American Mary (2012)
Chosen by Laura after asking on facebook. She had this to say "I didn't find it that scary- more gory. nice light comedy moments too. plus the whole thing is utterly ridiculous"
Approaching more arthouse than horror territory, this is closer to Cronenberg or Lynch in tone but more aligned with Eli Roth (who gets a nod in the credits) in general quality.
Katherine Isabelle once more rules over all and it's hard to imagine this film working as much as it does without the backbone of her terrific, eccentric performance.
The rest of the cast is uneven though often interesting in the way that more polished movies can flatten out (a Betty Boop inspired body mod fan is sweetly unsettling).
The Soska Twins are far less successful as actors than directors which makes a short but pointless digression with them a bit of a chore.
Their writing is also a little wonky, the first act strong but overlong which unbalances the film and a climax which is too rushed to leave an impact.
I don't know what the actual body mod community would make of this film (because i never do any real research for these reviews) as it both celebrates and exploits them. But perhaps that is appropriate? The worst people in it are the non-modded. But Mary herself becomes more and more unhinged in her dealings with the community (who all seem to be super rich, and apart from a couple of cases I'm not quite sure why they need an underground doctor?) though it is all kicked into gear by an unpleasant rape scene (though fairly tactful as far as things go in these kind of movies) so it's hard to know if there's any statement being made here or just the trappings of an exploitation movie hung on what-ever background could look interesting.
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