
[Deadgirl]
Plot:Two teens make a shocking discovery that not only threatens their friendship, but also their lives. In the forgotten room of an abandoned asylum, they discover a beautiful woman tied to a bed, and soon come to realize she is anything but dead.
Cast:Shiloh Fernandez,
Noah Segan,
Michael Bowen,
Candice Accola,
Andrew DiPalma,
Eric Podnar,
Nolan Gerard Funk.
My Thoughts:Wow.....what a dump.
Review:For some odd reason, the people who've managed to gain an opportunity to see Marcel Sarmiento's "Deadgirl", have given it a positive review or judgement. Now with me being one of those to have seen the film early, let me say...it BLOWS. Big time. The movie follows two oddball teens who aren't really a hit with the ladies at their high school.
But atleast they have each other right? At any rate, they, while hanging out one day at an abandoned mental hospital, come across a seemingly dead girl, who is strapped to a table in the lower recesses of the hospital. They are fascinated and curious about her at first. But soon, when one of them murders her by accident, they realize she cannot die.
And she's also got a nasty habit of trying to bite people in a fit of rage, similar to how a zombie would attack it's victims. Soon though, the boys get an idea. Not gonna give away the idea here, but think teen boys, plus hormones, plus girl strapped to a table. I'm sure you can figure out what they eventually decide to do with her. As these sick escapades continue, others are soon roped into their sick scenario, with grave and sickening consequences.
I'd judge "Deadgirl" as a "Teeth", for boys. "Teeth", the indie film involving a girl who was the victim of the vagina dentata myth, was a movie which hit the indie scene last year, and was more or less, a tilt-horror-exploitation flick on the pro-women side of things. This movie however, is more on the pro-teen-suburban-male side of things. But "Teeth' was way classier, and better written. "Teeth" had a certain cleverness and smarts to it.
"Deadgirl" however comes off as more disgusting, crude, vile, and just tasteless. Then there's the acting, which is for the most part was piss poor. The only nod of a good performance that I'd give to anyone in this film, would be to the young actress (Candice Accola), who played JoAnn, the love interest of one of the twisted teen boys, Ricky. The subplot between the two of them could've been interesting, if it weren't so cliche.
The subplot is the usual high school story though, Ricky's not popular, JoAnn's boyfriend is a jock who likes to pound on people, you can pretty much guess the rest. The Deadgirl herself isn't exactly an interesting creature either. We never really learn what she is, how she got there, or why she was there. We just know she looks like a zombie, although not entirely rotted, she likes to gnash and bite people, and she's far from being human any longer.
I just went with the theory that she was drugged up by the institutions previous owners, and they left here there to die. But figuring out the past of the Deadgirl, is about as interesting as this film gets. The script is boring, stale, cliche, and shameless. This movie crosses the line as far as good taste is concerned, and I've seen some horror films that definitely cross the proverbial line, but this one does it in stomach-turning fashion.
And that's the problem. What could've been a good, intriguing, interesting, and smart story...was turned into a twisted tale of quasi-necrophilia, high school drama, and overblown teen angst. How disappointing. Add to that the films dark scenes are shot so poorly that you can hardly see what the hell is actually happening. The ending of the movie is sad in some ways, but predictable in others.
And it also does not fit with the rest of the movie. It seemed the ending was the only part of this film that managed to hit it's stride. It finally nailed everything, the emotional aspects of the story, the suspenseful aspects, the dramatic ones, and the overtones of the ending are chilling overall. Too bad that the movie manages to do something right at the very end, but hey....sometimes that's showbiz!
"Deadgirl" is a messy movie, and I really don't see what there was to like about it. Between it's cliche and reprehensible characters, boring and stale subplots, and uneventful beginning and middle, the movie just doesn't measure up.
Positives:The final scene.
Negatives:Abhorent characters who were also very cliche, boring and stale subplots, the deadgirl was never properly used to further the story, and the beginning and middle of the movie are sleep-inducing.
Overall:One out of four stars.
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