If horror movies have taught us anything, it’s that talking to inanimate objects never ends well.
The 2002 shocker “May” features a seriously disturbed woman whose only companion is a pasty-faced doll trapped behind glass.
The film didn’t make much noise during its theatrical release, but it’s cherished by horror hounds in the blogosphere.
Their passions are misplaced. “May” teases but never delivers the kind of psychological horror show it promises.
Angela Bettis is May, a veterinary assistant with severe emotional issues. She has no friends or lovers, so she spends her nights commiserating with a porcelain doll given to her by her mother years ago.
May longs for a real relationship, so she starts stalking a handsome stranger named Adam (Jeremy Sisto).
Or, more specifically, his hands.
May is fascinated by body parts, and when she sees Adam sleeping one day she can’t help but push her cheek against his outstretched hand.
A courtship soon blossoms, but even an open-minded suitor like Adam has a hard time dealing with someone like May.
Writer/director Lucky McKee (“Red”) begins the film in flashback, showing us how May’s twisted mother – and the girl’s lazy eye – helped isolate young May from society.
It’s a thumbnail sketch that should be enough, but McKee’s follow-through fails to build upon it. The May we meet is too bizarre for mass consumption. Everyone around her treats her like an adorable eccentric. but May can’t hold a conversation and always looks as if she’s one tic away from a complete meltdown.
Bettis does all she can to bring May’s pain to the surface. It’s an eerie performance, but one that needs more structure.
The horror elements enter the film near the end, and they seem almost besides the point. What’s worse, they add up to nothing. They’re neither shocking nor clever, and they push the film toward a negligible finale with a single gruesome image to keep us satiated.
It isn’t enough.
McKee’s “May” still has its powerful moments, from May showing her co-worker (Anna Faris) the beauty to be found in pain, to how the glass around May’s doll cracks under its owner’s emotional duress.
And the scenes in the veterinary office teem with black humor, from the pathetic pet owners to the frazzled head vet (Ken Davitian, “Borat’s” wrestling buddy).
“May” isn’t your standard horror film. It’s elevated by credible performances and a narrative that doesn’t feel the need to shock us every 15 minutes. But it’s still woefully thin where it counts, delivering a fractured portrait with too many missing pieces.
Related posts:
on 
on 
on 
on 
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I agree it’s got its flaws, but it’s one of the better horror/dark comedy films of the last decade- not great, but better than average. Not particularly scary, but very effective at creating an undercurrent of dread and unease.
And it contains one of my favorite movie put-downs, delivered hilariously by Anna Faris: “Shut up, hooker!”