American Mary - There's something twisted about Mary

I'm not sure how best to describe `American Mary.' The easy option would be to call it a `horror,' but that doesn't seem to do it justice on its own. It's more of a dark, horrific drama, charting a young medical student's disillusionment with her studies and pursuing the `easy option' instead. This takes her into the path of some particularly weird and unscrupulous people.

I read online someone describing the film as having a great beginning and middle, but lacking in the end. I'd tend to agree with that. The ending does seem a little sudden, like the film-makers kind of didn't know how best to end it in a way that would appeal to everyone. Your view of the ending will depend largely on how you view the characters.

And the characters all play their parts well. Special kudos to Katherine Isabelle, who plays the title role. The film depends on making her role work and I think she succeeds.

I don't know who I'd recommend this film to: it's one part `torture porn,' one part horror, one part revenge movie and some general bloodthirstyness thrown into the mix. I suppose if you dabble in any of those sorts of genres, you should get something out of it. For some reason, I found the overall feel and `story structure' most similar to the similarly titled American Psycho.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that