![]() ![]() By relocating the action to an anonymous American town, there is no chance of events playing out on an epic canvas - McKee utilizes his "nowhere" location, making it almost a reflection of May's stunted psychological growth. In May, becoming the monster (let's be honest: her patchwork lover is only a footnote in the tale) is the next stage in her diabolical evolution. In Frankenstein, the creature is an aberration and is traumatized by this fact. She elicits sympathy from the viewer and inspires fear and occasionally revulsion. She's the mad scientist and the monster, by her own design. McKee's excavation of Shelley's classic flips the Frankenstein idea on its square (sorry) head by positioning the main character as both victim and perpetrator. Kissing (and biting) gets a tad too dark for Adam’s vanilla sensibility, and a seductive dance isn’t enough for May. They later hook up at a launderette and embark on a strange romance. May grows obsessed with scuzzy mechanic Adam ( Jeremy Sisto), a chain-smoking hipster with a moody disposition and great hands. Her dizzy, Sapphic assistant Polly ( Anna Faris) makes not-so-subtle advances toward May, but she remains oblivious to this. Now a veterinary assistant at The Sarzikan Animal Hospital and May is content to blend into the background, for the most part. Later in life, May decides she needs a real friend, someone she can hold. Cut to scenes of doll parts falling through a void overlapping with motherly advice to the younger May – hide your differences, it’ll be easier to fit in. It opens with May screaming at her reflection, one hand covering her eye, blood gushing through her fingers. The movie is an equal parts character study and Grand Guignol gothic melodrama with an intense central performance from Angela Bettis. ![]() Melding indie horror realism with revisionist horror ensured May became a cult favorite and is now considered a Midnight Movie classic. RELATED: The 41 Best Horror Movies of the 2000s What is 'May' About? The movie performed poorly at the box office but has endured as a Midnight Movie staple and gained a loyal cult following. ![]() So, it was refreshing when Lucky McKee ( The Woman, All Cheerleaders Die) served up May, an indie horror with feminist trappings riffing on a literary classic. Survival horror game Resident Evil made a commercially successful transition to live-action horror, and My Little Eyereflected our fascination with the onslaught of reality television. Eli Roth and Neil Marshallstarted "The Splat Pack" with their filmmaking debuts Cabin Feverand Dog Soldiers, and Halloween Resurrectionwas the death rattle for a dying franchise (or so we thought). This resulted in no filmmakers following a trend or adhering to a thematic or narrative template. Cinematic output had become stale in the wake of the self-reflexive/knowing genre offerings widespread in the mid/late 90s and early 00s. Yes, we're talking about 2002's May.Ģ002 was an unremarkable year for the horror genre. She comes to the realization that if she can’t find the perfect man, she’ll need to put him together herself – with body parts. A bit tricky when you’re taking tips on dating and homicide (and dismemberment) from a hectoring doll encased in glass. In this Frankenstein-informed psychodrama-ish body-horror, Angela Bettis is the titular character who is just another everyday "grotesque." She’s overlooked, insecure, and lonely, working as a veterinary assistant who daydreams about the perfect man.
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