May

May was shut out as a child because of her lazy eye, and her only friend was a doll her mother kept in a glass case. As an adult she works at a veterinary clinic. She tries to connect with people and each time fixes on one part of them: a pair of hands, a neck, a smile. The more she is rejected, the clearer her idea gets. She will make the perfect friend herself. Lucky McKee wrote and directed his first film. Angela Bettis plays May, with Jeremy Sisto, James Duval, Anna Faris and Kevin Gage. It opened in February 2003 and collapsed at the box office: against a budget over 1.7 million dollars it took 6.3 thousand in cinemas. The reviews were good, though, and it became a cult film over time, with Roger Ebert among its defenders. What holds it up now is largely Bettis, who carries a character poised between ridiculous and pitiable without ever dropping her. The production does not hide how small it is: few locations, a camera built on close-ups and the texture of early 2000s independent film. Who it is for: viewers who like character-driven horror and strange, lonely protagonists. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot take blood and body horror. The last section is direct and long.