May (2003)

Marra from Notts , 31/10/2004

May Canady was born with a lazy eye, forced by her mother to wear a 'pirate' eye patch to cover up the disfigurement. Unpopular with other children, she is given a 'friend' for her birthday - a doll in a glass case called Soozy.

Some years later, the 20-something May is still relying on the doll for friendship, until she decided to find a 'real' friend. She spies Adam - an auto mechanic - liking his hands in particular. This proves to be a failing with May, as she cannot seem to find a whole person she likes, only parts thereof. And, she's a pretty nifty seamstress.....

Her freaky behaviour eventually scares Adam away and she becomes involved with Polly - a lesbian secretary from the local animal hospital where May works as a veterinary assistant.. Suffice to say, this goes sour as well. And all the time May is slowly unravelling mentally. The final straw comes as she causes an unfortunate accident with some local blind kids. So now the only way May is to get her valued friend is to make it herself.

This delightful low-budget film is not really a horror movie at all, although it does get rather horrific towards the end. It's more to do with the study of a lonely woman, one of those people who just sort of falls through the cracks and gets ignored by society. Driven by a wonderful performance by Angela Bettis (Bless The Child, Girl Interrupted), this film comes highly recommended.

  8 out of 8 people found this review helpful

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A customer from Belfast , 11/03/2004

This is either an artistic film trying to be a slasher film or a slasher film trying to be an artistic film. I haven't quite made up my mind yet :) The gore is mainly implied rather than in your face blood and guts, but it is certainly different from your classic slasher film. It might be worth watching if you like your films with a bit of weirdness about them.

  4 out of 5 people found this review helpful

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A customer from Liverpool , 12/02/2005

The synopsis said 'A modern adaptation of Frankenstein.'. I think they might have meant 'A Frankenstein of a movie.'. To try to gain kudos by association with the Frankenstein story is going heavy on the hype-sauce. Apart from the girl-on-girl action, the story was high on predictibility and low on dramatic tension. The ending more Horrible than Horror.

Good acting from 'handsome hands' man says my wife. Maybe she just meant his hands though. The anti-heroine was a bit over the top with her demure shyness too. More likely to have got a referral to medical care than a date.

It was more black comedy than horror - or would have been if there had been a few more laughs in it. Maybe this just wasn't my kind of film.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

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Nick from England , 05/10/2004

Anyone that thinks good horror movies aren't still being made obviously isn't looking hard enough. Already this decade we've had several lovely horror movies, and this delightfully sick twist on the classic Frankenstein tale is most certainly one of them. In fact, this film isn't a pure horror movie, but rather the movie that I've wanted to happen for ages; a movie that starts out as an emotional drama (in this case a young girl that is alienated from everyone around her), and then becomes a horror movie. The horror in the movie doesn't really start until the third act, but once it does it comes in droves! The difference between the final third and the rest of the movie is very extreme, but the movie pulls it off well. Because the start of the movie isn't very horrific, and therefore doesn't concentrate on the horror, we are given a chance to get to know the characters before the horror starts. This is a great advantage for this movie as it makes the horror mean more, and it also means that the gore in the movie is not needless. Which should shut the 'horror is brainless' crowd up if nothing else.

The story of 'May' follows a young girl who is, indecently, called May. May isn't a normal little girl, oh no, she has a 'lazy eye'. This requires her to wear an eye patch like a pirate, and you know what kids are like; so, as you can imagine, May becomes isolated. With only a doll that her mother made for company, May delves deeper into alienation, which makes her miss out on the normal things that most people have; most notably, friends. The story of the film is heartbreaking, and even when May later starts to engage in some unhealthy activities, we are still able to feel for her. The ending of the movie is the best example of this; it's very macabre, but it's also gut wrenching at the same time. Few movies can pull something like this off, so this one deserves credit for not only achieving it, but achieving it well. May takes obvious influence from the classic horrors, most obviously Frankenstein, but there's also more than a little of Carrie here. In my opinion, May carries off the story of a girl alone even better than the film version of Carrie did. Here, we are able to feel for the girl more because the movie is made much more personal. When a movie has an emotional impact, it is always a good thing; and this one certainly has one. The movie also comes off as being very original, despite borrowing certain elements from other films.

May is also very well acted. It has a stellar cast, including Angela Bettis in the lead role of 'May'. Angela's performance is spot on for this movie. She is pathetic when she needs to be, and she's also brooding and evil when she needs to be. She carries off both sides of her character with the greatest of ease, and she holds the movie together very well. I for one hope to see more of her in the future. Anna Faris stars alongside Angela as the lesbian that befriends her. You might remember Anna from the lackluster 'Lost in Translation', but don't let that worry you. Anna is a very beautiful lady, I didn't realize it so much in Lost in Translation as I was numb for most of the film; but it really shows here. The fact that her character is a lesbian only makes it more so. Jeremy Sisto takes the lead male character of the movie. Admittedly, Sisto can get a little irritating at times, but he is still believable in his role as the man that May likes, and that is enough.

Overall, May is an original story that is as delightful and fresh as it is sick and twisted. It is played out by a great lead in Angela Bettis and not only that; but it's clear proof that there's some innovation left in cinema. I recommend this film to everyone, whether you like horror or not. There's something for everyone here.

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful

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Nick from England , 05/10/2004

Anyone that thinks good horror movies aren't still being made obviously isn't looking hard enough. Already this decade we've had several lovely horror movies, and this delightfully sick twist on the classic Frankenstein tale is most certainly one of them. In fact, this film isn't a pure horror movie, but rather the movie that I've wanted to happen for ages; a movie that starts out as an emotional drama (in this case a young girl that is alienated from everyone around her), and then becomes a horror movie. The horror in the movie doesn't really start until the third act, but once it does it comes in droves! The difference between the final third and the rest of the movie is very extreme, but the movie pulls it off well. Because the start of the movie isn't very horrific, and therefore doesn't concentrate on the horror, we are given a chance to get to know the characters before the horror starts. This is a great advantage for this movie as it makes the horror mean more, and it also means that the gore in the movie is not needless. Which should shut the 'horror is brainless' crowd up if nothing else.

The story of 'May' follows a young girl who is, indecently, called May. May isn't a normal little girl, oh no, she has a 'lazy eye'. This requires her to wear an eye patch like a pirate, and you know what kids are like; so, as you can imagine, May becomes isolated. With only a doll that her mother made for company, May delves deeper into alienation, which makes her miss out on the normal things that most people have; most notably, friends. The story of the film is heartbreaking, and even when May later starts to engage in some unhealthy activities, we are still able to feel for her. The ending of the movie is the best example of this; it's very macabre, but it's also gut wrenching at the same time. Few movies can pull something like this off, so this one deserves credit for not only achieving it, but achieving it well. May takes obvious influence from the classic horrors, most obviously Frankenstein, but there's also more than a little of Carrie here. In my opinion, May carries off the story of a girl alone even better than the film version of Carrie did. Here, we are able to feel for the girl more because the movie is made much more personal. When a movie has an emotional impact, it is always a good thing; and this one certainly has one. The movie also comes off as being very original, despite borrowing certain elements from other films.

May is also very well acted. It has a stellar cast, including Angela Bettis in the lead role of 'May'. Angela's performance is spot on for this movie. She is pathetic when she needs to be, and she's also brooding and evil when she needs to be. She carries off both sides of her character with the greatest of ease, and she holds the movie together very well. I for one hope to see more of her in the future. Anna Faris stars alongside Angela as the lesbian that befriends her. You might remember Anna from the lackluster 'Lost in Translation', but don't let that worry you. Anna is a very beautiful lady, I didn't realize it so much in Lost in Translation as I was numb for most of the film; but it really shows here. The fact that her character is a lesbian only makes it more so. Jeremy Sisto takes the lead male character of the movie. Admittedly, Sisto can get a little irritating at times, but he is still believable in his role as the man that May likes, and that is enough.

Overall, May is an original story that is as delightful and fresh as it is sick and twisted. It is played out by a great lead in Angela Bettis and not only that; but it's clear proof that there's some innovation left in cinema. I recommend this film to everyone, whether you like horror or not. There's something for everyone here.

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful

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David McGuire from Glasgow , 28/09/2004

Lives of the Unusual and Interesting Part XXXVII, The Serial Killer Variety would sum up this odd little hybrid movie. It starts like an indie flick about marginalised youth and morphs into a slasher movie via one of the creepiest dolls ever seen on screen. It has similarities with Audition, I suppose. See my review of that one. The central performance is excellent and the descent into madness (utter madness) convincing. It is tinged with the supernatural - see the aforementioned doll and the very final shot - and this and the general style of the piece ensures it less of a documentary style drama and more an overblown, movie-style Descent Into Madness. It is never really scary, although the doll is memorably weird and the cracking sound the glass makes is an excellent touch (make it stop!). It will make you look away in the final scene; not out of fear but out of sympathetic pain and disgust at something that is, oddly, completely signposted in the very first scene of the film (or maybe I have just seen too many gory movies and was not meant to be a step ahead of the director at that point, but it did seem like giving the game away). Anyway, recommended, but not scary. Odd and interesting, then.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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