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May
Lions Gate Films Inc.


7.8

based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 9 votes
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Rate this movie

FILM:

The Woods

MPAA RATING: R for strong violence/gore, some sexuality and language

Starring Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris, James Duval, Nichole Hiltz, Kevin Gage, Merle Kennedy, and Chandler Hecht

A hybrid of camp horror and psychological thriller.

GENRE(S):	Horror
WRITTEN BY:	Lucky McKee
DIRECTED BY:	Lucky McKee
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 15, 2003 Video: July 15, 2003 Theatrical: February 7, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	95 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie subtly darkens its tone until, when the horrifying ending arrives, we can see how we got there. There is a final shot that would get laughs in another kind of film, but May earns the right to it, and it works, and we understand it.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

McKee, like Amenabar, knows how to position his film against type -- which ultimately makes May a refreshing, macabre tale.

Film Threat Tim Merrill

Call it a horror movie, a psychological thriller or a feminist splatterfest, but this sort of story is tough to get right. May gets it more than right.

LA Weekly Mark Olsen

The inventive and unpredictable May is exactly the kind of unexpected delight one hopes for every time the lights go down.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A stylized work of unflinching control and discipline, reflecting an artistic maturity unusual in a first film.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

With a level of dark humor akin to the screenplays of Todd Solondz, and a visual style reminiscent of Dario Argento, May is one of the funniest, most disturbing, yet strangely touching movies of the year

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

May represents something rare and unfashionable-–a smart, twisted little slasher comedy that doesn't skimp on the gore.

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

Though ultimately too waterlogged with student-film self-seriousness to revel fully in its low-rent joie de cleaver -- nevertheless taps into a furious atavistic energy that reflects well on the filmmaker and his fully committed cast.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Writer-director McKee’s arch comic dialogue (i.e., "We’ll hang out and eat some melons or something") is out of synch with the creepy horror he wields.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Satisfyingly, May also turns out to be lowdown genre fun, a film that nearly makes up in slacker wit and high-spirited gore what it lacks in budget and elegance.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

In visual terms, it's clear McKee has a talent for moviemaking...But he's going to need better stories than this.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

On paper, it sounds like the start of a good film. Too bad McKee made such a lackluster thing of it. Though the horror comes from an interesting place, it's frequently forced, negating much of the humor and pathos the film attempts to instill.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Led by Ms. Bettis's discreetly campy May, the performances are a cut or two above what you would find in the average slasher film. But in the end that's all it is.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It wants to be a "Carrie" with a modern-day "Frankenstein" twist, but it lacks the smarts behind the weirdness.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

McKee's direction of actors is as clumsy as the stabs at rapid editing.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The talented Bettis works her heart out, but McKee apparently directed her to play May as a quivering crazy from the start.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Novice director Lucky McKee wrote the first draft of this labored horror flick while he was in school, and for a student film, it's not bad. But it's not ready for the big time.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

The flavor is textbook '90s indie -- self-regarding quirk with an occasional spasm of Solondzian incorrectness.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kat gave it a10:
Its Really cool!

Billy gave it a 0:
This movie is garbage. If you want to see a disgusting movie, watch this. If you want to see a good movie, look elsewhere. Not scary, just disgusting. Watch this if you like watching parts of people's bodies get cut off.

Chad S. gave it an 8:
If SNL's Amy Poehler and Christina Ricci had a baby, it would look something like May (Angela Bettis), a sad, but creepy loner, who doesn't know that she's a natural born-Goth. Adam(Jeremy Sisto) is the boy May loves; a Trent Reznor wanna-be, because if he really was Trent Reznor, the two would be a match made in heaven. "May" is an original, a slasher film informed by John Hughes (there's a scene lifted from "Sixteen Candles"), Courtney Love poetry, and indepenent film mannerisms. Since the adult May is crazy from the get-go, while admirably economical, writer/director Lucky McKee might've been too brief in explaining May's disconnection from reality. But making a slasher film that's respectable, and actually moving, is a tall order. When May goes on a rampage, it's bloody without being gratuitous, because the blood is an inevitability that's not mere spectacle. If Jason kills, there's no motivation, no catharsis after the end result. What's even more impressive, May's spree is simultaneously, blackly humorous and tragic. "May" is pretty amazing, and something of an anomaly; it's too B-movieish for the Sundance crowd, and too literate for "Cabin Fever" patrons. As May, Angela Bettis is the owner of a black heart, but black is beautiful.

Ben W. gave it a 9:
this movie is nothing short of amazing, it's too underrated and it should go down as a horror classic.

Shawn D. gave it a 10:
Absolutely perfect! Just the right amounts of eerie creepiness, lighthearted fun and truly delightfulness... and meshed so tightly with amazing amounts of gore and horror. You just can't beat this movie! And to think.. I used to date someone who reminds me a LOT of this chick! *shudder*

John Y. gave it a 4:
An alright movie until the last 30 minutes, which descend into the absurd.

May Lions Gate Films Inc.

May
Lions Gate Films Inc.