At the same time, some of the action in this film seems thrown out of left field and it was a struggle to sometimes grasp what was happening at specific moments with the plot.įraming the film in flashback was also an organization choice that didn’t feel necessary, although I can understand why it was chosen. Like many other folky horror movies, it saves most of the action for the end, which some people may not see as a problem. While this movie throws in a lot of tantalizing and shocking elements, it struggles to pull them together in a fully realized way. In The Last Thing Mary Saw, Christianity is used as a tool for punishment to uphold heteronormative patriarchy. Instead of making the women into monstrous archetypes of witches which would further alienate them, the film chooses instead to show how “witches” really were at that time period: regular women who dared defy some aspect of Christianity, or were simply accused out of lust or bitterness. This could have very easily been a witch film, but I feel it is telling that it never makes the queer characters out to be witches. Often it framed the religious movement, especially at this point in history, as a tool to ostracize people who did not fit into the norm, especially women and queer people. In general, the film has an extremely caustic view of Christianity, as it was portrayed as completely unforgiving, dangerous and useless. The book also serves as chapter markers for the film itself, seemingly following cautionary folklore, like the Bible. The girls take pleasure in reading a storybook to each other, but by the film’s end, this book turns on them. The religious aspects of this could definitely be controversial, but work with the film’s themes and reality of the setting. The relationship at the center is framed in a pretty unique way: you don’t see how the girls fell in love or any apprehension they may have, but instead only tender affection on both sides. While the slow-burn in this film was a bit too slow, the progression of the film is still enjoyable and the ending is a bloody, crazy affair. Rory Culkin in “The Last Thing Mary Saw” – Photo Credit: Shudder The three leads expertly convey the frustration of being in their circumstances, with Fuhrman standing out for acting almost wordlessly and Culkin bringing a nuanced, chaotic energy to the film. The Last Thing Mary Saw stars Stefanie Scott ( Insidious: Chapter 3, Beautiful Boy ) and Isabelle Fuhrman ( Orphan, The Hunger Games, The Novice ) as the forbidden lovers in Victorian America, and Rory Culkin ( Lords of Chaos, Scream 4 ) as an unhinged intruder in their household. The family bickers and plots about the couple, at the same time they plan their own escape as an intruder invades their home. She recounts the events leading up to that moment, of being romantically involved with the housemaid, Eleanor, and her family’s disgust and punishment of the couple. The Last Thing Mary Saw begins with Mary, interrogated while blindfolded and bleeding from the eyes about her grandmother’s death and what happened during her funeral. Stefanie Scott and Isabelle Fuhrman in “The Last Thing Mary Saw” – Photo Credit: Shudder
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