"American Mary" (2013)

I really, really wanted to love "American Mary" (2013) as much as I love Kathrine Isabelle as an actress (who I've been a fan of ever since "Ginger Snaps"). In my initial viewing I thought the film was going to be a cross between "Audition" & "I Spit on Your Grave", but was surprised that the film took on more of a vibe from Cronenberg's "Crash" in the way it explored the "body mod" sub-culture. The problem was (and still remains even on my second viewing) that the film never really knows where it wants to go with itself. We see Mary spending a good section of the film performing surgery on two obsessed twins who want to share body parts, but this subplot never goes anywhere and really seems to be there solely to satisfy the egos of the two co-directors, the "Twisted Twins", by giving them screen time. Nor is Mary's character ever really established satisfactorily for my liking. One minute she is transforming into this efficient killer, the next we're being told she is a victim. Still, it's quite an original premise and I'm all for it trying to be more of a character study. I just wish the Twisted Twins knew who & what Mary was supposed to be before they started filming.  6 out of 10 for me.