Thoughts on... Deadgirl (2009)

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.

Wonderful Wonderful Wonderful.

My weekend, that is. I sort of spontaneously drove up to Ann Arbor with a friend of mine and we stayed in her friends house at U of Michigan for the weekend. But that wasn't the totally amazing part.

The downright dirty part of the weekend was getting to see Pretty Lights in Detroit!!!! Seriously, it was fucking incredible. I thought I was going to cry at one point the show was so beautiful. The only thing I was pissed about was that it was an all-ages show, meaning it had to be over by midnight. Seriously, when it was over I felt like I could have danced for another 2 hours. Mainly because of the illegal substances that were scrambling my eggs but I could have been sober and had just as much fun! Oh. Did I mention I'm seeing them on New Years too? Yup. Except this time, I won't have to drive to the butt hole of America to get to the show. They're playing here, in Chicago!

So a series of crazy things happened after the show on Friday. Walking out of the theatre, there was a thick hazy fog surrounding the city. I was super loopy at this point, so I had to really focus to make sure that I was in real life. You literally couldn't see for than 5 feet in front of you. It was kinda creepy, actually. Then. Out of nowhere. I feel someone wrap their arms around me from behind. I jump around, startled, and it's a fucking drunken midget hobo wearing an Eskimo coat! I wanted to shriek and take a bath in purel but instead I just stared at him/her with dinner plate eyes as he/she continued to stumble through the fog.

Then, amidst all of the confusion and inability to see, we realize that we are literally standing in the middle of a busy street, blocking traffic. We realize this because a cop literally drove up next to us with his siren yelling on his speakers to get the fuck off the road. I really couldn't handle all of the craziness at this point. But I still had to find like 3 or 4 people that got separated from us in the chaos. And I was dying of dehydration.

So eventually I find the rest of my friends and hop back on the party bus and start heading back to Ann Arbor. However, despite the fact that the driver says he totally knows where he's going, its really starting to feel like we're lost as hell. The fog sure didn't help, but finally we made it back on the I-94. We get back to Ann Arbor and get dropped off at this frat because they're the ones that paid for the bus. Mind you, that we're still in our skimpy rave outfits and we still have to walk back to our friends house later in like 30 degree weather.
One of the boys at the house is drinking straight out of their Brita water pitcher, and lets me have as much as I want, but he insists that he pours it into my mouth. So I played his flirty little game for the soul reason that the icy cold water tasted like liquid candy to me in the moment; a sweet, life-sustaining elixir. Of course I end up with water all over me though, and had a fun sprint in the cold back to our friends house.
We sat up talking until 5 or 6 in the moring since we were so wired sleep really wasn't an option. But then I made the wonderful discovery of Advil PM in one of my million zipper-compartments in my purse. Thank god I'm such a pack-rat. Soon after popping them shits I entered a trippy-ass dream world. I couldn't even tell if I was awake or really just hallucinating hardcore. I was a fun ride though, I'll give it that.
Overall, I'll give Friday's Pretty Lights show a 4.5 out of 5 stars. It was my third Pretty Lights show, and the only thing that I didn't like was how soon it ended! New Years should be the shit cause it HAS to go late late late. I'll post a review for that show as well. But for now, I am swamped with schoolwork until Thanksgiving, and gots to go!!!!