Cheap May (DVD) (Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris, James Duval) (Lucky McKee) Price

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Customer Reviews of May

Wonderfully Weird Cult Classic
Thank God for DVD!
Without which many good little films who never get the chance for a wide theatre distrubution would have had a premature and unfortunate demise.The digital technology and the huge boom in DVD sales pushed the studios to look deep into their treasure vaults and release some unknown gems,and May is such a movie.
Lucky McKee's film is original and weird, (and more often than not, there is a thin line between originality and weirdness that is wonderful to watch)and it has this 70s cult-ish feel to it.May can be thinly labelled as a horror film, but it is more of a psychological study into the mind of a 'social outcast', a lonely soul whose only real friend and confidant in life is a creepy looking doll.
In a way May did remind slightly of George A Romero's Martin, apart from both characters' particular taste for blood, they are eccentric loners who can not communicate properly with the 'normal' world outside the one they have carefully cocooned themselves in, and despite the horrors they inflict on others, the viewer can not but feel total sympathy with them, because deep down they are quite vulnerable, naive and exploited people.
May,over protected as a child by her parents and shunned by other kids because of a lazy eye,for which she had to wear a 'pirate's' patch, grows into a very timid and inexperienced woman with a fascination for certain body parts, the hands of the excellent Six Feet Under's Jeremy Sisto, and the neck of her pet clinic lesbian colleague, the incredibly sexy Anna Faris.But what May really longs for above anything else is the intimacy and closeness with anyone who would accept her (she keeps warning her potential suitors that she is weird)..and because of her lack of experience, her fragile emotional state and her twisted outlook at the world, inbred after years of isolation, she does not take disappointments and rejections too well, with murderous consequences.
Yet the care she displays for the blind children shows another aspect of May's personality, one that is so detached from the beast within her, and it is a confirmation that it is indeed care and love that she craves most, which she tries to give in return to the ones she sees are as vulnerable and in need for affection as herself.
The ending is quite powerful, and attempting to 'construct' the perfect companion from the different parts of the people she liked, only lead to a greater disappointment and pain. Quite sad and at the same time heartfelt message that many people can identify with, no perfect person exists!
Angela Bettis (with films like Girl Interrupted, Bless That Child and Perfume to her name)gives the performance of her career, one that should really be acknowledged by awards! She plays May to perfection, and is responsible for injecting the sympathy that her character deserves.
Anna Faris, as I mentioned is very sexy, and more so since she plays a vampish lesbian, and has a surprisingly erotically charged scene with Bettis.
May is a litle gem of a movie that I strongly advise you to watch, for it will take you back to a time when movies did not need to have dozens of accountants and lawyers and two mega stars that will eat half the budget for it to hit the right spot with the viewers.

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One of a kind
THIS WAS THE WEIRDEST FRIGGIN MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN.

Not exactly a comedy, horror or slasher flick, it's more of a weird blend of all three with a lot of psychological overtones. (translation: it really messes with your head)

And it works. Horror movies recently haven't been doing so hot. It can be left up to debate as to why the genre has been suffering, but what May does is take ordinary people, individuals with their own distince personalities, makes you like them, and then proceeds to do horrible things to them.

Take May, for example, the title character. She grew up with a "lazy eye" forcing her to wear an eye patch in grammar school, ostracizing her from the rest of the class. Twenty years later, glasses and corrective contacts fix the lazy eye, but May is no better off, having only creepy little doll named Suzy that her mother gave her to call a friend. It's a character you feel sorry for. Quirky, cute, a little weird, but withdrawn.

May's most peculiar aspect, is her love of parts. May's coworker, Polly, a really friendly lesbian played by anna farris(scary movie) has a beautiful neck. Adam, played by jeremy sisto, a student of weird and lover of dario argento, has great hands. Frustrated, May laments, "There are a lot of pretty parts, but no pretty wholes." May is pretty handy with sewing scissors, needle and thread. You can imagine that things will not turn out well.

The first half of the film is humorous, as May tries to connect to Adam, who is amused and intriqued by May. however, when may's weirdness becomes too much for Adam to handle, May is thrust into a frantic pace to find the friend that she is looking for leading to one failed connection after another. May's mother says early on, "when you don't have a friend, make one." Blood and wackiness ensues.

I'll say that in terms of acting, Angela Bettis carries the film well on her little shoulders. Going from endearing to sad to creepy to just plain psycho. The rest of the small cast fills their roles well and are entirely believable in the reactions to May and the goings on. Not like most of the dolts I wish death upon early in most horror movies.

And it is definitely not for the squeamish. After 19 years of nightmare on elm st, friday the 13th, the excorcist and such, I consider myself pretty jaded to violence. A little red stuff never bothered me. But first time director Lucky McGee uses a unique storytelling perspective and camera work which makes the acts of violence committed by may seem as if they're being performed in front of me. Meanwhile, the final shot of the film still remains in my head.

Chances are, May won't have huge commercial success, being so damn creepy and weird. Chances are, most of you will not like it. But that's the way it goes sometimes. Hopefully, you'll all check it out, cause I want this movie to do well. Definitely one of the most interesting horror movies of all time.

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Innocent and Cruel: Good Horror with Bettis' Strong Acting
First-time director Lucky McKee is really lucky in getting Angela Bettis, one of the most gifted actresses of her generation, especially when it comes to playing a troubled soul, as seen in "Girl, Interrupted" or "Bless the Child." Now "May" is another example of her talent, with which she created a creey, unsettling, but oddly attractive character in May.

People say May is a funny girl, and she knows it, from her lonely childhood. And when she was alone, her mother told her: "If you don't have friend, make one." She remembers these words long afterwards.

Now grown-up, May works at animal hospital, where she is good at cutting and stitching. Her co-worker Polly is a lesbian, and knows how to have fun while May still cannot know how to communicate well with others, except with her doll Susie.

Then she meets someone, a possible boyfriend Adam, who is an aspiring movie director (his maestro being Dario Argento, who must have influenced Lucky McKee too). May is happy, too happy to know that Adam can enjoy being with her, a strange little girl, only up to a point. Kissing is a good thing, but biting the lip too hard is another thing.

The film slowly sets up the personalities of characters, and it never relies on the ordinary 'by the number' method of body-counting. Actually, May is quite unique in trying to portray the deadly heroine in a sympathtic light.

This is a crucial point, because Angela Bettis can be in fact a beautiful, cute girl. And so is May, only when she chooses to be so. But we notice she is not a girl you normally meet at party, and her behaviors are far from usual (you don't talk to your doll, do you?) Some find it pathetic; but others (like Adam, Lucky McKee, and me of course) find it quirky but charming ... up tp a point.

So, don't expect this film to be a so-called "slasher film." There is "slash"ing scenes, but that is not meant for a big shock. Watch this as a character study, even though the material itself is a borrowed one (I mean, like "Carrie" of which TV series Bettis starred in).

My last, but not least praise should go to Anna Faris, who was in ... er ... "Scary Movies." She is a much better actress than you are led to believe after seeing her fighting with a masked killer or a cat. She can act, and now you know it.