You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

May

This is another movie I discovered at Butt-Numb-a-Thon. It's a very different kind of horror movie than most of the ones churned out today. It's a lot like Carrie in that it centers around a young woman (May, played by Angela Bettis) who is an outsider and who eventually unleashes a horrific revenge on the people who have wronged her. The movie also reminds me a bit of my pick from yesterday, The Piano Teacher. May doesn't seem to know how to function with other people. However, in this case, you can't exactly blame that on May herself. She's just not equipped to deal with insensitive and uncaring people.


There's a twist at the end, but if you've read the movie's tagline or pretty much any reviews whatsoever, you'll know what it is. Even if you haven't seen those, you'll probably guess it about 1/3 of the way in. May grows up believing that she's abnormal, but she doesn't let that stop her from trying to have meaningful relationships. She tries to strike up a romance with a handsome mechanic (Adam, played by Jeremy Sisto). He's a little put off by her at first, but quickly warms up to her when she expresses enthusiasm for his student film (a Dario Argento homage, where two young lovers go for a picnic, start making out, and eventually start literally eating each other). That scene in particular played very well with the BNAT audience.

But in the natural course of things, May turns out to be a little too weird for her young man. Hence, she turns to a rather aggressive lesbian (Polly, played by Anna Faris) who works with her in a veterinary office. Like Adam, Polly is strangely intrigued by May. But only to a certain point.

This movie doesn't have the traditional horror movie scares. May has a doll that stays behind a glass case. The doll doesn't come to life, as it might in another movie. But it's still creepy as heck. One of the most horrifying scenes in the movie to me is when May takes the doll to a school for the blind for which she's been volunteering. She introduces the doll to the kids, and they naturally want to touch it. But May has been conditioned since childhood that the doll is not to leave the glass case. Of course, this begs the question of what the point is of bringing the doll in the first place. The kids reach and grab for the doll and eventually the case falls on the floor and crashes. The kids, unable to see the shattered glass on the floor, crawl around in it, smearing blood all over the tiles. It's one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen.

May's monster moment is not gratuitous. It's not there for entertainment. It's a natural progression of her character, and you feel for her. But the ultimate horror moment comes in the last few minutes. When you come to it, you know exactly what's going to happen. But the director draws it out for so long that it's absolute torture.

The best horror movies are the unconventional ones, and May is one of those. There aren't the typical stupid horror movie victims. There are no silly quips from the monster before she strikes. And there's no virginal Mary Sue who defeats the bad guy. This is an extremely thoughtful, well-written, and well-acted movie that just happens to also be a horror movie.