American Mary

A debt-ridden medical student takes up a lucrative sideline in extreme body modification in this pulverising horror from the Soska twins (Dead Hooker in a Trunk). Katharine Isabelle (star of cult werewolf flick Ginger Snaps) gives a terrific performance as trainee surgeon Mary Mason, whose dire financial straits force her to take a walk on the dark side after a visit to a sleazy strip club. She's soon attracting some decidedly unusual clients to sample her skills, until her new-found career is thrown into turmoil by an encounter that propels her on the vengeance trail. The film is dedicated to Hostel director Eli Roth and contains plenty of look-away moments, but the sibling directors' second feature is no gratuitous schlock-fest: it's a thoughtful, well-made piece with plenty of gallows humour and a memorable cameo from the Soskas themselves. The picture tends to meander at the end, but it's anchored by Isabelle's class act as the innocent girl-turned-fearsome female fury.