Review of American Mary (2013) by Spencer S — 24 Jun 2014

There is something just so bloody good about a horror film that is nice and gory. "Ginger Snaps" alum Katharine Isabelle returns to the big screen as a medical student named Mary. Barely destitute but desperate, Mary answers an ad for a strip club, but is interrupted to perform surgery for a large sum of money.

She begins in this vein as a very innocent and frightened young woman, who doesn't understand the world she is thrust into, but a thirst for revenge quickly spirals her into a realm of darkness and fury.

This film screams for me to love it, and I do easily, thanks to its insatiable blood fest, grotesque imagery of surgeries, Katharine Isabelle's cold and conniving performance as Mary, and the exploitative antics onscreen.

Her professor (Lovgren) is probably the most gnawing thing about this film, because his behavior is insufferable, and his warped sense of entitlement over his students is just not realistic. I know we're supposed to hate him and that's the reason why he is designed in that way, but he's just so blatant about it.

Mary changing to a bloodthirsty horror villain over his crime seemed a bit extreme. The ending was also anticlimactic for the story set up, and came out of nowhere. Otherwise, this film brutally entertains, and does so with all the lust and plasma it can muster.