May

I bemoan horribly low-budget movies, but this production is proof positive that money does not make the movie. I am still so disturbed by this effort that I am finding it hard to find the words...

This movie was absolute brilliance. It was creatively written, realistically portrayed, inspirationally directed, and disturbingly sad and dark at the same time.

Angela Bettis is astounding as May. May was born with a lazy eye which caused her have to wear an eye patch. Her mother, a neurotically judgmental woman, raised May to believe that her only choice for friendship was to either hide her differences, or withdraw into her own fantasy.

But there are more differences within May than even her mother could see, and after May realizes that people are not perfect, she goes to any and all lengths to make herself seen.

This is one of the darkest, saddest, most disturbing movies I have EVER seen. Bittersweet and truly mad.

It rates a full 10/10 on the "B" scale.

That's an 8.9/10 from...

the Fiend :.

I'm so glad people are re-discovering horror as a serious genre because the endless SCREAM rip-offs were getting more tiresome than even the previous decade's endless HALLOWEEN rip-offs. MAY not only operates as a great horror film, it also is a wonderful character study of social dysfunction. Angela Bettis is wonderfully painful to watch in her attempts at love. She's an actress to keep your eyes on in the future. The ending gets a little more standard but is just creepy enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.

"May" is not a movie I would nominate for an Oscar, or any sort of award, but it is original. Many scenes totally creeped me out, but what can I say? It's a horror flick! And I commend the director for being unapologetic about this sick, demented material. The film is well-made and well-acted. Just don't expect the feel-good movie of the year. I can watch Jason Voorhies slice a victim's head off with a machete while eating a 3-course meal, but watching a room full of blind children crawl all over a floor and cut themselves with broken glass is pretty damn disgusting to me. Fans of the horror genre definitely won't be disappointed. (7 out of 10)

As American horror movies become increasingly derivative and lame it's a real surprise to see something this fresh and original. I wouldn't have even looked at this one twice if I hadn't had it recommended to me by a few people who know their stuff. I'm so glad I listened to their advice and gave it a shot, otherwise I would have missed out on seeing this gem! 'May' is a quirky black comedy with horror elements (nods to Frankenstein and 'Pieces', Argento namedrops). Angela Bettis is perfectly cast as the goofy Goth outsider May who secretly yearns for hunky horror buff Adam (Jeremy Sisto). He says "I like weird. I like weird a lot", but he doesn't know what he's in for! Anna Faris ('Scary Movie', 'Lost In Translation') plays May's lesbian co-worker, and James Duval ('The Doom Generation', 'Donnie Darko') plays a vapid punk. I really enjoyed this movie, especially Angela Bettis' performance, and I will look out for her work in the future, as well as writer/director Lucky McKee's. If 'May' is any indication of McKee's talent then he is someone to keep an eye on.

You want infatuation, the twisted kind brought upon by someone longing for something true, but only to be strung along and heartbroken. Lucky McKee's "MAY" is an indie film that draws you in; slowly forming its basis around vivid characters, ongoing interactions, developing pathos, and relationships to only turn it upside down. From quirky one minute, to startling the next, but always underlining its twitchy psychological makeup is a certain calamity that no one can escape. What it really does thrive on though, is the edgy dynamics of Angela Bettis' affectingly misunderstood, yet adorably offbeat lead performance brought upon by her character's awkward naivety, stemming from her constant loneliness that can be traced back to when she was a child. Her best friend is a doll in a glass case that was given to her by her mother as a child, and it seems to somehow communicate, getting into her unstable head. Bettis' portrayal is great, not to take anything away from a mild-mannered Jeremy Sisto and seductive Anna Faris who were equally so, in their characters' careless selfishness of their treatment of May. However it's definitely all about Bettis and her character's slow, crippling descent in finding that someone, who's 100% perfect. How she gets there, can be darkly humorous, but also insanely morbid, as McKee gets it spot on blending these two elements together.