AMERICAN MARY (2012) Review

Directed by: Jen & Sylvia Soska

Starring: Katherine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk

After arriving at Monster Fest’s closing night and watching Isabel Peppard’s beautifully crafted stop motion short BUTTERFLIES, Monster Pictures’ Neil Foley assured the audience that the next film to screen would be unlike anything we’d seen before. I have a habit of not taking these types of claims too serious because more often than not they turn out to be complete bullshit. However in this instance I’m glad to say that Neil was right on the money because AMERICAN MARY turned out to be not only an incredibly unique and unconventional horror movie but also easily one of my favorite films of the year.

AMERICAN MARY is the latest feature from Canadian directors Jen & Sylvia Soska who broke onto the scene a few years back with their incredible indie film DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK which has since become a firm favorite for genre fans. But as good as that movie was AMERICAN MARY is such a huge step up in almost every way. I’ll go over the plot and then get to the rest of what makes this film so brilliant.

Mary Mason (Isabelle) is a young woman making her way through medical school with hopes of being a surgeon. She is doing well with her schooling but finds herself in financial trouble so applies for a job at a seedy club in a bid to make some fast cash. Midway through her interview there’s some trouble and the club owner invites her downstairs to do some impromptu surgery. At first she resists but eventually succumbs to the temptation of five thousand dollars cash in hand. This backroom surgery opens a door to Mary through which she discovers the hidden world of extreme body modification.

As much as the plot might suggest otherwise, AMERICAN MARY does not dwell too heavily on gore. That's not to say there isn't plenty of up close and explicitly graphic scenes, but the Soska sisters know when to hold back so that the main focus is upon Mary and her story'. A story which not only includes some extreme body modification but also a rape & revenge thread and a police investigation and so much more. AMERICAN MARY is indeed an intricate and multi-faceted film but not so much that it becomes too difficult to follow or enjoy.

One of the most interesting and pleasant aspects of the film is the way that the body modification culture is treated with dignity and respect rather than revulsion and unfair judgement, indeed one of the messages the film seems to convey is the idea that people could be accepted and accept themselves for who they are. And this doesn't just apply to her patients but to Mary herself who while she may not have the most stable and conventional lifestyle seems to embrace her new-found identity.

Technically AMERICAN MARY is easily one of the more impressive movies I have seen all year and in particular with regards to its use of cinematography and lighting to create atmosphere. The make-up and practical effects are also top notch thanks to the award winning efforts of Masters FX. And of course I cannot fail to mention Katherine Isabelle's acting which was even more impressive than I would have expected, now there's an actress who deserves a lot more recognition.

Put simply I have not seen a genre film (or film of any kind) in years which I have found this impressive, enjoyable and original and especially with it being only the second feature from a pair of film-makers. The Soska sisters are definitely a pair to look out for in the future and AMERICAN MARY is in my opinion a must see film for genre fans.

BUTTERFLIES (2012) Short Film Review

Directed by: Isabel Peppard

Starring (voices): Rachel Griffiths, Nicholas Hope, Henry Nixon, Honey Spence

I was fortunate enough to attend the closing night of Melbourne's Monster Fest this month and was treated to not one but two brilliant films. The Soska sisters' latest feature AMERICAN MARY was preceded by the short stop motion film BUTTERFLIES from Aussie director Isabel Peppard. After premiering at the Melbourne International Film Festival earlier this year BUTTERFLIES was invited to screen at the Sitges International Film Festival in Spain where festival organizers hailed it as "A short destined to become an instant stop motion classic"

BUTTERFLIES follows Claire (voiced by Rachel Griffiths) who as a young girl dreamed of becoming an artist. Later in life however she finds herself barely getting by as she sells her drawings to passers by on the street. One day business man Dalton Hearst (voiced by Nicholas Hope) recognises her talent and gives her a job illustrating greeting cards. But although the prospect seems inviting at first is this manufactured art destroying her imagination?

Isabel gave the audience a short introduction to the film, describing how important and personal the film is and also mentioning that this 12 minute stop motion animation took 2 whole years to produce. Construction of the set pieces and dolls took a whole 12 months (the dolls themselves taking a month each to create) and shooting took up the remaining second year. Taking these figures into account it's obvious that a lot of love and effort has been put into BUTTERFLIES and watching it only reinforces that feeling.

Both the sets and the dolls are superbly detailed and the unique visuals create a very bleak but also beautiful world with a kind of Victorian industrial steam punk aesthetic. Everything including the visuals the monologues and the orchestral score come together and the film unfolds like some sort of Gothic fairytale with horror elements which manifest themselves in both the decaying butterflies of the film's title and also upon Claire's co-workers as she begins to understand what their loss of creativity has done to them and threatens to do to her. BUTTERFLIES is easily one of the more unique and satisfying films I have seen in quite some time.

BUTTERFLIES is still doing the festival rounds so keep an eye on the website and Facebook page for further screenings and if you have the opportunity to see it I really recommend doing so.

Now Showing: THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE

Another lazy day today so instead of posting any real news or reviews (although I did post a review for the horrible NAIL GUN MASSACRE earlier) I am sharing this classic exploitation flick. Favored by Quentin Tarantino (and in fact the inspiration for his character Elle Driver) and starring the stunning Christina Lindberg, THRILLER is one of the best rape & revenge films I've ever seen. It is a little different from what these types of movie usually offer and does have a kind of arthouse edge to it but nevertheless I fucking love it and I highly recommend it. You can read my full review here and watch the full uncut movie for free below courtesy of the almighty Youtube.
WARNING: The film is not overly gory but it does contain an eyeball mutilation scene (complete with real eyeball) and some pretty full on hardcore sex scenes so If you don't like the sound of that I suggest you go hunting for one of the other censored cuts.
Otherwise if you're in the mood for some 80s slasher action you can go here to watch THE BURNING & THE PROWLER for free of course.

THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE: "A young woman, muted after a sexual assault as a child, is trained to seek violent revenge on those who have wronged her after being kidnapped and forced to work as a prostitute"

NAIL GUN MASSACRE (1985) Review

Directed by: Bill Leslie, Terry Lofton

Starring: Rocky Patterson, Ron Queen, Michelle Meyer

Wow. You know those movies where everything you hear about them is negative and you really can't believe they could be so bad but then it really turns out that they are? Well this is a perfect example of that. Welcome to NAIL GUN MASSACRE.

As far as rape & revenge flicks go the plot couldn't be simpler. A young woman is gang raped by a group of construction workers and then shortly afterwards a masked killer appears to take revenge. That's pretty much the movie in a nutshell. The opening scene shows the rape and then only a couple of minutes later the killer shows up out of nowhere and with no explanation at all. And not only that but the killer appears wearing one of the most outlandish slasher outfits ever. Full camouflage with duct-taped motorcycle helmet wielding an industrial nail gun and a compressed air canister on their back. Oh yeah and the killer also drives a gold hearse. Not exactly subtle.The full body coverage is obviously a way to mask the killer's identity and to keep the audience asking whether it's a he or a she, and to further add to this mystery the filmmakers have used some vocal effect to disguise the killer's voice. The outfit, weapon, car and voice all added together makes for one of the most absurd slasher villains of all time.

After the appearance of this masked villain the movie is basically just a bunch of lame death scenes with a splash of fake blood and what look like cut in half nails glued to body parts. On a positive note there are a couple of sex scenes and a decent amount of on screen boobs, and of course everybody who has sex invariably dies. While all of this killing is going on there is a completely inept cop and an equally inept doctor who follow the trail of bodies and pretend like they're investigating. Unfortunately it takes them a ridiculously long amount of time to even find a link between the murders, and the doctor is such an idiot that in one scene he leaves a dead body laying out in public and states "She's not going anywhere".

The dialogue in this movie is awful and the delivery just as bad. I read somewhere that the script was cut down from 80-something pages to around 25 and as a result most of the dialogue was ad-libbed, and it really shows. We get treated to such classic lines as "Do you remember when you could sit outside and not worry about the mosquitoes and the killers?" or the painful conversation between a girl a guy and his ex-girlfriend. And speaking of bad dialogue I have to mention the killer's awful one-liners. He/she seems to have at least one prepared for every killing and they are all terribly cheesy including "You shouldn't go to pieces... over me" as somebody's hand gets cut off, or telling a victim to "hang around" after their hands are nailed to a tree. I know that sometimes a humorous killer can work (such as Freddy Krueger) but this is just bad. I heard that at some point the director Terry Lofton realized that this movie wouldn't be taken seriously as a horror movie so instead he decided to add some comedy and thus the cheesy one-liners.

I suppose if you got completely hammered you could find something to enjoy about this movie, and it's easy to laugh at its many flaws but I cannot honestly give this a good score. It's a really, really bad movie. One of the worst I've seen in a long time. Fans of low-budget trash may enjoy but otherwise I advise you to stay away.

THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE (1974) Review

Directed by: Bo Arne Vibenius

Starring: Christina Lindberg, Heinz Hopf, Despina Tomazani

THRILLER is one of those movies I've heard a lot of things about and have been meaning to see for quite some time but never got around to it until now. I'd mainly heard about it in reference to it's influential and controversial aspects, but did it live up to my expectations? Well I'm glad to say that it actually exceeded them.

THRILLER is one of the many films which deals with rape, abuse and revenge like the more well known LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, although it isn't quite your conventional rape & revenge thriller. The film starts of with a young girl who is raped by an old bearded creep. We are then introduced to the girl Frigga (Lindberg) all grown up and living with her parents in a quaint farming community. We also learn that because of her traumatic experience as a child she is completely mute. After missing the bus Frigga is offered a ride by a seemingly nice guy named Tony (Hopf) who takes her out to dinner and then back to his place for a couple of drinks. After drugging the girl and shooting her up with heroin he gets her hooked on the drug in order to work for him as a prostitute. After attacking her very first client Tony slices up her eye with a scalpel to keep her in order and for the remainder of the movie she wears a patch over one eye. But Tony isn't a complete monster because he gives her Mondays off work and she decides to use these days to her advantage. By putting away money she organizes classes to teach her how to shoot, fight and drive as she prepares a plan for revenge.

This is far from the most disturbing and extreme rape & revenge films and in fact there is not really a whole lot of gore at all, although there is the close-up scene of an eyeball being popped with a scalpel which might make some people a little uncomfortable especially since it is a real scalpel and a real eyeball. But the way the story is told is really creative and it must have been interesting to get around the fact that the main character cannot talk. The close-up shots of sweaty, grunting clients and the hardcore penetration scenes add a real gritty and dirty angle to the film and seeing the way Frigga is treated by both Tony and her clients really helps you hope that she gets the revenge she seeks. A lot of the shots used in the movie are very different and artsy and some of them work while others don't. The super slow motion death scenes were kind of neat at first but by the end they began to lose their charm.

One thing I can really give the director (and his actors) credit for is how far he has gone to add some realism to the film. Apparently the producers had to take a hefty insurance policy out of Christina Lindberg because live ammunition was used in the action scenes and for the heroin injection scenes her veins were actually injected with a saline solution. Non simulated sexual penetration was also used (I'm pretty sure they were spliced in later on) and a real cadaver was used for the eyeball scene. Some people might find using a real body for the purposes of disfigurement on film to be in bad taste but there's no arguing that it does give the movie an extra bit of realism. Also I'm sure a lot of people will be put off by the hardcore scenes but I personally thought that they were an important addition because they help portray the level of abuse that Frigga is put through.

As for its influence on other movies it is pretty obvious where Quentin Tarantino got his inspiration for the KILL BILL character Elle Driver, and I'm pretty sure the final death scene played some part in inspiring HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN as well. Also when I saw Christina Lindberg wielding a shotgun and driving a cop car around while dressed in black I couldn't help but think of MAD MAX. And I'm not quite sure but the whole rape & revenge scenario coupled with the victim being mute has to have influenced Abel Ferarra's MS .45 in some way.

There really isn't much I didn't like about THRILLER apart from perhaps a few drawn out and overused scenes but that's basically nothing. Christina Lindberg is super attractive and a great choice for a sexy and strong female lead and her transformation from innocent farm girl to brutal avenger is really well done. The cinematography is artistic and some of the shots a brilliant, and the soundtrack is quite bizarre but I loved it. If you feel you might be put off by some of the sex or even the eye scene then I suggest you hunt around for one of the other releases. The movie was released under a few different titles including THEY CALL HER ONE EYE and HOOKER'S REVENGE which have different running times although I'm not sure which parts exactly have been removed. If you want to see the movie with all of the sex and violence intact however I suggest you look for the 107 minute long THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE. Very highly recommended.