MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: July 2023

MAY (2002)

Label: Second Sight Films

Region Code: B

Rating: Cert. 18

Duration: 93 Minutes 22 Seconds

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo, 5,1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)

Director: Lucky McKee

Cast: Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, James Ducal, Merle Kennedy, Kevin Gage, Anna Faris

Lucky McKee’s wry indie-horror classic May (2002) stars the still very under appreciated Angela Bettis (Carrie TV movie) as Ms. May Dove Candy, a tragically lonely woman who was afflicted with a lazy eye from a young age, forced by her mother to wear an eyepatch which ostracized her from her classmates and scarred her personality, having suffered bullying from cruel classmates. Now an adult she's become painfully awkward, a weird wallflower, and sadly her only friend is a handmade doll named Suzie that her mother gifted her years ago, but she was told her to keep the doll locked away inside a wooden display box with a glass cover.

Now living on her own, her mom and dad are nowhere to be seen in the film, May works at a veterinary surgery clinic and spends her time stitching together her own clothes, and she is in the process of correcting her lazy eye with the help of her optometrist, first with thick prescription glasses before graduating to contact lenses, which all but erases the lazy eye. Without the stigma of the lazy eye May attempts to be more outgoing, setting her sights on a local mechanic named Adam (Jeremy Sisto, HBO's Six Feet Under) who she thinks has the most beautiful hands she's ever seen, she;s strangely transfixed on them. He is curiously attracted to her awkward weirdness, but after watching one of Adam's film school shorts about a couple on a picnic who consume each other she gets a bit too turned on by it and bites his lip hard, drawing blood, which turns him off. He's a huge Dario Argento horror fan but this sort of cannibalistic love is certainly not what he signed up for, and he attempts to ghost her. This rejection by what she considered to be the perfect boy sets off a chain of events pushes May off the deep-end, and while she attempts to make more friends by way of her flirty lesbian co-worker Polly at the vets (Anna Faris, Lover's Lane) and a street urchin punk rocker named Blank (James Doval, Donnie Darko), admiring Polly's neck and Blank's torso, but par for the course she is just too dang weird to make it work, and she is continually rejected and/or called a freak, her dream of finding true friends who get her shattered.

This breakdown culminates on Halloween night with May stitching together a homemade costume that replicates her doll Suzy's dress, as does she make-up and hair. She pays both Polly and Adam a visit, taking some advice her mother gave her as a child quite literally, "If you can't find a friend, make a friend...", which translates to her unleashing a body-part harvesting kill-spree and putting her homespun stitching skills to good use with a finale that recalls Italian-Spanish slasher classic Pieces.

McKee's quirky horror-comedy is still quite a fantastic watch, the titular May comes off as quite a likable social misfit, the kind you root for and hope she finds the love she's looking for, for her to finally be seen, but as the flick moves along with each new rejection and set back her veneer begins to crack; visually referenced throughout the film by a continued cracking of the doll's glass case, revealing that May is not just an awkward social misfit, she's truly a disturbed individual, and her frustration and loneliness is building towards a violent outcome. It's a well-directed film, and Bettis is phenomenal in the title role, in fact I have a hard time imagining this film succeeding without her, so much so that I don't mind that the film doesn't quite successfully earns the characters violent turn in the script, but her performance does the heavy lifting and through her performance earns it.

I remember watching May when it first hit DVD from Lionsgate back in the early 00's, it was such a demented good time, both humorous and cleverly wry as well as satisfyingly gory, it was quite an experience, and I instantly knew that first-time director Lucky McKee was one to keep an eye on. He didn't disappoint, having since gone onto direct a couple of bangers including The Woods (2006) The Woman (2011), and co-directing All Cheerleaders Die (2013), but he's still pretty underrated in my book, still very much a cult filmmaker.

Audio/Video: May (2002) arrives on region-B locked Blu-ray from UK distributor Second Sight Films. I did not see any information on if this is a new scan or what the source was but May was shot on 35mm film and this new Blu-ray looks terrific. Grain is organic looking and well-managed, fine detail, depth and clarity are wonderful and the earthy colors of the film are well-saturated, primaries like red have a nice prominence. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo or 5.1 Surround with optional English subtitles. The tracks are clean and well-balanced, dialogue is costal clear, and score by Jammes Luckett (Roman) sounds excellent, as does the soundtrack selection by The Breeders, Kelley Deal 6000, The Shondells.

Onto the extras we start of with three commentaries, the first is a brand new Audio Commentary with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas that delivers the good, a humorous and info-packed assessment of the film, exploring it's themes and dissecting the narrative. We also get a pair of archival commentaries, the first Audio Commentary with director Lucky McKee, cinematographer Steve Yedlin, editor Chris Sivertson and actors Angela Bettis, Nichole Hiltz, and Bret Roberts, and the second Audio Commentary with director Lucky McKee, Editor Rian Johnson, Composer Jammes Luckett (formerly credited as Jaye Barnes Luckett), production designer Leslie Keel, and Craft Services guy Benji.

The disc is also loaded with new interviews, first up is the 25-min The Toymaker: a new interview with director Lucky McKee who talks about his early love of horror, the origins of May as a short film, starting off as a writer and evolving into a director, the cast and crew, and getting to go to Sundance with his first film. The 11-min Perfect Hands: a new interview with actor Jeremy Sisto features the actor talking about shooting a ton of indie features around the time the film was made, not all of which made it to the cinema let alone home video, how dedicated horror fans are, and what it was like working with Lucky McKee, Angela Bettis, James Duval and Anna Faris. The 17-min Blankety Blank: a new interview with actor James Duval talking about his love of 80's horror, getting cast in this film as well, the interesting way he chose to audition for certain films thanks to his casting director, how he liked making McKee laugh on-set, and how proud he is off the film. How to Execute a Murder: a new interview with cinematographer Steve Yedlin runs 13-min and features Yeldon talking about being roomies with Rian Johnson and that's how he met McKee and ended up working for him on May, as well as some technical speak about the lighting and lens choice for the film.

All three editors who worked on the film get their own interviews, we have the 19-min Peeling Back the Layers: a new interview with editor Rian Johnson (Brick), a 21-min Jack and Jill: a new interview with editor Chris Sivertson, and the 18-min In the Cut: a new interview with editor Kevin Ford.

The 24-min Blood, Gore and Rock ‘n’ Roll: a new interview with composer Jammes Luckett features Jammes talking about meeting McKee as USC, being in bands with him, not only scoring the film but also creating the early marketing for the film. We also get a cool 21-min visual essay by way of From Frankenstein to May: Miranda Corcoran on May that traces the history of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, tracing it's influence up to May, it's a cool piece for sure. Last of the disc extras is the 15-min Bits and Pieces: on the set of May, a fun fly-on-the-wall perspective of the cast and crew shooting an indie feature.

The single-disc release arrives in a sturdy Rigid Slipcase with new wraparound artwork by Bella Grace, inside there's a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the same artwork. Also tucked away inside the slipbox is a with a 70 Page Illustrated Book with new essays by Joseph Dwyer, Rachel Knightley, Mary Beth McAndrews and Heather Wixson, plus Six Collectors' Art Cards featuring Bella Grace artwork and images from the film This is another knock-out limited edition set from Second Sight Films, I am so pleased that they chose to give May a proper HD release absolutely stuffed with extras, this is a must-own for indie horror fanatics.

This is a region B locked disc so if your outside the UK and not region-free you're missing out. This flick has yet to get a U.S. Blu-ray, here's hoping Vinegar Syndrome or Arrow Video, or maybe even rights-holder Lionsgate themselves via the Vestron Collector's Series get this onto HD disc soon for the North American market, or better yet, just get yourself a region-free player from 22-Electronics.com and get this awesome Second Sight Films release and thank me later.

Special Features:

- New Audio Commentary with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

- Audio Commentary with director Lucky McKee, cinematographer Steve Yedlin, editor Chris Sivertson and actors Angela Bettis, Nichole Hiltz, and Bret Roberts

- Audio Commentary with director Lucky McKee, Editor Rian Johnson, Composer Jammes Luckett (formerly credited as Jaye Barnes Luckett), production designer Leslie Keel, and Craft Services guy Benji

- The Toymaker: a new interview with director Lucky McKee (24:49)

- Perfect Hands: a new interview with actor Jeremy Sisto (11:23)

- Blankety Blank: a new interview with actor James Duval (17 min)

- How to Execute a Murder: a new interview with cinematographer Steve Yedlin (13:13)

- Peeling Back the Layers: a new interview with editor Rian Johnson (19:25)

- Jack and Jill: a new interview with editor Chris Sivertson (20:54)

- In the Cut: a new interview with editor Kevin Ford (17:34)

- Blood, Gore and Rock ‘n’ Roll: a new interview with composer Jammes Luckett (24:09)

- From Frankenstein to May: Miranda Corcoran on May (21:08)

- Bits and Pieces: on the set of May (14:43)

Limited Edition Contents:

- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Bella Grace