Dead Mary (2007)

Very strange movie, it seems almost an horror (or funny?) version of "Waiting for Godot", the Beckett's play. So in the first part of the movie there's nothing of interest, while they are waiting for Ted there are only stupid discussions about couple relationships: your boy makes love with x, your girl with y, I makes love with everybody.. All together are friends and lovers but in the wrong beds.Then the game begins, and the game is "Bloody Mary" or, for copyright and other reasons, "Dead Mary". But don't expect something special, a candle that shuts off, a night walking alone in the forest... the first dead.. who is the killer? It doesn't seem so important, no character seems particularly enjoyable or disliked. Uh, the dead boy is a zombie? It seems funny... There is also a mysterious shed in the scene, you hope, in vain, for something interesting... while everybody are waiting for Ted..Other murders, you could bet on the next, other accusations of betrayal, it seems the only interest of the group. Who is possessed? One, two, everyone? Some clue could help and not.. in the meantime everybody are waiting for Ted... The cars don't work, no people in the surroundings, somebody start to searching for help but you'll find them always on the same place. And everybody are waiting for Ted...The end... have you understood anything? Probably not. The possible hypothesis are always the same and every clue turns out useless. You can always meditate waiting for Ted...

I am sure this film disappointed a lot of people but it was right up my street, as we say. A group of young friends meeting death one by one in the woods is a cheap enough project. The strength here was in the slow naturalistic build and the good acting. You have time to work out the tensions within the group, aspects of their character, past history. The photography is good and lazy discourses should remind many of the days when time wasn't so precious. The induction of evil into the group is passed off quite smoothly. Thereafter there is a satisfying logic to the actions and reactions. I know some people are bothered by other Mary tales as if they are cheated out of something. There's no witch in Blair Witch and there's no Ripper in Ripper. Titles aren't labels on jam jars or guarantees. Some worried that this isn't Evil Dead but that's the last film I want to see.

Dead Mary. Damn good movie. Surprisingly great direction with a very talented cast and an intelligent and realistic script. The film starts out uncomfortable then intense as it shows the dysfunctional relationships between some old friends who spend a weekend by the lake with each other. They seem completely sick of each other and are going through the motions of "keeping in touch" even though they probably hate each other more by now. They become bored the first night and dare to play the game of "Dead Mary". You take a candle into a darkened room with a mirror and repeat the words "Dead Mary" three times into the mirror. This is supposed to bring the horrendous "bloody Mary" to life. A few of the friends attempt this to not much luck. Later on that night the horror unfolds. Torture and blood starts flowing fast in this suspenseful and horrifying gem. I hope to see more Canadian horror movies out of director/producer Robert Wilson and writers Christopher Warre Smets and Peter Sheldrick. Thanks go out to the filmmakers for not trying to pose this film as if it were American. It's pitiful to see so many inept Canadian horror films try to fly American flags throughout their films in an attempt to gain American acceptance. How they think that posing as an American film helps them (when their movies suck in the first place) I have no idea. They just don't get it. Horror fans love excellent horror movies. It doesn't matter if it's an Italian Giallo from Dario Argento or a Japanese ghost story like the original Grudge and Ring films. We only want films that are able to keep us on the edge of our seats which this movie does throughout.

This was on demand on Showtime and I got my wife, sister & her husband to watch it on a fluke as a stupid, funny, hopefully slightly scary movie. We were all shocked to find we really liked it. Decent acting, fairly good plot and we really liked that you never really saw 'Mary'. The end was a little weak, but all in all we really liked it.I'd recommend it for a late night when there's not much else to watch... it may surprise you too.Definitely way better than we expected.Watch it.