Deadgirl (2008)

So... what the hell is this? Who comes up with a story like this? A pervert without a girlfriend with an extreme fascination for horror and decay or a writer with that something extra that makes him something to keep a lookout for in the future?

I have no idea.

Deadgirl is a coming of age story (according to the Making of documentary on the dvd) and to some extent I agree. The movie is basically about two guys who have been best friends since they were kids and now they are in high school. Not geeks, but not exactly the hottest property in school. One of them is in love with the girlfriend of one of those typical jocktypes but knows he isnt going anywhere with her. One day they both decide to ditch school and break into an old mental hospital and spend some time drinking beer and trashing the place. Like kids do. But when they find the chained up body of a nude woman things change. Especially when they realize that she cant be killed. How exactly do you come to that conclusion? One of the guys start using her as his private sextoy and since our mushy little hero is a bit more negative towards that notion a third party is enrolled. And from there things get worse and worse and worse.

Yes, the story is pretty twisted and violent but strangely restrained at the same time as far as onscreen gore at least. The sexscenes are numerous but never really presented as titilation, just an act. The movie draws its greatest strength from this, meaning that there are no major grossout gore gags to divert the attention from the story. in fact, when you watch the extras on the dvd you see that the gore was supposed to be a bit more detailed but it was all edited to only show flashes. If it had been another movie I would probably be complaining about this, but Deadgirl is such an original and offbeat movie that it would've been a a shame to bury it in heaps of gore. It is still a violent movie (with excellent sfx) but dont go in expecting a gorefeast.

Another strength of the movie is the direction. It is rather mellow for a genremovie but this too is in its favour and since the tone of the movie actually leans more towards the youthdrama bits it works just fine. The script is halfbad either. The outcome of the whole thing is pretty obvious from the start but the journey is most of the time the exact opposite. The young actors arent dazzling me with their talent, except for the Deadgirl herself who is really good in a role that requires not much more than to grunt and be naked (hmmmm.... that sounded like something entirely different), but they do a decent job sustaining the story.

Now, this isnt really horror. It has elements of horror, contains lots of nudity and violence but is more of a drama. A drama with a naked zombiegirl though. It is really well made with great photography, has an original, interesting script and a brain and that's why thousands of the people that wanted the remake of Friday the 13th are gonna loath this movie. If that's your cup of tea I can really recommend this weird little flick.