually acute.
The sound suffers as well with the DVD being unable to make use of the DTS-HD Master Audio that comes with the Blu-ray. The DVD does offer Dolby Digital 5.1 so if your system can use that audio then you should be able to hear all the dialogue and special effects sound. I did find some background noise in some of the scenes that did make for some distraction, but it may have been intentional.
American Mary has been rated R by the MPAA for strong aberrant violent content including disturbing images, torture, a rape, sexual content, graphic nudity, language and brief drug use. Be very cautious when deciding to allow anyone under 17 to see the film as it does have many scenes that may be inappropriate, especially the realistic rape scene.
Specifications and additional film information:
- Cast: Katharine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk, David Lovgren, Paula Lindberg, Clay St Thomas, John Emmet Tracy, Twan Holliday and special appearance by Jen and Sylvia Soska
- Directed by: Jen and Sylvia Soska
- MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong aberrant violent content including disturbing images, torture, a rape, sexual content, graphic nudity, language and brief drug use
- Genre: Horror, Thriller
- Running Time: 1 hr 35 min
- Video Release Date: June18, 2013
- Original Film Release Date: January 13, 2013 UK
- Language: English
- Reviewed Format: DVD
- Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Video: Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.40:1 Letterbox
- Number of Discs: 1 Disc
- Distributed by: XLrator Media
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
