"The terrifyingly talented twins from Canada, Jen and Sylvia Soska, deliver the most original film of the festival with American Mary. Their first outing, Dead Hooker in a Trunk, was a raucous, DIY, violent action film, but for their sophomore effort they deliver a radically different and even more impressive product. If Dead Hooker was all raw, wild energy, American Mary is all about cool, subtle control." - Beth Accomando, About Movies (full review)
"The most pleasing thing about American Mary is that we are given a truly original horror film, which is a rare beast indeed these days. That the Soskas have provided a genuine female voice in the genre is almost a mere bonus when put next to the film itself, a skilfully shot and thoughtfully written black comedy piece that has so much to offer its audience beyond the splatter it would have been reduced to in less capable hands." - Sam Faulkner, Screen Geek (full review)
"American Mary should be considered as the Soska Twins declaration of intent. It’s a declaration that says that these twins are a real talent to keep an eye on and who have shown a maturity with American Mary that may just surprise many people." - Andy Stewart, Andy Erupts (full review)
"With directors on top form, a stunning performance from lead actress Katherine Isabelle (between this and Ginger Snaps she should be a much bigger star) and an original story that balances horror and humour to perfection, American Mary is one of the years best films and proves once again that Canada knows how to make great horror movies." - Everything Geek (full review)
"American Mary is the rarest thing which you always hope to find at a festival like this, an original horror movie. It’s about a young female med student studying to be a surgeon who falls into the underground world of body transformation, initially as a means of making money, but later for darker motives. It is a film told from a female point of view, and about issues that impact on women. It examines misogyny and presents surgery fetishism and body modification as something positive standing in contrast to the twisted undercurrents of the normal world. An extremely entertaining film and the highly striking Soska sisters aka The Twisted Twins, swept into FrightFest like a breath of fresh air." - Chris and Phil Present (full review)
"Anything by the Twisted Twins has to be outstanding, but team them with Katharine and we have an unstoppable force of nature."- Rhiannon Irons, Truly Disturbing Horror (full review)
"This is the Soska Sisters' calling card; with such a wicked sense of fun and a killer sense of aesthetic, they look set to carve themselves (no pun intended) a niche slot in the genre, but it would be thrilling to see their subversive eye turned elsewhere." - Becky Reed, This Is Fake DIY (full review)
"American Mary is a thoughtful film, and one that does not have a singular interpretation. Too it defies categorisation. Predominantly a psychological thriller, it incorporates elements of comedy and horror to go along with a narrative that can be viewed as a critique of the American Dream, a modern retelling of the Greek Myth’s, of the relationship between the God’s and mortal man, or even a postmodern fairy tale. Original and thought provoking, the film informs through entertainment, providing us a window through which we can gain an insight into the world of body modification; a world that has no reason to be thought of as subversive or its inhabitants demonised. This is the potential of cinema, of art, to simultaneously entertain and inform, to challenge our pre-conceptions, and American Mary as entertaining, as it often is, goes beyond simply embracing entertainment value." - Paul Risker, The London Film Review (full review)
-Sylv
