Naty's Spooky Corner

May

★★★★★

Sunday, September 5, 2021, 11:11 PM

Are you in the mood for a questionable body horror film with crucial gay undertones? Do you wish to remember and reflect on how painfully awkward you were as a middle school student through an immersive film? Well, if those oddly specific questions somehow manage to apply to you, then look no further than this cult classic movie.

This 2002 psychological horror film was written and directed by Lucky Mcgee as his very first directorial review! The story follows an incredibly lonely and painfully awkward young woman named May as she tries and stumbles in forming an intimate connection with the few unfortunate souls around her. Traumatized by her physical deformity of having a lazy eye since birth, May is left being socially deprived and increasingly psychotic towards those around her. Frustrated with her strained relationships with others, and overcome by her emotions, May decides that the best course of action is to follow the heartfelt advice bestowed upon her by her caustic mother, and begins on her journey to “make her own friend”.

Oof yeah, I know. There is some heavy stuff to unpack here for sure.

I wanted to start off by offering a quick disclaimer to this film. If you or someone within your social circle notice that someone seems to be struggling with navigating different social environments or interactions, it helps to employ empathy and try to make the space more welcoming to them. Despite what horror movies would want you to believe - What? You mean this movie is fictional???  - awkward individuals are for the most part, not planning to murder you. Your cat however? That’s a different story…

Burdened by her desire to have an intimate relationship with others, May decides to stop with the civilities and take her mother’s advice to heart, by literally butchering most of the film’s secondary characters in a quest to make a friend out of literal body parts. That’s super messed up right? What I do appreciate from this film is that it offers a modern twist to the classical Frankenstein narrative, with a special twist at the end. (Seriously, you have to see it to believe it) But I’m sure any horror movie watcher can agree that it is incredibly hard to recreate original movie monsters in a modern sense. In fact, only a few come to mind with “The Mummy'' series and the “What we do in the shadows” series. Also, full disclosure, I was half expecting her beloved and incredibly creepy porcelain doll “Suzee” to come to life and seek vengeance towards the end. Thankfully the film did not take the route since it would have been a smidge too predictable and not nearly as horrifying as what actually happens in the story.

Overall, was this movie my cup of tea? Not exactly. But I can appreciate what the narrative was trying to say and its approach to such a sticky topic. Also, the director deserves a huge shoutout for writing and shooting in such an enticing story. All in all, I can definitely understand why this film has become such a cult classic.

Overall Rating:
The amount of times I couldn’t watch the screen: 3/10

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