THE LAST THING MARY SAW (2021)
Label: Acorn Media International
Region Code: 2
Rating: 15 Cert.
Duration: 85 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.0:1)
Director: Edoardo Vitaletti
Cast: Isabelle Fuhrman, Rory Culkin, Stefanie Scott, Judith Roberts, Stefanie Scott
The Shudder Original The Last Thing Mary Saw (2021) is a Gothic slice of puritanical horror set in Southold, New York in the year 1843, where we meet a young woman Mary (Stefanie Scott, Insidious 3) who lives in an impressively claustrophobic and repressive religious community within a very strict household. The movie opens at the end with Mary blindfolded and tied to a chair, blood flowing from her eyes beneath the blindfold, as she is inquisited by a constable about the mysterious death of her old crone grandmother. What transpires is told in flashback, beginning with Mary's frowned upon friendship with the family maid, Eleanor (Isabelle Fuhrman, Orphan), who seems to be her only outlet for happiness, which develops into a forbidden love.
As she is further interrogated we learn more about not only the death of the creepy matriarch (Judith Roberts, Eraserhead), but of the extreme tortures/corrections the young woman endured at the hands of her parents for what is considered abhorrent behavior for the era, plus we learn of a poisoning plot the young women concoct to escape their repressive lives, and the the role of a stranger (Rory Culkin, Lords of Chaos) with a facial birthmark that proves to be quite menacing.
The film is a tasty slice of folk horror that reminded me of other period set puritanical chillers like The Witch and The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw, films that also dealt with puritanical families and the evil within. The locations and period settings are well realized, seemingly lit by candle flame the film has a dark and foreboding tone with some terrific witchy atmosphere that keeps things suitably creepy, but the story itself loses cohesion in the final leg I think, but I still enjoyed it. If you're a fan of period set folk horror this will scratch your itch if not exactly reaching the heights of the sub-genres crescendos, a worthy entry in the witchy sub-set.
Audio/Video: The Last Thing Mary Saw arrives on anamorphic widescreen (2.0:1) from Acorn Media International with Dolby Digital audio. It looks and sounds quite good in standard definition with lossy audio, but I do hope this is upgraded to Blu-ray at some point, as the candle-lit interiors are a struggle for the SD format.
Special Features:
- Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery
