May (2002)

Dir: Lucky McKee

I passed this one by completely on release thanks to some lame, unimaginative poster art that made it look like some kind of teen telepathy flick. I couldn't've been more wrong. Bettis plays the titular character; a lonely, strange young woman who sews up animals for a living and has no friends. She becomes disastrously obsessed with a Dario Argento fanatic she meets at the laundromat (the ever-watchable Jeremy Sisto) The first half of the film plays like a quirky black comedy, charting her failed attempts to woo him, but it all goes rather dark and bloody in the second half. Where it leads is maybe not entirely unsurprising (and may or may not be directly influenced by "The House That Screamed") but it's difficult to dislike, thanks to such excellent performances all round, an endearing screenplay and a certain sadness that McKee captures beautifully. The ending, in its own strange way, is both sweet and mournful. An unusual gem that earns its "instant cult classic" tag with ease. ***1/2