9 Subversive Horror Movies That Aren't What You Expect

The Soska Sisters are a rising force in genre cinema, delivering some of the most subversive horror offerings out there with their intense takeover of all things spooky. American Mary is one of their defining early works that perfectly demonstrates their macabre tastes and devilishly sharp wit, telling the tale of a woman that gets into the business of black market plastic surgeries for easy money that slowly spirals out of control. With a woman carved up to look like Betty Boop, one made nipple and genitalia-less in the form of a human doll, and plenty of other clients getting something extra special from Mary - it's a gnarly look at the underground world of very literal chop shops.

Positing a perspective that follows in the footsteps of Teeth and Jennifer's Body, as Jon Townslen covers in his book on Subversive Horror Cinema, American Mary represents another facet in 'Anti-New Puritanism', functioning as a gross-out feminist message being sent that brings sexuality to the front and centre from a woman's perspective.

In any case, it's cult gem nature means it's one that hasn't broken into mainstream expectation for what a revenge movie should entail - making Mary's path a unique one to follow.