User reviews

Let me put this as bluntly as I can... it's a dominatrix horror movie. Yeah... And don't get me wrong I'm no prude, I championed the uncensoring of the word "damn" in Gone with the Wind in the 30s. But no it wasn't the over the top physical punishment the character had to endure, it was a huge gripe in the technical department. It wasn't even five minutes into the movie and it already committed one major sin in the filmmaking handbook, bad audio. It's the kind that you would see in a kids home movie when he can't afford microphones and not that of the people who made American Mary. I have never seen American Mary or any of the Soska sisters previous movies but from what I've seen their audio in those were better, it's like they only used the microphone from the camera, which made it even more jarring when they recorded ADR, you know voice over dubbing if the take is no good? So it would constantly go backwards and forwards from hearing crisp dubbing to a hell of a lot of background audio because they're on a set that has floorboards. Now on to the story. It was ok, I feel like there was lot of padding. There was one scene that I do commend from a technical standpoint where the main characters reflections are making faces back at him, I don't know if they used a double but it looked pretty cool. Unfortunately the actor ruined it with the funny faces, I think he was trying to be creepy and psychological in it but it just looked very goofy and strange. I have to admire one aspect of the story, I normally laugh at female on male sadism and I was even laughing throughout the movie, until I found out the twist and it just made me feel guilty for laughing so much. I mean I could tell the twist coming but I didn't think it would actually go there. Plus there were some plot holes in the story that don't work with it. Having said that I do admire they were able to manipulate me into doing that only to have me feel bad after. First movie I walked out of in years, not because it was bad, just that I was at a horror fest and this one was overlapping another one on the program I wanted to see, I didn't want to miss the start of a better movie just because the end of this likes to drag it's feet.

Nudity, sex and kink. The stuff beloved of censors who relish the chance to stamp their disapproval.

But for the grown-up, free-thinking rest of us, this film dares to portray that for which an awful lot of people is a normal and healthy part of their lives.

To be sure there are visceral scenes, and rightly so in order to understand how the subject in this film finds redemption and release from trauma through BDSM. This film is a must see, whether the viewer is new to, or experienced in this aspect of human sexuality.

Well acted throughout and beautifully shot and scored. Exactly what I would expect from The Soska sisters.