American Mary - Here's a frustrating experience for the horror fan - an original concept, one tailor made for the younger Cronenberg - is somewhat squandered in a glossy, entertaining but ultimately superficial fashion. A horror body modification movie is a great idea, the tired torture porn tropes can be revisited in a cerebral way - instead of butchering people, how about changing them? At what point does the body become so altered that the person no longer exists? how about swapping body parts, a contemporary Frankenstein myth? This movie skims over these ideas but sadly settles for a straightforward rape revenge narrative. Katherine Isabelle is OK but she can't do much with a script that takes her from A (stressed, ambitious medical student) to B (raving dominatrix style nutcase) in one jump. The owner of the night club which specialises in back room torture and the policeman on the trail are dreadfully written and acted characters that go nowhere. The Betty boo lookalike is better - genuinely creepy looking. Overall a better than average horror which nowadays is damning with faint praise I'm afraid.
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