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Movie:		8.0
Picture:		7.0
Sound:		6.0
Extras:		6.0
Score:		7.0

Director(s):	Gadi Herel • Marcel Sarmiento
Writer(s):	Trent Haaga
Starring:	Andrew DiPalma • Candice Accola • Eric Podnar • Jenny Spain • Michael Bowen • Noah Segan • Shiloh Fernandez
Genre:	Horror
Website:	http://www.deadgirlmovie.com/
Release Date:	September 15, 2009

List Price:	DVD - $19.99
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Drawing from a broad range of influences the likes of Boxing Helena, director Atom Egoyan, and the collective works of David Cronenberg, this dirty micro-budgeted little nasty comes front-loaded with a provocative squirm-inducing premise that will no doubt drive strong ancillary business. But randy adolescents open for a thinly veiled skin flick will be largely disappointed. Similarly, those sick to the back teeth of torture porn would do well not to dismiss this as just another bandwagoner, as co-directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel have far more on their minds here than simply mining a gimmick for the purposes of titillation.

Penned by bit-part-actor-turned-screenwriter Trent Haaga, a man with a long and undistinguished career acting in the realm of DTV horror, Deadgirl sketches out an eerily plausible portrait of horny adolescent maledom taken to its grim but logical conclusion. Skipping out on class for the afternoon, high school misfit Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez), who is nursing a crush of the beautiful, popular JoAnn (Candice Accola), and his equally ostracized buddy J.T. (Noah Segan) head off to the abandoned hospital (as one does) to drink a little beer and indulge in a little petty vandalism because, hey, it’s what they know.

Fleeing from a vicious guard dog, they bust through a rusted shut door in the bowels of the facility where they encounter the Dead Girl (Jenny Spain, really a terrific sport). Stripped naked, gagged, and chained to a table she responds vaguely to touch and appears aware of her surroundings only at the most basic level. She is also, as it transpires, the living dead, seemingly impervious to injury. Rickie’s first instinct is naturally to summon the authorities, but J.T., the more dominant of the pair convinces Rickie they should keep her as their own personal sex toy.

On the surface Deadgirl sounds downright despicable. But after a shaky start where the young directors struggle a little bit to nail down a tone, what emerges is a superior psychological horror that in addition to being a pointed metaphor for the objectification of women serves to illustrate the dark fantasies of empowerment harbored by the unwashed, rejected masses. After all, what does it matter how badly you treat a girl if she is technically already dead? Rickie is initially repulsed by the idea, but J.T., who quietly walks away with the whole movie, plums the murky depths of depravity, inviting twitchy loser Wheeler (Eric Podnar) to partake in his dirty little secret.

Dirty it is, too. Having exhausted the traditional pleasure zones they quickly move on to bullet holes and beyond. But the execution is skillful and great care is taken to never appear gratuitous. A great deal is implied, with very little actually shown. Instead Deadgirl is far more interested in the transformation of the boys than leering at the girl. Haaga’s script has the hairy-palmed despair of the lonely, unpopular adolescent down pat, perfectly capturing the reservoir of impotent rage that builds up when everyone around you constantly treats you like shit. If you are constantly devalued, trodden on, and made to feel worthless, you eventually become conditioned to do likewise.

For these boys this isn’t about getting their rocks off, it’s about control. Deadgirl is hardly sexy; her hair is greasy and matted and her filthy, clammy, yellowing skin anything but inviting. But she is theirs. Down in the basement they don’t have to be nice, they don’t have to ask, and crucially, they don’t ever have to face the possibility of rejection. Cro-Magnon it might seem, but is it really any different than JoAnn’s lug boyfriend, Johnny (Andrew DiPalma), treating JoAnn as if she’s his personal property, pummeling Rickie just for looking at her?

Just another punching bag on campus J.T. exhibits an unnerving sense of menace in the basement, a picture of quiet control as he mercilessly taunts Johnny to come prove his manhood with the Deadgirl. For him this is a relationship that transcends the physical, almost to the point of a sick and twisted take of first love, and the directors toy with this idea, hinting that from his perspective those feelings might even be reciprocated – the Deadgirl’s primal dismemberment of the rogue guard dog who arrives to interrupt J.T.’s latest session is viewed as something of a grand romantic gesture.

As a contrast there is much in the way of humor here, though of the jet-black variety. Having discovered that the Deadgirl’s bite will allow them to make more of her, J.T. and Wheeler’s attempted abduction of a woman at a gas station backfires, resulting in the most emasculating beatdown ever captured on screen.

Succinct, intelligent and to the point, Deadgirl displays a depth far beyond that of your average genre shocker, ably given form by a superbly committed ensemble of talented up and comers. Shining a light into the dark, perverted corners of the mind it is occasionally unpleasant but mostly because, as an exercise in base human nature run amok, it makes an oddly perverse sort of sense. You will never look at the creepy dead-eyed kid in the back row of chem lab quite the same way ever again.

DVD Bonus Features

Extras feature a commentary track with just about everybody chipping in. The most interesting elements coming from Haaga and the directors, showing full command of the subject, illustrating that this was no fluke. Also a handful of deleted scenes, a short making of featurette and a make-up gallery, which given the obvious budgetary limitations was truly a cut above.