Even at this early stage this interesting feature from Canada has the look of a future cult movie. It's decidedly left-field in subject matter. In it a female medical student with financial troubles turns to the shady world of underground surgeries. Before long she is carrying out more and more outlandish procedures. Pleasingly this one is directed by women. It's ridiculous in this day and age how rare it remains for women to be given the director's reigns. This film shows that the female vision can be very twisted and macabre indeed. The directors are identical twins Jen and Sylvia Soska who appear in a cameo as Eastern European sisters who crave bizarre body modifications. Their direction is very stylised but with grit where necessary. I'm not usually queasy when it comes to movies but I can honestly say that one surgical scene left me looking away. The third female presence is star Katherine Isabelle of Ginger Snaps fame. She is very good in a dark and sexy performance. She is a great anti-heroine and her revenge moment on a man who attacked her is one that had me inwardly cheering.

Seeing as this is a Canadian horror film perhaps a comparison with David Cronenberg is inevitable. But in this instance it's a fairly relevant one as in many ways this is another example of the body horror sub-genre. It's a film that combines contemporary sadistic horror with a view of an unusual subculture of people who modify their bodies through surgery. It isn't a very story driven film to be fair and it sometimes lacks a bit of overall dynamism but this is only a relatively minor observation and it is pleasingly original for the most part. Overall the feature could perhaps best be described as what would happen if Clive Barker was to direct a film that combined elements of Hard Candy and Audition.

American Mary is a story of surgical horror and body modification, done on a budget and starring Katharine Isabelle (of GINGER SNAPS fame). Isabelle plays a young medical student who gets drawn into the world of a murky, gangster-run nightclub in order to make ends meet, and after suffering an ordeal at the hands of a senior doctor she decides to get revenge in her own inimitable style.

Unfortunately this is the kind of grotesque, sub-Cronenberg wannabe that seems to be ten a penny these days, although it in no way equals the class or professionalism of an early Cronenberg flick. Instead it's a complete bore and a mess of a film, with plotting that goes all over the place and characterisation that never really works.

I loved Isabelle in the GINGER SNAPS trilogy but she feels miscast here and I would say the role was beneath her; certainly when you see her gyrating or suffering you can't help that feel she herself is being exploited somewhat as an actress. In any case, the characters are all unlikeable, and the scenes of body modification and the like are merely repulsive and repellent rather than properly horrific. American Mary is trash, made with a bare modicum of talent, and a film with no purpose other than to gross you out.

Medical student Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) is desperate for cash. She answers an ad at a strip club and ends up doing illegal medical work for $5k. She is pulled into a world of blackmarket body modifications. She is raped by her teacher Grant. She uses her underworld connection to seek revenge.

Beatress Johnson is a great weird character. I was intrigued right away. She sets up a great ascend into a surreal slice of the world. It does do that at times but I want more. I like the twins and gimp Grant. I want less of the cheesy strip club. I want them to go to a body mod club where Mary is welcomed like a new messiah. I want extravagance. This movie is limited. There are issues with flow. It has so much potential but it can only fulfill so much.