American Mary

This creepy, perverted, feminist-themed thriller is a disgusting fright flick filled with horrific imagery. “You're going to be a great slasher,” supervisor Dr. Grant (David Lovgren) tells eager, aspiring surgeon Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle), whose plans to continue in medical school are jeopardized due to insufficient funds. Answering an ad for a stripper, Mary meets a sleazy sex club owner (Antonio Cupo), who eyes her impressive résumé and immediately offers her $5,000 cash to stitch up a mutilated knifing victim. Soon, Bloody Mary builds a reputation as an underground surgeon who is particularly adept at bizarre body modifications. After she's drugged and raped at a doctors' private party, Mary quits medical school—taking a grisly revenge on her attacker while her patient list continues to grow. There's the deluded doll collector who doles out $10,000 to have Mary modify her external sex organs so she can resemble a perfectly neutered Barbie (much to the dismay of her husband), and the man who pays her for a new penis and then ignores Mary's warnings about masturbation. Tongue-splitting and genital alteration fall more into the category of the routine. Written and directed by twisted twin sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska, this murky, low-budget schlock film was made in 15 days in Vancouver, British Columbia—with the Soska sisters playing fetishistic lesbian lovers who wish to exchange left arms (among other alterations). Not recommended. (S. Granger)