Running from October 18th through October 26th, The Toronto After Dark Film Festival provides genre fans with the best horror, science fiction and cult films that the world has to offer all thrown into one fantastic week at the restored Bloor Cinema in the heart of the city.

With 20 films and 29 shorts being showcased at the event – and for many, it’s their World or Canadian premiere – we are going to spotlight a film each day giving you a glimpse into some of the action, the macabre and the bloodletting that will soak our screens until the closing night gala.

Today’s spotlight: American Mary

Whereas the F/X cable show Nip/Tuck dealt with plastic surgery in a more comedic and dramatic fashion, American Mary goes straight for the throat.

Directed by Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska, American Mary comes to us courtesy of the wrote, directed, produced and starred in the indie hit, Dead Hooker in a Trunk.

Starring Katherine Isabelle (30 Days of Night: Dark Days), Antonio Cupo (Supernatural) and Tristan Risk (Darkest Hour), American Mary follows medical student Mary Mason (Isabelle) as she delves into the financially lucrative and subversive world of underworld surgeries where the make-shift ER locations and medical instruments at the doctor’s disposal are even more terrifying than the procedure itself.

Although easily pigeonholed into a genre classification of ‘gore porn’, the Soska sisters attempt to bring more than just head turning moments to their accepting audiences. Katherine Isabelle shines in the lead role giving us the all-too-rare believable character in a genre film that makes American Mary even that much more rare a find in today’s slash-and-package horror films.

Ain’t it Cool News proclaimed, “If there is any justice, this film will be seen by millions.” And Gareth Jones at Dread Central gave it 4 out of 5 knives commenting, “Populated with scalpel-sharp dry wit (a quick nod to Josef Mengele is a cough-and-you’ll-miss-it success), this is a thoughtful, absorbing and excellently paced piece of storytelling from start to finish.”

American Mary has already been working the Festival circuit and has gained quite a momentum shifting following. It was winner of the Best Feature and Best Screenplay awards at the Pollygrind Festival and has been screened at the Stiletto Festival (2011), the Cinefantasy Festival (2010) and the BleedFest Festival (2010).

American Mary plays opening night at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Tickets are still available from http://torontoafterdark.com/2012/buy-tickets/