One Of The Most Underrated Horror Films Is Becoming A Series
The world of horror movies has continually evolved since the first monster movies to dark comedies. In a darker corner of the horror ecosystem lies the world of body horror and specifically the world of body modification. The 2012 underground horror flick American Mary displays how a skilled surgeon can make the practice a true nightmare. While some critics out there found the ending to the movie lackluster, the original directors Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska, aka the Soska Sisters, announced via Twitter on December 14, 2022 that they will be adapting the original concept for TV.
American Mary follows the story of Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle), a broke medical student struggling to make ends meet. In true broke college student fashion, she finds herself at a local strip club in hopes of making easy money. Mary is able to make a few thousand dollars on her first night, however, it comes in the form of stitching up a heavily tortured man in the back room rather than the more ‘traditional’ forms of working in a strip club.
This sends Mary down a dark path of underground body modification, torture, and off-the-books experimental surgeries. Warning: this movie is rather graphic and heavily plays on the horror of experimental body modification, and includes a rather long and drawn-out torture scene on Mary Mason’s rapist and former professor. Watch at your own risk.
Given the age of the movie, a spoiler alert shouldn’t be necessary but spoilers ahead. Early in American Mary, Mary performs surgery on one of the dancers at the local strip club and removes her nipples and genitalia, leaving her looking like a real-life Barbie doll. This makes her husband so furious with both the dancer and Mary that the movie ends with Mary Mason being stabbed to death by the unnamed husband.
So after the events of American Mary, what exactly could the Soska Sisters have planned for the TV adaption of their ‘body-mod’ horror flick? Currently, the Soska Sisters are keeping rather tightlipped about any future plans, only announcing their plans to make a TV show and not much else. However, there are some predictions one could make.
There is the copycat option. It is established in American Mary that Mason was gaining a following in the body modification corners of the vast internet. Ergo, it’s not insane to believe that another medical student would see her work and wish to emulate it.
The next option is that Mary Mason didn’t actually die. Police did arrive at her home shortly after she ‘died’ and given the events of the movie it is not out of the question that police would want her to stand trial for her various crimes and work to save her life. However, given the Soska Sisters’ previous movies and storytelling skills, this seems unlikely.
Lastly, it could be a retelling of the original American Mary but will have a more fleshed-out character base, more surgeries, and more surgical torture. Of course, without more official details, this is only speculation. Only time will tell what kind of graphic body horror the Soska Sisters have planned for American Mary’s TV debut.
