quietearth [Film Festival 09.25.08] movie review horror



Year: 2008
Directors: Marcel Sarmiento / Gadi Harel
Writers: Trent Haaga
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 8 out of 10

Considering nobody but me seems to love this film, I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. While admittedly a taboo subject, one which makes you wonder if you're capable of such atrocities yourself, Deadgirl is more of an Outsiders love story then it is disgusting. This desire, which manifests itself in a severely aberrant way, is the main point of the film and while most people seem to abhor it, I absolutely loved it.


Starting out with a simple setup, 2 outsiders (you could reference greasers) go banging around in a dilapidated and unused mental hospital, drinking beer and breaking things. In the basement, they stumble onto a room with a closed door and upon investigation find the object of the title laying on a gurney and covered by a plastic tarp. You can see all this in the teaser and it's a very thin setup. The entire film revolves around this "deadgirl", but she's not really dead, she's more of a zombie. She's strapped down and tries to bite while one of the duo which discovered her, JT, uses her for his own pleasure. He says what he means, "we can keep her". Rickie is abhorred and refuses to take any part in this, but the situation worsens with the introduction of other people.

To me, this film is like The Outsiders meets an unchecked (and unwatched) libido and the ending especially brings home the idea of taboo love. I like to think the writers thought up a story based on "how would a zombie outbreak be contained, or started?" and wrote a personal short story around that. I turned off Hostel I found it so disgusting, but this was nowhere near that although I can see where some people might draw comparisons of "pushing the envelope". It's not for everyone, but I think it will stand the test of time to become a cult classic.

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agentorange (10 years ago) Reply

Well said man. The idea of it being an outsider love story is probably right on the money and the ending supports that. I wouldn't even put Deadgirl in the same category as Hostel. Deadgirl at least has an artistic engine behind it -I'm just not fully convinced it shines through as well as it could have in the finished product.

Great review.

panic (10 years ago) Reply

Any word on region 1 DVD release?

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