Desperate for funds, surgical student Mary applies for work at a strip club, where she meets Billy Barker, the club owner. Billy is in need of a medical professional to patch up a man bleeding in his club's basement, the obvious victim of illegal dealings, and offers Mary $5,000 to perform emergency surgery, no questions asked. Mary accepts the money, but spends the next few days terrified the criminal activity she got involved in will follow her home. Mary is approached by Beatress Johnson, a stripper at the club where Mary applied. Beatress has had extreme plastic surgery to make herself resemble Betty Boop. She offers Mary a large sum of money to perform illegal surgery on a friend of hers, Ruby Realgirl, in a veterinary clinic. Ruby wishes to be transformed into a human doll, and has been unable to find a surgeon willing to complete the last step in her transformation: removing her nipples, all external genitalia, and partially suturing her vulva shut. Mary performs the surgery because she needs the funds and is convinced by Beatress that Ruby's desire is genuine and that she won’t have regrets for the irreversible procedure. A follow up on Ruby's website introduces Mary to the world of extreme body modification. Mary begins her residency in the surgical specialty, and her teachers and mentors praise her promising skills. Mary is invited to what she believes is a networking party with several of the head surgeons at her hospital; however, she finds she was the only young resident invited. The surgeons commit lewd acts on the others in attendance, who are escorts. Mary is drugged, choked, and raped at the party by her former teacher, Dr. Alan Grant, who films the assault. None of her teachers or mentors express guilt or remorse for her attack, and Mary drops out of her residency. Mary hires Billy and his enforcers from his club to kidnap Grant and deliver him to her apartment for her revenge, which includes involuntary surgery. She goes into consensual body modification surgery full-time, with word quickly spreading through dark web channels that "Bloody Mary" is a surgeon of great skill, willing to perform any extreme surgery desired. She establishes herself in Billy's strip club and uses his contacts for her new business. A police detective, Detective Dolor, approaches Mary about the disappearance of Dr. Grant and the collection of disturbing tapes found in his apartment. Dr. Walsh, the surgeon who had invited Mary to the party, gave Mary's name to the detective on a long list of women who might bear a grudge against Dr. Grant. Mary has actually been keeping Dr. Grant alive and using him as "practice" material for her extreme surgeries, using pictures of his modifications as the portfolio upon which she's based her business. Mary kills a security guard who comes across Dr. Grant, and Billy, who has become attached to Mary, kidnaps and beats Dr. Walsh on her behalf. Detective Dolor approaches Mary again, hoping to help her because he believes that she was the victim of one of the sex parties hosted by the two missing doctors. The police circle closer, suspicious about the second disappearance of a surgeon from her residency and Mary's recent wealth. Mary begins to unravel from the police interest and worries that a tape of her rape will be found. She becomes further depressed over the death of her grandmother. Meanwhile, the disgruntled spouse of Ruby becomes vengeful after seeing his newly modified wife. He tortures Beatress to near death for Mary’s location, and then ambushes Mary at her house with a knife. Mary attempts to suture her own wound shut but ultimately bleeds to death in her operating room, to be discovered by the police.
Cast
Katharine Isabelle as Mary Mason, a medical school student and aspiring surgeon. Out of desperation, she performs extreme body modification surgeries to solve her financial issues.
Antonio Cupo as Billy Barker, the owner of the strip club where Mary applies for a job.
Tristan Risk as Beatress Johnson, a stripper who has had herself surgically altered to resemble Betty Boop.
David Lovgren as Dr. Alan Grant, Mary's professor at medical school.
Paula Lindberg as Ruby Realgirl, a fashion designer who wishes to become a human doll.
Julia Maxwell as Tessa, Beatress' niece who works as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic.
John Emmet Tracy as Detective Dolor, a Police Detective who is suspicious of Mary's involvement in Dr. Grant's disappearance.
Twan Holliday as Lance Delgreggo, one of Billy's enforcers.
Travis Watters as Mr. Realgirl, Ruby's husband.
Cameos
The Soskas make an appearance as the demon twins from Berlin; their father, Marius, also appears in a minor role as Dr. Janusz, a professor at the medical school.
Production
The film was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. There were no visual effects; all effects are either practical, or Mary's patients are members of the real-life body modification community. The role of Mary was written specifically for Katharine Isabelle. The script was written while the Soskas were trying to sell their film Dead Hooker in a Trunk, and it mirrors some of the experiences that they had in the film industry, such as meeting sleazy people that seem initially reputable.
It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 21 January 2013 by Universal Pictures UK. The release includes a behind-the-scenes documentary with cast and crew as well as a feature titled An American Mary in London, which detailed the world premiere.
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews, with praise for Isabelle’s performance and the film’s use of black comedy, but criticism for the film’s abrupt ending. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 60% of 47 surveyed critics gave positive reviews; the average rating was 5.5/10. The site's consensus reads: "It suffers a bit from some uneven acting and an underwhelming climax, but American Mary utilizes pitch black humor and striking visuals to deliver gory, freaky thrills for body horror enthusiasts". It has score of 46 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 15 reviews. Andy Webster of The New York Times designated it a NYT Critics' Pick and wrote that American Mary "combines gore, quiet dread, feminist conviction and a visual classicism, often using a red palette, with impressive, unbelabored dexterity." Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York rated the film 2/5 and wrote that the film starts out promising but ends up "going for the gross-out". In a mixed review, Dennis Harvey of Variety called the film "outre and entertaining" but "doesn't develop all its narrative and thematic ideas to the fullest." Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "turn slack and unfocused after an enticingly lurid, wickedly tense first half."
