May Review
Very Good
How refreshing, after the mild thrills of movies like Final Destination 2 and Wrong Turn, to watch a horror movie with some inner life. It's easy to describe Lucky McKee's May in terms of its similarities to other films; it owes a lot to Brian DePalma's Carrie (lead actress Angela Bettis even played Carrie in the TV-movie redo), with its meek anti-heroine and eventual havoc. To that end, it also brings to mind the Willard remake from earlier this year, with its darkly funny approach to a social outcast, and even bears a passing, coincidental resemblance to sort of a horror version of 2002's Secretary. But May is its own film, made with confidence and skill.
The title character (Bettis) does not have telekinetic powers or a special relationship with rats, although she does work as a vet's assistant. She is an awkward, lonely girl; we see in flashbacks that she was rejected as a child: By other children, because of her lazy eye (and resulting eyepatch); and by her parents, through general indifference and for reasons not entirely known. We see her mother present May with a doll on her birthday, but won't let May take it out of the box, not wanting to "ruin" it; years later, the doll is May's only friend.
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