Eccentric debut by writer/director Lucky McKee came out of nowhere to stun audiences with its quirky sense of dark humour, unsettling story and powerful acting - and it turns out to be probably the best horror film of 2002 in the process.

Angela Bettis stars as May; a socially outcast young woman who grew-up with a lazy eye and was forced to wear a "pirate patch" by her mother to school. This, of course, made her friendless with her only confidant being a doll her mother gave her as a birthday present. Now, she's all grown-up, quiet and has a hard time dealing with people - she's also a little off-kilter.

Eventually she becomes obssessed with Jeremy Sisto and after they've been dating a while her "wacky" side comes out (if a girl I was dating was smiling sweetly while telling an off-colour story about dog intestines, I might start to wonder too) and causes Sisto to break-up with her. Bad move. May goes completely mental and decides to start killing people for their "perfect" body parts in order to stitch together her own life-size friend.

Working more on character development and build-up than most modern day horror films; this starts off leisurely paced subtly showing us that May is not quite right (and Bettis injecting a "nutty innocence" to her character helps you feel oddly compelled to her, despite the fact you know she's off-kilter mentally) but when it hits the hour mark and her downward descent starts happening quickly if becomes quite the uncomfortable film to sit through especially the last ten minutes which manage to disturb while at the same time feeling sad.

This is a film that will stick with you and it's a testament to McKee's originallity with his story, the excellent acting by the cast (Bettis is amazing and Anna Faris is almost as wacko as the lesbian leaning receptionist at May's work) and the fact that, when all is said and done, the best horror films are the ones that are anchored in reality and mentally draining. (Chris Hartley, 6/1/04)

Directed By: Lucky McKee.
Written By: Lucky McKee.

Starring: Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, James Duval, Anna Faris.