American Mary - Human Curiosity about Body Modification
American Mary, a 2012 movie about a medical student's financial difficulties and the changes she goes through after being raped by the teacher of the medical school where she was a student, is more suitable for the drama genre than horror.
The movie focuses on the character of Mary Mason (played by Katherine Isabelle), who is on her way to becoming a successful surgeon, who performs illegal surgeries for money after she falls into financial difficulties and burns the fire of revenge.
I must say that the majority of these illegal surgeries involve human body modification. The first part of the movie focuses on why a successful student turns to such illegal surgeries. Financial difficulties are not the only reasons behind this illegality. The injustice and rape she suffers becomes the main theme of the movie's story.
I don't think the movie successfully reflects the horror genre. There are scenes that are more suited to the drama genre than horror in terms of the way the story is handled, and as we focus on the main character's life, we see that the drama in question is revealed more and more.
Katherine Isabelle gives an accomplished performance as Mary Masson. Throughout the movie, where she transforms from a young student who cares about her education to almost a murderer, she stages the transitions and her reasons with her great performance. I especially liked the transitions in the way she reacts to the effect, which makes you root for her in the fire of revenge she is burning.
The movie would have been more successful if the horror aspect, which I thought was missing in American Mary, had been handled more successfully and added to the scenes. I cannot emphasize success for the other characters. For example, the desire for revenge, which is one of the reasons that drives her to murder, creates victimization instead of fear. The reason why victimization was created was because it was evident in the ineffective and rather weak story transitions created by the other characters.
There are too many gaps in the script of the movie. The fact that the police don't know the truth that everyone knows about all the events until the last stage, and when they do, it is passed off as a quick interrogation, creates serious gaps. Perhaps the movie would have been more successful if the scenes involving the police had never happened and the events had never been referred to the judicial authorities.
In spite of everything, I find the movie highly watchable. The modifications people wanted to make to their bodies went far beyond a simple tattoo or piercings and earrings. Some of the scenes are horrifying. I recommend you to watch the movie from this point of view, but decide for yourself what the movie is about and whether it appeals to you or not.