Customer Reviews

Deadgirl

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one demented mindscrew. Deadgirl('09) obliterates all expectations while drilling deeper and deeper into the sexual subconscious. It's an uncomfortable descent into the darkest abyss of human compassion. It explores themes of guilt and temptation with a dark moral complexity while also balancing vulnerability with invincibility. Bizarre, original, and totally morbid, this movie has cult status plastered all over it.

Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and J.T. (Noah Segan) are two high school buddies that seem to struggle fitting in with the "cool kids". One day they both skip school to hangout and drink some beers at an abandoned insane asylum. Eventually they stumble upon a presumably dead young woman who is chained naked to a table. Things get even more crazy as they learn that something about her just doesn't feel quite....human? Is she a vampire, zombie, or possibly something supernatural? Questions go unanswered as J.T. contemplates other uses for this exposed, beautiful woman.

This is the kind of American horror film I love to see. Forget all the lousy remakes or regurgitated popcorn nonsense. How bout one that actually pushes the boundaries and explores new horrifying territory? Deadgirl is directed by Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel and written by Trent Haaga. There are solid acting performances from the cast, plus stellar character development. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the deadgirl, as she is stuck in a nightmarish limbo to be victimized by any passing scumbag. The story also contains graphic nudity to accompany the disturbing subject matter, so proceed with caution.

In a time filled with remakes and sequels, of cookie-cutter modern horror, it's great to see an original, well-executed film. It's even got deeper social meaning, much like a Romero film. The boys feeling the need to treat a woman like an object, in the face of being the social underdogs. But maybe I'm just reading too much into it. I originally rented the movie on Netflix, per their suggestion, and was not disappointed. Though, I'll admit, I wasn't aware of what the girl was at first, as they don't give it away until later.

Great movie overall. I definitely recommend checking it out.

I love torture flicks, gore, etc. However I also like things like...character development, plot, cohesive storytelling, etc. Deadgirl has none of these things. Sure, teenage boys are horny, but they aren't all sexually deviated psychopaths. JT has no qualms beating, raping, and renting out some random woman they find to class mates, and the movie never eludes why he'd have such behavior (or why Rickie wouldn't have noticed this sooner in his lifelong friend).

Meanwhile Rickie is continuously riddled with teenage angst and dealing with the "perils" of suburbia. His mother works all the time while he deals with her lazy, but "means well" alcoholic boyfriend. Poor Rickie. It puzzles me why these films never choose protagonists from more interesting backgrounds, or why teenagers are portrayed by actors in their mid-20's. These "teens" felt like crude caricatures of teenagers, and came across very ridiculous.

This movie could have an hour sliced from it and you'd miss absolutely nothing. The dialogue is meaningless and utilizes "man" before and after every sentence at a staggeringly obnoxious rate. The writer(s) were incredibly out of touch with the age group. The plot is dragged through scenes of Rickie riding his bike, brooding, and eying his high school crush. Seriously? You're class mates are raping a supernatural bondage zombie sex slave, and you're focused on getting the popular girl in school?! Absurd...

Zombies spread by infected bacteria and germs transferred through bodily fluids, like blood and saliva. Therefore it seems completely ridiculous that this group of teens can be fingering her gun sores and having sex without risk of infection. The Deadgirl is very feral, which is why she's tied up. That's ignored when the change her into various sexual positions throughout the movie. Even when people are bitten and turned, we don't see them for the rest of the movie. GREAT plotting. What is this Deadgirl? Why is she undead? Why is JT crazy? Why are other kids OK with raping a zombie? Nothing is answered in this movie. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! No foundation, no aim, no destination.

The film would be more entertaining if was campy and gory, but humor is very occasional and conflicts dramatically with everything they build up towards. What a waste. I wasn't disturbed in the least, but my intelligence was insulted. The one thing decent about the whole film is the actress playing "Deadgirl," and she's dead. What does that mean?

Deadgirl tries too hard to shock. It's one of the most incoherent, sloppy, and poorly written films I've ever seen, with more plot holes than I can even convey. But NO--The box says things like "Brilliant" and "Original." Not Hollywood and low-budget doesn't always equal "good."

There's a lot of great zombie flicks, torture porn, and quirky b-movies out there. This isn't one of them.

For good torture movies, check out "Martyrs," "Inside," or "Frontier(s)" instead.

If you have low expectations this isn't bad for a cheesy horror flick. It is gory and I wouldn't call it scary but it IS very creepy, gross and disturbing. The movie is about two teenage boys who skip school and go drinking...in a creepy, abandoned mental hospital! In a hidden room they find a chained up, naked "dead" girl, only the girl isn't actually dead. She is some kind of zombie that apparantly likes to bite people. She can't talk but she can moan and scream.

For whatever reason, one of the guys decides it is a good idea to sleep with her...and beat her and basically abuse her...As you can probably guess, things don't end well for him. Soon, he finds out that bad things happen to the people she bites. The ending was predictable but witty. I DO however have one big complaint with the movie: We never find out WHAT the dead girl is! Is she a zombie? Is she some evil demon? Is she a vampire? Does she have some crazy disease? Also, how did she get there? They never fully explain this stuff and they don't partially explain it either. Another complaint I have: The acting is decent but a few of the actors look WAY too old to be playing high school kids!

All in all, if you are into cheesy horror this is a decent movie. It could have been scarier and it could have explained more. The good points are the gore and the general creepiness. It also might be a good one for fans of bondage etc. It also manages to do this without really being offensive. The actress is pretty but she is playing a dead zombie-thing, she is covered in nasty body makeup and she doesn't really react to pain or appear to suffer...she just lays there with a blank zombie-gaze and gnashes her teeth every once in a while. I would have liked to see her kick more butt in the movie though. Anyway, this movie wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. I was entertained but probably not entertained enough to watch this again. I give it a three star rating because it did have good gore AND it actually had decent acting for a horror flick.

Horror films have evolved to the point where the disturbing and bizarre have become commonplace. Deadgirl reaches new heights...but it is only for the hardcore horror fan. To me, this one is either NC-17 or X on the viewer discretion scale. In other words, if you're looking for something totally "different", no-holds-barred, a flick that is extremely disturbing and graphic, Deadgirl is for you. It runs a little long...is slow at points, but 15 minutes from its ending, you'll be able to figure out how it ends. There is a huge flaw, however. The male lead has a bloody lip from the get-go. It heals, then festers. It bleeds, is gone, and comes back again and again. This was a distraction to me, because it took some of the believability out of the film. You'll see what I mean. I still gave it a 5 for reaching a new level of horror. Definitely not for kids...NOT FOR EVERYONE!

I Love anything to do with zombies or reanimation, and this was no disappointment! Great story,acting and visuals.