American Mary
The Gist:
Mary is a medical student studying to be a surgeon. She is played by smoking hot Katherine Isabelle of the wonderful Ginger Snaps werewolf films. She excells in medical school even though her teacher is a foul mouthed dooche bag reminiscent of chef Gordon Ramsey. Mary finds herself hard up for cash. She discovers her blossoming talents as a soon to be surgeon can be useful to make fast money via an alternate route.
Let’s cut deeper:
There are a lot of characters in this movie with a dark side. Starting with her MD professor, the surgeons she interns with, and shady strip club owner. Let’s see if Mary becomes a product of her environment.
Since Mary has the body for it, she is tempted by the glamorous world of sleazy stripping to make fast cash. Mary, like a professional, filled out a resume for the strip club owner. He see’s she has medical talents beyond the typical aspiring erotic dancer. He offers her $5k to fix up a gaping knife wound in a criminal.
Mary is lured further by the almighty dollar when Beatress finds out she is a black market surgeon. Interested in body modification Mary? No, how would you like to make $10k in a day? Who wouldn’t? The huge payoffs get Mary’s attention. I can’t botch this operation by spilling too much information along the plot lines so I’ll stop here. I will say Mary get’s deeper into underground body modification. This part of the movie was really freaky and I wish the story had lingered more on this edge of the scalpel.
However, Mary is a medical student on her way to being a surgeon. Mary is blindsided by creepy surgeons. Who knew surgeon’s lived such vice filled lifestyles? I figured they loved cutting into people more than they let on. What a rush right? It couldn’t just be the money. Then again isn’t it always about the money? Maybe not.
Acting:
If you have seen Ginger Snaps you know Katherine Isabelle can play the lead. (If you haven’t scene Ginger Snaps get yourself a copy immediately.) She plays a vicious character not much different from her werewolf character in Ginger Snaps. I love that wicked, fem fatal version of Katherine Isabelle so I was a happy pup.
In this surgical nightmare the strip club owner is played by Antonio Cupo. He does a good job in his tweener role. Is he a good guy in a corrupt biz or is it the other way around? There isn’t any back story so I couldn’t tell for sure. He is believable as he develops a soft spot for Mary, who wouldn’t?
Mary is pushed into the body modification microcosm by a rich stripper named Beatress. I guess Beatress strips to show off her body. Why go to those external extremes if you never show it off? Beatress has had a plethora of facial operations to look freakishly like Betty Boop, great make-up F/X on her. Beatress is played by Tristan Risk. I’ve never heard of her either. Like a Pro Wrestler Beatress never breaks character even in hellish circumstances. These surgery addicts take their fantasy life more serious than I imagined. Now I know, body modification is a radical lifestyle commitment.
GORE:
You know I’m gonna give you the low down on this angle. Disappointingly there is tad too much off scene action. We don’t get to see as much of the gruesome operations as a gorehound would like. The scenes are still gross enough to satisfy. We get beatings, severed limbs, hanging by hooks torture, rape, several stabbings, surgical yucks, sewing up flesh, off screen head bashing, and so blood spills all over the floor.
SEX:
Sorry guys, Isabelle keeps all her clothes on. She does parade around in skimpy outfits showing off her sexy bod and dat ass. We get an unsexy rape. An erotic dance by our leading lady. Topless strippers, a bizarre modification chick nude, an infected penis, and some girl kissing.
Directing/production:
This movie doesn’t have a big budget feel. The directing is C+, a few creative shots, nothing excessively inspiring. Katherine is in about every scene so it’s hard to mess up.
Final Thought:
I thoroughly enjoyed American Mary. Though it often went into the hard to believe realm I let that pass by and enjoyed the movie for what it was, a woman on an unsustainable course. It catches up with her. There is a lesson there for us all. Go for the easy money, live dangerously, cast away your common sense and conscience and see how long you can get away with it. Does it work? Watch the movie.
Though I really enjoyed the movie, never felt a dull moment, I wish they had done more with the body modification. I wish there had been less off screen and more on screen gore and surgery. I also felt Mary did some particularly cruel things that didn’t fit her character. She seemed to turn into a villain too quickly. Something terrible did happen to her. Maybe she got in over her head and acted accordingly. By the end she was going too berserk which justified the ending but I think hurt the story. So the end was semi-predictable. Will there be a sequel? I sure hope so.
-The Death Director
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