Great Concept Poster Art

This has to be one of the best concept posters I've seen for American Mary by 9hrs on tumblr. Just wow.

-Sylv

Don't Miss American Mary in San Diego

 "It's scary how well "American Mary" is made. But the real horror in the film comes in some unexpected places. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that the story does turn into a revenge film and part of what’s scary is the darkness Mary finds inside herself. That’s what makes the Soskas so good. They do not go for the knee-jerk scare of something jumping out of the dark or for gross-out gore. They deliver carefully calibrated horror that looks to the darkness that lies within each of us. And they are really smart about how they use gore effects; they know when to show blood and when to leave it to our imaginations. They prove that all horror needs is a woman’s touch to refresh it. 

The Soskas will have a special video introduction for the film on Friday night at 10 p.m. They will be in town on Saturday for a Q&A following the 10 p.m. screening. The second film in the series will be "Gut," with filmmaker Elias offering a mini-workshop on making and distributing an independent film after the two screenings of his film on June 14 and 15."

Beth Accomando paid out of her own pocket to make sure American Mary played in San Diego. I don't even know how to express my gratitude for such an opportunity and I cannot wait to see you guys there!

Read the whole piece here!

-Sylv

Movie Web Talks to the Twisted Twins

"Dead Hooker in a Trunk duo Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska, otherwise known as The Twisted Twins, are literally changing the face of horror this Friday as their heralded horror neo-classic American Mary makes its way to select American theaters. 

This gruesome story follows medical student Mary (Katharine Isabelle) who is growing increasingly broke and disenchanted with school and the established doctors she once idolized. The allure of easy money sends her on a desperate quest through the messy world of underground surgeries, which leaves more marks on her than her so-called freakish clientele. As the Twisted Twins will tell you...Appearances are everything. 

We recently caught up with the Canadian duo, who are far less scary than their on-creen cameo appearance in American Mary might lead you to believe. Here is our conversation, where we delve into the history behind these characters, some of the true facts about the body modification culture that the movie devotes itself too, and how the pair function as a team."

Some SPOILERS!

Read it all HERE.

-Sylv

Globe and Mail on American Mary

The second feature by this hugely cult-buzzed duo (whose premiere was the daintily titled Dead Hooker in a Trunk), American Mary follows the entrepreneurial innovations of a dropped-out student surgeon (Ginger Snaps’ drop-dead dangerous Katharine Isabelle) whose artistry in the customized skin arts flourishes after she exacts an appallingly appropriate revenge.

No wonder American Mary has been sparking the fan-based alt-festival underground circuit for the past several months: This is truly a cut above.

American Mary screens on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. as part of Cineplex’s Sinister Cinema series at the Yonge and Dundas theatre in Toronto.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/american-mary-alt-festival-hit-is-truly-a-cut-above/article12225994/

LA Daily News Talks to the Twisted Twins

"We're pretty sure that Jen and Sylvia Soska are the only twin female horror movie directors on the planet.

"There were others, but we killed them and we put them in storage lockers," Jen, who is 19 minutes younger than her 30-year-old identical twin, joked over the phone from their hometown, Vancouver."

Read the whole piece here.

-Sylv

The Measure Examines American Mary

"American Mary, a new horror movie directed and written by twin sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska that opens on Friday, takes on such hoary conservatism. If the horror movie is typically about punishing women, this one is the opposite: it's about restoring robbed power. It centers on the titular surgeon-in-training (Katharine Isabelle) who falls into an extreme black-market body-modification subculture. The problem of cinematic objectification is addressed with characters who are literally objectified and thus desexualized: Mary's first procedure in a non-traditional OR involves cutting off a woman's breasts and sewing (mostly) closed her vagina, completing the patient's transformation into a doll not in the Runyon sense but the Mattel one. The filmmakers posit that it's not fair that God gets to decide what kind of body we have, and thus bestow that divine power upon the women themselves. They're in total control of their bodies."

READ THE WHOLE PIECE HERE.

-Sylv

Film Deviant Talks to Mary

FILM DEVIANT: Can you describe the “spritz” of blood that got on you in the storage locker scene? 

KATHARINE: (laughs) Yeah, the spritz of blood. I’m not a big fan of being covered in cold sticky blood at 3 in the morning when you don’t have any shower facilities on set. You know your fingers glue together and it’s incredibly uncomfortable and I’m a bit claustrophobic. And we had shot the following scene where I have the card to (16:04) and my hair is perfectly clean, I’m all cleaned up and so I said to one of our amazingly talented people from MastersFX, Jason Ward, that, after I bludgeoned the security guard (who is actually one of my best friends Sean Amsing), there should only be a little spritz and try to keep away from my hair because in the next scene I’m perfectly clean, so it needs to be something that I could maybe clean up with a Kleenex or a little napkin or something. We start doing it and Jason just has this look on his face and he empties this huge fucking canister, you know like 2 feet tall of blood and I look like I fell in a pool of blood. Fortunately you know they did that because it’s a great scene, it would not have been so awesome and so effective if it was just a little spritz of blood. But yeah, I stood up and was like..., "you motherfucker...you totally tricked me", and they’re just laughing their asses off and I’m just covered in blood.

READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW HERE.

-Sylv

Dread Central Exclusive Clip

"In honor of XLrator Media's May 31st limited theatrical release date for American Mary, we have an exclusive and bloody new clip for you cats. Why? Because we love you and we especially enjoy making hump day fun!"

SPOILER!!!!!! Like totally avoid the internet if you don't want huge spoilers everywhere. But if you've already seen it or want zero surprise.

Register your age and watch it here.

-Sylv

MSN's Exclusive American Mary Page

"“Twisted Twins” Jen and Sylvia Soska are back with their stunning follow-up to the indie hit "Dead Hooker in a Trunk." "American Mary" is the story of a medical student named Mary who is growing increasingly broke and disenchanted with medical school and the established doctors she once idolized. The allure of easy money sends a desperate Mary through the messy world of underground surgeries which leaves more marks on her than the so-called freakish clientele. Appearances are everything. Check out this exclusive clip."

See it here.

-Sylv

Biff Bam Body Modification

"Their names are Jen and Sylvia Soska and they’re the future of horror filmmaking. 

I say this not as a piece of hyperbole that the sisters can put on a Blu-Ray case (though feel free, ladies), but simply because, with their new film, American Mary, they managed to create a fantastic piece of horror cinema that literally left me in disbelief of what I was watching. The film freaked me out. It made me edgy. It made me squirm. It made me turn it off when my wife walked in the room.

But, most importantly, American Mary kept me engrossed. And to think, I almost didn’t watch the film."

Read the whole piece here!

-Sylv

American Mary and Twisted Twins in the Province

"Twin Vancouver writer-directors Jen and Sylvia Soska are being hailed as horror’s next big thing as they surf a bloody wave of fan and peer acclaim for their indie horror hit American Mary.

The movie stars Katharine Isabelle (the pubescent werewolf of 2000’s Canadian cult hit Ginger Snaps) as Mary, a med student who pays the tuition with fetish-scene body-modification surgeries, and then takes an even darker turn after a betrayal by one of her med-school profs.

“Basically if you ever make a woman mad, that’s what goes through her head,” said Sylvia during a visit to Burnaby’s Masters FX, indicating a limbless male torso that hangs in a glass case. “She just says she’s fine.”

The twins’ feminist twist on horror’s traditionally male mad scientist had Britain’s Guardian newspaper calling the film: “a post-feminist chimera ... with heavy splatterings of Saw-like sadism but a healthy measure of intelligence, too.” "

Read the whole piece HERE.

-Jen

Bring American Mary Home, America!

My fellow Americans, you can now bring American Mary home with you - at least in pre-order land. 

Get your DVD here!!

And your BD here!!

Please spread the word, write user reviews on the film, and let's get the fuck on that top seller list! Your support has gotten the film in every top ten so far, let's see how we kill it in the US.

-Sylv

See American Mary at The Rio Theatre with Killer Exclusives

The Rio Theatre is a staple in the Vancouver scene for giving a cool venue for filmmakers to screen their work. These are the guys and gals that first screened Dead Hooker in a Trunk, have us out for their Horror Nights, and fought the law and won to keep their excellent theatre serving drinks and kicking ass.

I am honored to have American Mary screening at the theatre and because this theatre is so special and the film itself is a testament to Vancouver talent, we are doing something very special and exclusive. 

May 31st you will be to meet the monster makers of MASTERSFX behind the characters and creations you see in the film. You will get to meet and get your photo with a very special piece from the film like no other, and be sure to ask them how they make that stuff look so real in the Q & A. Also, look out for our beloved dark doctors Clay St. Thomas and Nelson Wong at the screening.

June 3rd, Beatress Johnson, Tristan Risk will be there for a Q & A which you don’t want to miss as she is phenomenal in the film and the girl of our horror dreams.

Please get the word out, share the event, and make sure you can get to the screenings. We don’t have too many Canadian generated films like this with full Canadian teams like this and the film really shows off how badass our industry is!!

Get Your Details HERE!

-Sylv

The Ladies of American Mary in the Women in Horror Podcast

One of the best chats I've ever had with my favorite women on the planet. Don't miss it!

-Sylv

Twisted Twins Join The Killer Fan Expo Line-Up

Jen and I are so fucking stoked to be part of Fan Expo Canada (TM) this year!! Cannot wait to see y'all there. I'm packing extra twin hugs for everyone. 

http://www.fanexpocanada.com/horror-featured-guests/

-Sylv

Film Deviant Talks to the Twisted Twins (Part One)

Part one of our exclusive interview with The Twisted Twins!

Our own head Deviant, bryan, sat down with the lovely Soska sisters and chatted about the many elements of their new genre masterpiece, American Mary. They were in town for the annual C2E2 convention and were an absolute dream to talk to! We apologize for the terrible sound quality...our head of production was out of town on this day. Please enjoy!

Check out the whole piece here!

-Sylv

American Mary at the Facets Theatre in Chicago

American Mary is coming to Chicago on May 31st, y'all!

-Syl

Cinesploitation Checks out American Mary

"What’s truly horrifying is how much our leading lady, Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle), is forced to endure. From financial woes, to vicious tongue lashings and blows to the ego from med school professors, to a very crude and humiliating incident involving said professor. It’s enough to make a person snap—and Mary is able to do just that in the most elegant and sophisticated manner possible. There are so many outstanding, noteworthy elements of American Mary that could easily justify a lengthier review. The special FX, the brilliantly complementing score, the cinematography, the exquisite lighting… I absolutely loved everything about this movie. But I think what I love most is how great of an achievement American Mary is for the Soska Sisters, and the Canadian horror community in general. And also the fact that, as a female horror film fan, I now have a new admirably bad ass female horror icon to write about… and maybe even dress up as for Halloween."

Read it all here! 


-Sylv

Jovanka Vuckovic and the Twisted Twins Talk Sex, Scalpels, and Gender Politics

In horror films, women are often seen and not heard. While the genre has long had a place for strong female characters that best the Bad Guy as the film’s “final girl,” they are rarely depicted as powerful killers, with a voice that screams evil. That genre convention is turned on its ear in American Mary, the sophomore feature from Jen and Sylvia Soska (Dead Hooker in a Trunk), twin female filmmakers with a penchant for horror. American Mary is a provocative feminist body horror film that stars Ginger Snaps’ Katharine Isabelle as a disenfranchised medical student who begins performing illegal operations for the body modification community and eventually escalates to exacting sadistic surgical revenge on those who have wronged her. The film will screen at 25 Cineplex Odeon theatres across Canada on May 30th, courtesy Anchor Bay Canada and Raven Banner Films, with my short film The Captured Bird opening for it. In fact, I’ll be hosting the Yonge and Dundas Cineplex screening in Toronto next Thursday!

I recently sat down with The Twisted Twins, who have become my blood sisters for life, for a little girl talk between horror filmmakers.
Jovanka: What was the genesis of American Mary?

Sylvia: The script for AMERICAN MARY wasn’t something we were planning on or had even imagined. We were still trying to get the first film, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK, out, and really taking hard knocks from all angles. We were incredibly poor, we couldn’t afford rent or food, we were meeting monsters in the industry, we had no idea if this risk was going to pay off, we had family in and out of the hospital for extended periods of time, and were really at a crossroads at our life. Eli Roth had become a good friend and mentor of ours. We were talking back and forth and he asked about what other scripts we had – at the time we had nothing – but I couldn’t admit it, so I listed off a bunch of ideas that I knew Jen and I could write in two weeks with a self-imposed gun to our head. He picked the ‘one about the medical student.’ We put everything we were going through unconsciously into the film in analogies and characters we knew. It’s something I hadn’t experienced before, taking real life situations that you can’t control and putting it into a script and now you could have that control and ability to analyze it from a safe distance. I found myself feeling more self conscious as I realized how honest it was, but it was something we had to do.

Even with the script done, it was a struggle to get the film made because it was so different. It was a hard sell because it was difficult to compare it to anything. We shot a fake trailer which cost more than our first film to show the look, the tone, and the idea behind the prosthetics and character designs with a first reveal of Ruby RealGirl. We used that as a selling tool, but it was still a hard sell. On our 28th birthday, our parents changed that. They told us that they were going to mortgage the house to be the first investors in the film. That’s how the film got made. Cool, talented people knew we would have a tight schedule and a modest budget, but they cared about the film and wanted to make it great. Everyone made sacrifices to make the film happen. We had a fifteen day schedule, a modest budget, and the team worked their asses off in front of and behind the camera to make the film that you see. It’s a huge responsibility to us to make sure that those efforts were not wasted, that we work our asses off to make the film as successful as we can for those people.


Jen: Body modification had been something that had long fascinated us, but we had never thought we’d ultimately come to make a film that focuses so heavily on it. We’ve always felt like outsiders. We were teased and bullied pretty relentlessly in school. Still, we found ourselves sticking up for anyone else that was being bullied and hanging out with people that most people would exclude. We can’t stand it when people are made to feel like outcasts or wrongly judged and there aren’t many groups as misunderstood as the body mod community. It upset us. You’d think that we all learn to not judge people by their appearances in grade school, but that’s just not the case. I find it bizarre that cosmetic surgery is fully accepted whereas the body mod community are regarded as “freaks”. The main difference I see between the two groups is that one is trying to fit into the accepted ideal of beauty, largely the North American ideal whereas those in the body mod community are appealing to their own ideal of beauty and self.

READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW HERE!

-Sylv

Sinister Cinema the Fuck Up Your Banner, Canada!

American Mary hits Canada across the country!! GET SHOWTIMES AND TICKETS HERE.

Put up this banner for the week and I will love you forever. Please let's fill the fuck out of the theatres!!

-Sylv

FEARnet Talks to Mary

FEARnet: Was it hard to keep that dark atmosphere once the cameras started rolling? It sounds like you were all one big happy family. 

Katharine Isabelle: We were. We only had 15 days to shoot. Everyone was there for little to no money, everyone was busting their asses to do what they could for the girls. The moment you meet them, you just fall head-over-heels in love with them and you want to do everything you can to help them. But I don’t think the movie is that dark, or depressing or upsetting. I think it is charming and hilarious! If people don’t laugh, we get upset! 

F: Oh, I agree with you. I just think that the subject matter is something that people are so uncomfortable with. 

KI: Yeah. I remember at the beginning, in a production meeting, Sylvia stood up and, in a very commanding voice said that not a single person, whether it be the dancers or the body modders, they were generous enough to work on our film and allow us into their subculture, not a single derogatory statement was to be made or even thought about them. No matter what the person’s position was, they would be off the fucking set sooner than you could snap your fingers. There was absolute, zero-tolerance for that. If you read the script and had any kind of asshole-ish thing to say, you probably wouldn’t have done the movie. No one was disrespectful. 

We were rehearsing the dance sequence stuff in an old strip club in Vancouver. Tristan strips down to a thong and nothing on top, and the poor crew guys are trying so hard not to look! “Oh yeah, look at this nail in the corner, we really have to jam it back in!” Tristan is fabulous and she wouldn’t have been offended, but everyone was trying so hard to be respectful. 

F: Creative, entertainment-types - especially in horror - are much more relaxed about that kind of thing. 

KI: They are definitely not a repressed group of people. The girls and I... we don’t know where our offensive limits are. We don’t know what anyone could do to offend us. They treat everyone with so much respect that no one ever felt anything but completely loved and accepted.

READ THE WHOLE RAD INTERVIEW HERE.

-Sylv

Doc Carnage Talks to the Twisted Twins

I first saw Dead Hooker in a Trunk on The Horror Channel in the UK. What did it mean getting your debut movie out to such a large audience?
S: It's the start of a life long love affair with the UK. We're pretty smitten. The first festival screening was in the UK, the first DVD release, and the first time on television - it's an honor to have that kind of support for the film and the Horror Channel has always been so kind and supportive of our work. It's wild because a lot of our biggest support comes from the UK and it's because of the Horror Channel audience and the Monster Pictures release of DEAD HOOKER that we were able to reach out to so many people. I'm very grateful for the opportunity.
J: It meant everything to us. I do have to say that the UK will always have a big place in our hearts. When we were starting out and struggling, the UK gave us every break. At Nia Edwards-Behi's GHOULS ON FILM FESTIVAL, we had our very first screening for DHIAT. The support never stopped coming from there. We go over there and the people are so warm and welcoming. I sincerely miss the UK every day and all the wonderful people we've met over there. Being horror fans ourselves, we just hoped that our work would be appreciated by other fans. We overshot it when we got the support of an entire country. And the UK Horror Channel has never stopped. They play us all the time and we always love to chat with them anytime we can.

Read the whole rad interview here!

-Sylv

Canadian Mary

Check the beautiful Anchor Bay poster for American Mary!! We hit Canadian theatres across the country as part of the Sinister Cinema series May 30th with Jovanka Vuckovic's stunning The Captured Bird opening the film.

-Sylv

See You in LA

Billy: Have you ever been to LA?

Mary: No.

Billy: Have you ever wanted to go to LA? Because I was thinking I need a change of pace.

"Wanna be the first to see the Soska sisters’ American Mary? 

Bloody Disgusting has 2 pairs of tickets to the Los Angeles opening night special screening in which the Soska sisters and star Katharine Isabelle will be in attendance. 

The event takes place Friday, May 31st at 7:45 pm (arrive early). The location is the Chinese 6 Theatres (6801 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA). 

Q&A to following this screening with Soska sisters and Katharine Isabelle."

Also Tristan Risk, Paula Lindberg, John Emmet Tracy, Brenda Anderson, and Todd Masters will be in attendance. DYING TO SEE YOU THERE. It's the end of a long promo tour, makes sense to end it in LA, doesn't it?

GET YOUR DETAILS HERE!

-Sylv

Revolver's Jovanka Vuckovic Talks to the Twisted Twins

The issue’s column had covered the new film, American Mary, which was directed by twin sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska and was just released on VOD. The movie is also getting a theatrical release in 25 theatres across the filmmaker’s native Canada on May 30th, with the surreal short The Captured Bird opening. The director of The Captured Bird, Jovanka Vuckovic just so happens to the editor of the “Splatter Matters” page, and below, we share her interview with the Soska Sisters.

“The story of a young woman struggling in a male-dominated business, where, despite her ability, she is seen as below her male counterparts and more as a party favor or sexual object, isn’t anything new,” explains cowriter-director Jen Soska, who says the film is analogous to her and her sister’s own experiences in the film industry. “It is a story that focuses so much on appearances being everything and there is a lot that women can relate to.” 

As such, American Mary is a direct reaction to the bland stereotypes in mainstream genre films. “We’d heard the Twilight saga called a ‘feminine horror,’” she explains. “That just pissed us off.” Adds Sylvia, “Martyrs is a female horror film. Inside is a female horror film. American Mary is very much a feminist body-horror film.”

READ THE WHOLE PIECE HERE.

-Sylv

New York Times Talks Body Modification and Twisted Twins

Hey New York friends - could you do me a big favor and grab a couple copies of the New York Times, there’s two pieces that are going to run pre-Sunday June 2nd: one on body modification in film and the other is a profile on Jen and me. 

Also, if you see Spider-Man in NY, make sure he gets a copy. Tell him I’m a babe and he should so hook that shit up. Thanks.

-Sylv

The Twisted Twins Hit America's Most Haunted

“Twisted Twins” Jen and Sylvia Soska are back with their stunning follow-up to the indie hit DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK. Eli Roth and Clive Barker are huge fans of the Canadian twins, who are the "Next Big Thing in Horror." 

AMERICAN MARY is the story of a medical student named Mary who grows broke and disenchanted with medical school and the established doctors she once idolized. The allure of easy money sends a desperate Mary through the messy world of underground surgeries, which leaves more marks on her than the so-called freakish clientele. 

Appearances are everything. 

AMERICAN MARY is available on VOD and will be in theaters on May 31st.

LISTEN HERE TO THE FULL INTERVIEW!

-Sylv

Beautiful Mary Artwork

Beautiful American Mary colored portrait by the extremely talented Aleksi Anseth.

-Sylv

Spoiler Free Movie Sleuth Talks American Mary to the Twisted Twins

TMS: Can you tell us about your next project? Will you be sticking with horror or are you going to move in a new direction for your next film?

S: It's funny, we never intend to make a horror film, even when we try to, it becomes this very us thing. We have a lot of scripts that we want to make, several of them I would not categorize as horror even with the subject matter. Our goal is to shake things up with each new project. There are two films, written by one of our favorite artists that we cannot wait to make big screen adaptations of; the next film is shaping up to be BOB which we are already in early prep work for. The tagline is: There's a monster inside all of us, sometimes it gets out.

J: No matter what we do, it'll have horrific aspects. I'm not into labels. I think a film, like any good art, really transcends definition. And it's interpretive. Depending on the viewer, it changes. It can be a lot of things, but, yes, there will always be bloody bits of horror in anything and everything we do. We make everything we do personal and there's just too much horror in us. It has to find a way out.

READ IT ALL HERE!

-Sylv

The Twisted Twins Go Into Maven's Horror Movie Vault

The both of you have been very busy recently, travelling up and down the UK, attending American Mary screenings, so how has this effected you physically and mentally? It must be draining?

Sylvia: "It's been really wild, the last few years have been a blur. I'm one of the luckiest people I know in the regard that this is my job and not only do I get to do what I love, but I get to travel and meet the people who are supporting the work and allow me to continue to do this. When I'm at a screening or a convention, we don't feel tired or worn out, it's too exciting. Like when we were shooting MARY, I couldn't sleep because I was too excited for the next day. It's the moments in between, when we are on the plane or when we get home that we crash pretty hard. Last trip, we got home and slept fourteen hours straight. I get to do this with my best friend, Jen, and she's always been such a great support in any situation we're in, so at least I never have to be alone."


Jen: "It's surreal. It's a dream come true. We weren't popular in high school so this more than makes up for it, ha ha. I feel so blessed to be doing what we're doing. First and foremost we're fans ourselves and I think that comes through in our work. We're just as excited to meet people when we travel as they are when they come out. It's just blown us away to have so much support all across the world. It can be draining, but we are very work orientated and have A type personalities, which is probably pretty obvious, so we are so tunnel visioned when we're working. We always throw ourselves into our work and try to take photos and take a few moments as much as we can to just sit back and appreciate all the opportunities we have these days. It's literally a dream come true and we are so eternally grateful to the people who support us and our work."

READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW HERE!

-Sylv

FEARnet Has A Horrifying Exclusive Clip From American Mary

DO NOT WATCH IF YOU DO NOT WANT ANY SPOILERS. If you have already seen American Mary or just through caution to the wind by watching spoilery clips (like so fucking spoiler, I cannot stress this enough), then please enjoy this FEARnet exclusive.

"'Twisted Twins' Jen and Sylvia Soska return with their highly anticipated body horror film, American Mary. In this exclusive clip, Mary is taking photos for her website to promote her back-alley surgeries and body mods. American Mary is currenly available on VOD, and will hit theaters on May 31st."

Watch it HERE!

-Sylv

American Mary In Rue Morgue

American Mary review with an interview with Mary herself, Katharine Isabelle, hits the new issue of the utterly fabulous Rue Morgue magazine and we got on the cover! Cannot wait to have this in my collection of Rue Morgue issues - a must have for any horror nerd.

-Sylv