This movie was released in 2009 or so, and I've always sort of heard about it from friends and seeing reviews posted on youtube and the like. Despite reading several reviews, ranging from the amazed to the outright offended, I still didn't know too much about the movie going into it.If you're going to go look up the trailer after reading this, I'll let you know right now it doesn't really give you any details as to what the movie is really about.
Without going too far into detail, the basic plot of the movie revolves around two characters, JT and Rickie who ditch school one day to go drink and shoot the shit at an abandoned mental asylum. You know how there are some parts in movies when the viewer is like, how are they so at ease right now? Any normal person would think, "hm... abandoned mental asylum" and an instant red flag would have been drawn. But hey, it's a horror movie in the end, and horror movies will almost always leave the audience slapping their heads in frustration with the characters. Moving on, the two main characters find a door in the basement that is rusted shut, so they find a crowbar and pry it open, and this is where the their lives change forever.
I've read many unhappy reviews for this movie, the reviewers chalk it up to a shock-horror flick and nothing else. I've also read many rave reviews saying it was an incredibly cutting-edge, beautiful, philosophical film. I guess I feel somewhat in between of these two stances. I'll start with where I think this film went right:
The subject matter is highly controversial, but I wouldn't call this a shock-horror. I think the moral dilemma is the main theme of Rickie's journey throughout this film, and it depicts that for every time we indulge in our desires, there will be consequences. The editing is great, in my opinion, because I don't see too many horror movies that can truly scare you with the jump-cuts anymore. In addition to the editing, I think this film was also beautifully shot, and I loved the varying moods the cinematographer was able to capture depending on the scenes. I personally am not opposed to gore and violence in a horror film, and I think that this film truly made my skin crawl during some of the scenes. The soundtrack really did set the mood in a lot of the scenes, and while I think it's weak for a horror movie to rely entirely on it's soundtrack, I think this was a good balance. And we can't forget the Deadgirl herself, Jenny Spain. Her performance was beyond freaky and she had little to work with, spending almost the entire film in the same shot.
On to the bad part. Despite the fact that all the characters were supposed to be in high school, there was no way a single one of the actors was younger than 24. One of them even looked to be almost 30, and it's just kind of annoying when the director expects us to believe that these people are 16. I also may be the only one that noticed this, but it seemed like every time Rickie got hurt, he would split his lip and it would drip down his face. Like, how many times can you get hurt in the exact same place? It seemed like the makeup artist was just like, "I can do a good split lip?" every time. There aren't really a whole lot of complaints I can make without spoiling anything so I guess I'll end my spoiler-free review there. Below I'll be getting into the nitty gritty.
Here be spoilers: I think that people who are ultra-feminist and whatnot might consider this movie to be glorifying rape and violence against women, but that's not really the point. The basic moral dilemma is more of an issue of necrophilia, not that I'm saying that's any better. Deadgirl isn't really a girl at all, more of a monster. But what I think the film sort of digs into is what it truly means to be human. The characters are confronted with their desires, navigating their moral compasses, and begin to understand what happens when they falter. In this movie, sex and violence are more of a metaphor for all the evil in the world that we are seduced by as we enter adulthood. In the end, everyone sort of gets theirs, so to speak. It's a rather disturbing coming of age story, but one nonetheless. This movie will leave you feeling disturbed and offended. But I would give it props at least for giving a new twist on the overdone Zombie movie genre.
Over all, I'll give this movie a 7/10. Not too bad, but definitely not great.
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