So I'm going to get real here for a minute....being a girl in horror sucks. It's tough. At times it feels disgusting and you feel like you need to take a shower. For a genre that prides itself on its strong female leads and final girls, the audience sure can be hypocritical.
On some of the community forums I participate in (I won't be naming any names) once you're "outed" as a female fan, your views and opinions instantly become null. And that's part of the reason this blog came into play because it was a safe space where I could talk about the movies I love without being judged for something as minor as my gender. I've watched hundreds of horror movies, my opinion matters, oh yeah, and also I'm a girl. So...?
As you know if you follow this blog, I'm a big support of the Soska twins - two female horror directors who are carving their way through the industry. They are two of my personal heroes for many reasons, one of them being they don't shy away from speaking out about the sexism they've experienced while trying to get their films made or noticed. They're two tough bitches because unfortunately they have to be to survive. I am not. I shy away from conflict and it makes me feel sick in my tummy.
But the other day I was scrolling through one of my usual forum haunts and found a post about the Soska twins show Hellavator and I jumped into the comments to talk frantically about how great it is and awesome they are. But instead I was affronted with horrible sexist comments about them.
Things like "they only got their movies made because they're hot and probably slept with someone" or "their movies are too girly for me" or "i don't like their movies, but I'd sleep with them."
I was horrified. You don't see those kind of comments on posts about Jason Blum, or Eli Roth, or Rob Zombie. No...it's people discussing their films and not bringing their looks into it. But all of a sudden looks are important because why? Because the Soska twins, two talented horror directors, happen to be girls. And of course, when I finally put my foot down and commented on the sexism happening I got called "adorable" by some condescending asshole.
Why? Why is this still allowed? Why does the fact that the Soska twins have a vagina mean their movies can't be good, or that they didn't work their asses off to get their movies made, it must ONLY mean they slept their way to the top.
It's disgusting. And I'm sure most of the horror audience doesn't feel this sexist type of way, maybe the bad ones are just more vocal. But every time I feel like I've got a footing in this community, I'm knocked back down by these "vocal" audience members.
Which brings me to the movie I watched last night, and one I have watched many times, but actually never really talked about on this blog:
AMERICAN MARY (2012)
Don't you ever devalue what you do, Mary. You make sure they deserve it,
and don't waste a minute of your time thinking about them when you're
done.
American Mary was released in 2012 and is a Canadian horror film written and directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska. It stars the ever talented Katharine Isabelle as our lead character Mary, Antonio Cupo and the Vancouver local gem Tristan Risk.
It tells the story of Mary, a struggling medical student, who is an incredibly talented surgeon but is struggling to pay the bills and make her way through the rest of medical school. Her teacher Dr. Grant pushes her incredibly hard and is a total dirt bag. Mary applies for work at a strip club to make her way through the rest of school but during her pervy interview, the club owner offers her 5 grand instead of a job to sew up a man he knows who has been tortured. She takes it on a whim and saves the mans life, takes the money and runs, thinking it was the last of it.
But a few days later Beatress (Risk) approaches her from the strip club and offers her 10 grand to perform a controversial surgery on her friend Ruby who strives to be a real doll. Mary reluctantly accepts and finds herself doing a surgery in the back of a vet clinic. Once it's over with she is ready to focus back on her studies with her new money and graduate. But when Dr Grant invites her to a party filled with distinguished surgeons and doctors, she is drugged by him and raped while he films the whole ordeal. When she returns home the next morning she quits medical school and pays the strip club owner, Billy, to kidnap Dr. Grant. Mary then creates her own business performing controversial underground surgeries for the body modification community while torturing Dr. Grant and practicing body modification on him.
This movie is brilliant. For SO many reasons. The acting is phenomenal by Katherine Isabelle and Tristan Risk, Katherine going so far as to attend medical school to research the role. All the visual effects are practical, Tristan's makeup took 2 hours a day to apply. But most importantly, the movie was written while the twins were trying to sell their first movie, Dead Hooker in a Trunk, after being faced by horrible film industry experiences like meeting sexist, sleazy people. This movie is made out of real emotion.
It also continues to be prevalent in our society. American Mary underneath it all shows how horrible it can be to be a woman in the working world. It shows what it's like for anyone to strive for greatness only to be knocked back because of your gender. To be taken advantage of by those in power, to feel like you have no control over your life. And most importantly how it feels to not feel connected to anyone because your trust has been destroyed.
It's a beautiful, gory film and I love it with all my heart. Mary is a character I can get behind and root for, even when she's getting out of control. And I love the Soska twins for sticking with their dream and pushing through all the murk to get to it, all with a wicked smile on their faces.
So yeah, sorry to get so down on you all but American Mary always brings that out in me.
Go out and be nice to people okay?
Stay Spooky!
