To conclude our week long American Mary feature the ‘Twisted Twins’ kindly took time out of their busy schedule to write an exclusive piece for Flickering Myth’s readers, summarising in their own words the American Mary experience. We extend our eternal thanks to the ‘Twisted Twins’, Katherine Isabelle and Mike Hewitt (PR legend at Universal UK and Rawshark of horror site eatmybrains), without whose support, this American Mary feature would not have been possible…
Readers of Flickering Myth,
As I type I have just arrived home from our UK AMERICAN MARY theatrical tour courtesy of FrightFest and Universal. It was an intense voyage of awesome, getting to meet the people that supported us from the very beginning with DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK and watching their amazement at MARY. It was simply unbelievable. But that can easily be said for this entire journey.
We were waiting tables until a couple weeks before we started filming. I remember cleaning tables and spouting off about how we were going to make AMERICAN MARY one day and then everything would change forever. All our struggles had gone into that script and it had become something very revealing, very personal. Perhaps one of the greatest triumphs is anytime we meet someone or get an email from someone who really had the film affect them on a personal level. Through their own struggles, their own feelings, their own hopes, their own dreams. We had struggled so hard to get the film made and that first day on set, going from a $2,500 indie to a much larger scale, we were floored. I remember seeing all the trucks outside and wondering who else was filming their before realizing that they were all ours.
The cast and crew came together something like magic. It was a family, in every sense of the word. The film was much bigger than DHIAT, but we are if nothing else incredibly ambitious, and many people volunteered their time or resources to help out. No one was there just for the pay check. They were there because they wanted to be there. You could ask anyone on set and we all felt that we were making something very special. Something that would last. Something unique and different and beautiful. I love our cast and crew. The film would not have been possible with each and every single one of them. When we at long last had our cast and crew screening, I was the most nervous. They had put everything they had into the film. There is an epic weight when so many people are relying on you and when so many people have put their trust and faith in you. They were not disappointed.
We began to travel the world with AMERICAN MARY and have been more places than I can remember. The film itself has gone even further on its festival tour. We wanted to share a film that proved that horror can be intellectual. That gore can be beautiful. That monsters may be men after all and the real monsters may exist in plain sight. We wanted to show that appearances are everything and things are so rarely what they appear to be. It was our humble hope to be able to share that aspiration with as many people as possible and now as AMERICAN MARY sees its release on January 21st, with a region free Blu-ray available through Universal, everyone can experience AMERICAN MARY.
The only thing to do now aside from extend our thanks to everyone who has made this possible and everyone who’s spread the gospel of AMERICAN MARY. Get onto the next one. BOB. Our original take on the long forgotten monster genre featuring, not surprisingly, our own original creation designed in union with the legends at MastersFX. Our tagline line is, “There’s a monster inside all of us, sometimes it gets out.” On the surface, everyone can enjoy this film which will be as bloody as it is hilarious, but there is much more going on under the surface. It will also be our first film where our hero is a boy.
The Twisted Twins, Jen & Slyvia Soska
Be sure to check out all of our American Mary coverage, including our review and interviews with the Twisted Twins and Katharine Isabelle.
Originally published January 25, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
