The Last Thing Mary Saw Review

3 star slow burning period drama/horror.

The Last Thing Mary Saw is a low budget period horror, written and directed by Edoardo Vitaletti and is his directorial debut. It is a Shudder Original, available to own on DVD from 19th September 2022 courtesy of Acorn Media International.

“What’s a man of the Lord to do when he finds himself at a crossroad? Perform his duty, or lend an ear to curiosity?”

It’s Southold, New York, 1843 and a young woman named Mary (Stefanie Scott – Insidious: Chapter 3, Girl in the Basement) is sitting blindfolded in a chair, blood running from her eyes. The Interrogator (Daniel Pearce – Salt, Godzilla) asks her questions regarding the tragic fate of her grandmother, for which they hold her responsible.

As we jump back in time, we see Mary at home with her Puritanical family. Her parents are deeply disturbed by her behavior as she has taken a shine to the housemaid Eleanor (Isabelle Fuhrman – Orphan, The Novice). Suspecting evil forces at work, her parents have turned to The Matriarch (Judith Roberts – NOS4A2, Orange is the New Black) to carry out a series of increasingly brutal “corrections”.

The girls continue their relations in secret, assisted by the The Guard Theodore (P.J.Sosko – Surviving Family), but there is always a family member sneaking around somewhere watching them and the corrections continue. Things take an unexpected turn with the arrival of a disfigured Stranger (Rory Culkin – Castle Rock, Waco). What can the girls do to survive this nightmare?

“Fear and weakness keep us here, not devotion.”

The Last Thing Mary Saw is an interesting film, remarkably effective at being moody and atmospheric. Unfortunately this is also one of it’s downfalls as most of the time it’s simply too dark to really see what’s going on. The acting is good, what you can see, with Judith Roberts being particularly impressive.

It’s central theme of homophobia feels more utilized than actually addressed and while this sort of persecution still exists to this day it feels like a missed opportunity not to have made some sort of point rather than just using the subject as window dressing.

It’s very slow going and while there are the occasional moments of true horror, they are few and far between and the whole thing feels more like an oppressive period drama, which may prove disappointing to horror fans.

That said, this one may be worth a watch just for curiosities sake.

“Cousin Mary and the maid played a dangerous game and were punished accordingly.”