Mary & Billy Fan Video

           

So, this happened. An astoundingly beautiful fan made pairing video for American Mary and Mary and Billy's relationship. Just beautifully done and cut together by the very talented Bobby McGriffin. Please enjoy. I know we did.

-Sylv

Rue Morgue's Best of 2013

Rue Morgue gives American Mary two prestigious titles: most original concept & Mary is your best new killer!

On sale now - pick yours up today.

-Sylv 

Mary Christmas From Trevor Whaley!

Trevor Whaley is so awesome 

Festive American Mary. That's my grrl.

-Jen

Bateman/Mason Fan Fic, Yes Please!

My life is now complete. Someone hook me up with the fan fiction.

-Sylv

Happy Birthday Katie!

A very happy birthday to a lady who was kind enough to be nice to a fangirl when I was an extra on Josie and the Pussycats, the rest has just been a thrill. 

The thinking person's scream queen, Katharine Isabelle. Have a wicked one, killer.

-Sylv

Comic Costume American Mary in ChaosLife

-Sylv

Ain't It Cool Thinks American Mary is Cool

"If one has never seen recreational body modification in its various forms, I can understand why some folks would be seriously ooked out by AMERICAN MARY, the latest in what seems to be a new wave of body horror films which may have been restarted with HUMAN CENTIPEDE, but has really taken shape with this past year’s VICTIM, THE SKIN I LIVE IN, EXCISION, ERRORS OF THE HUMAN BODY and ANTIVIRAL, to name a few. I don’t mean to be jaded, but while I don’t have any body mods myself (besides tattoos), I have seen my fair share in my time. So on that initial shock level, I wasn’t taken aback as much as I imagine one unfamiliar with the subculture would be.

That said, AMERICAN MARY is one hell of a movie. It’s well acted by GINGER SNAPS’ Katharine Isabelle and newcomer Antonio Cupo. Both actors do well with their characters, exhibiting an attraction, yet an inability to show that toward one another because of the situation they have found themselves in. The story follows Mary (Isabelle), a down and out med student in need of a quick buck answering an ad as a stripper in a gentleman’s club. While there, Mary’s skills as a future surgeon are called upon when she is offered $5,000.00 to illegally operate on an associate of the bar with his eye gouged out. Mary takes the offer and finds herself spiraling down the rabbit hole into dark subcultures and deviant body modification for an immense amount of profit which would shut those student loan callers the hell up.

The way this film is put together is eloquent and delicate, yet occasionally stone cold. Even the opening scene, as Mary practices her operating skills on a dead plucked turkey, the camera zooms in to show this delicate operation with thin instruments making precise cuts. That’s how this film is throughout. AMERICAN MARY is slow to develop and shows a patient hand storytelling-wise, but I wasn’t bored a tick as we see Mary get further and further entrenched in this shadowy world. The directors, Sylvia & Jen Soska, are twins who also appear in the film as…what else…twisted twins with a unique request for Mary’s operating skills. The story keeps things pretty distant, though, only showing us slight peeks as to what’s going on inside Mary’s brainpan with only a few scenes of her reacting to these intense situations like vomiting and taking a shower in her clothes, both clichés but appropriate given the extreme circumstanes."

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE!

-Sylv

Lovely Mary Sketch

"Mary Mason" by Ashley Rogers. I love this Mary artwork, so fucking rad.

-Sylv

American Mary at Horror Hound Indy!

Twice the Mary, twice the awesome. Absolute stunner, Bella Demente'sAmerican Mary cosplay with Katharine Isabelle at HorrorHound. Dying of jealous, wish I was there!

-Sylv

American Mary Hits Netflix Today!

American Mary hits Netflix today! A huge and humble thanks to everyone who has supported this film to get it to this point. Thank you to everyone who is shouting it out about today's Netflix release and renting it (especially those of you that own it & have already seen it) - it's the reason why this indie character horror was able to go so far. 

Thank you from the bottom of our twisted black hearts and may you enjoy watching it tonight!

-Sylv

MTV Geek Talks to Mary

MTV Geek: What attracted you to the role? What made you want to be Mary? 

Katharine Isabelle: I was sent the script and was given a just a very brief—like oh, it’s from identical twin sister writer-director horror filmmakers--I ended up reading the whole script, the whole 180 pages, on my Blackberry twice. I immediately got sucked in. Being Mary is a very unique character especially, you know, in film and as a female. You don’t often see women in film portrayed the way that Mary is. She has some redeemable qualities, like she’s not ever really nice to everybody, but you still really like her. You know, I think she smiled once. [Laughs]. She’s not the typical charming, sweet character—she’s dark, she’s weird, she’s funny. I don’t think they try at any point in the movie to force you to like her—you either do or you don’t. Without her having to be all sunshine-y and that was something that I found intriguing because as a woman, and a woman in film, there’s often a few stereotypes that you can fit into. To have a character that’s that unique and also with the script itself being so original and well-written and of course once I met the girls, we became instant best friends. So there’s no way I couldn’t [Laughs].

Geek: That’s kind of an interesting element to Mary. She’s in this weird place between being an exploitation character and also a victimized character, but she’s neither of those things really. She seems to own her experience pretty early on. What did you think about that? Just that ambiguity to her that’s not neither here nor there. She’s not out for revenge exactly, she’s not out for… 

Isabelle: Well exactly, she’s pissed that she allowed herself to be, sort of and somewhat, victimized. That’s why it’s hard to describe the movie in general. It’s being marketed simply as the horror movie, and I’m like “Well it’s not really a horror movie. There’s no scary scenes.” There’s nothing really all that gory and there are some horrific elements definitely to it—but it’s the same thing with Mary. It’s hard to describe her as as a revenge character, or the movie a revenge story or any of those things—and that’s what I think is really intriguing. She doesn’t easily fit into a box. It’s rare to find characters like that these days in film. So I mean obviously it was something that I was thrilled to find [Laughs].

Read the whole interview here.

-Sylv

The Art of Discord & The Ladies of American Mary

 

Stunningly beautiful and macabre AMERICAN MARY artwork by the very talented Art of Discord. Check and like the official page here.

-Sylv

American Mary Unboxed, Watched, & Reviewed

MASSIVE SPOILERS. That said, I'm cutting back on flooding y'all with MARY, especially since we're back on set for something fucking fantastic in a few weeks which I want to flood your walls with, but if you've seen the film, check this review because it's hilarious and brilliant.

"In the season 2 finale of Unboxed Watched and Reviewed I watch the very anticipated American Mary, The new movie by the Soska twins. (Dead Hooker in a Trunk)"

-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

Beautiful Mary Artwork

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

-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

Fangoria Features NSFW American Mary Clip to Celebrate Today's VOD Release!

Great way to celebrate the American Mary VOD release today with an exclusive clip featuring Paula Lindberg with Katharine Isabelle getting a NSFW procedure. Please enjoy and check out the film today!

"The heroine of AMERICAN MARY practices all sorts of graphic surgery, including one showcased in a decidedly NSFW clip from the film (which debuts on VOD tomorrow) that you can see past the jump. 

AMERICAN MARY, written and directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska, stars Katharine Isabelle as a struggling med student who finds a lucrative sideline in the underground realm of body modification, leading to all sorts of unpleasant developments. XLrator Releasing issues the movie on VOD tomorrow, May 16, and then opens it in theaters May 31. Look for interviews with the Soskas and Isabelle in Fango #325, on sale this month."

WATCH THE CLIP HERE!

-Sylv

Shock Till You Drop Talks to Mary

Shock Till You Drop: You have starred in two highly influential feminist horror films: Ginger Snaps and American Mary - do you fancy yourself a bit of a feminist icon these days? 

Katharine Isabelle: I would gladly take that title. I’d be fucking enthusiastic as hell about that. I was gifted with the role of both those characters. It was just a fucking blessing to be involved; to be given the characters that I have is terrifying. Mary is so fucking great and I loved her so much.  I really didn’t want to fuck it up. It’s funny. She really has no redeeming qualities. I think she only smiles twice in the film. It’s very rare to see a female character portrayed on screen that isn’t one of the five main stereotypes of women in film. [She is] someone who is so smart, so interesting, so quirky, so dark, and so loveable. It’s hard to define why you feel the way that you do about her. I hope that everybody finds some kind of power in watching what Mary goes through – especially girls. I would love to have that title of feminist icon. I don’t even know what that means, or how to properly take on that title and live it, but I would be fucking stoked to try.   

Shock: I think you just need to keep up the good work.  

Isabelle: Thank you. Hopefully I will be blessed with more awesome female characters like Mary and Ginger.

READ THE WHOLE RAD INTERVIEW HERE!

-Sylv

Dread Central Talks to Mary

Dread Central: Because of Mary's 'hobbies,' your character gets to have a lot of gory fun but also probably required you to train a little to get some of the medical procedure techniques right I would imagine. How much preparation did you have to do going into American Mary and did you enjoy getting messy for the role?
Katharine Isabelle: Oh yeah, all that stuff was so much fun too- I had a blast doing all the gory stuff and when I bludgeoned the security guard, that's actually my friend so that moment was fun in a lot of other ways for me too (laughs). The great thing about genre movies is that they often allow you the chance to do things or experience things you never would in normal life, and that includes body modification for me. That wasn’t something I was knowledgeable about at all and the Soskas were so sweet about immersing me in this world which can be scary to people who nothing about it. The thing I also really appreciated about American Mary is that both Jen and Sylvia handled the body modification elements with such respect and a lot of filmmakers probably wouldn't have done that; at least not the way they did. 

But I did get to do a lot of suturing, that's something that Russ Foxx helped me out with. I'm a pro at suturing a turkey now (laughs).

READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW HERE!!

-Sylv

Dianne Rigley's AMERICAN MARY Cosplay