MOVIE REVIEW: Deadgirl

TITLE: Deadgirl
YEAR: 2008
DIRECTOR: Marcel Sarmiento, Gadi Harel
RATING: NR

Disturbing and audacious, Deadgirl is a twisted trek into some dark territory... the evils of teenage boys brought to life by a shackled zombie girl!


Deadgirl's been out on DVD for about a year now, and has had some buzz, mainly for it's perverse premise -- two outsider high school boys skip class at a deserted mental facility ,only to discover undead treasure sealed deep beneath it’s halls. Ignoring a menacing wild dog, and a rusted and barricaded steel door, they find a completely naked and plastic-wrapped woman, strapped to a gurney. Upon closer inspection, mysteriously, the girl is not dead, or is she?

Outcasts at school, with troubled home lives, how far will these boys go to have a girl of their own, to do whatever they want with? How many lines will be crossed, or abandoned, and what evils will it bring them and those around them. Because, you don’t really think you can keep an undead sex slave in a derelict dungeon without some sort of repercussions?

Deadgirl succeeds on many levels; telling a difficult story - capturing teenage fears and desires, while thrusting them into morally complex situations, and telling it with strong directing, cinematography, and acting. It’s a teenage drama (Deadgirl reminds me tonally, very much, of Donny Darko), it’s a cautionary tale, it’s a horror show, and yes, even a zombie movie of sorts. It’s memorable, gripping, and captures the savage power of our darker sides, and the raw power of an undead creature, hungry for flesh. By simplifying the equation, Deadgirl amps up the human drama at play in any good zombie movie… while not really being a traditional zombie movie in any other sense.

TYPE OF ZOMBIE, OR ACTUAL ZOMBIES?: While it's never really clear what our dead girl is, she does seem to be a classic zombie specimen.

GORE: There's some, but more so, there's a lot of graffic content in general, and it all feels very real.

EFFECTS: Again, what effects there are, feel very genuine, and well done.

STRAIGHT REVIEW: RECOMMENDED

ZOMBIE FAN REVIEW: RECOMMENDED
While not much of a traditional zombie movie at all, Deadgirl is an undead freak show, if you're up for it. It's measured, well made, and a mostly satisfying journey of horror (with a small measure of twisted pitch black humor - the gas station/abduction scene in particular is unexpectedly hilarious).
However, just as should've been posted on deadgirl's door, enter at your own risk! This film is unflinching in it's brutal subject matter.