Deadgirl (2008) Review

Written by: BlackTequilaKiss   

Strange, provocative and disturbing are some of the words that come to mind when describing this movie. The journey is a long, endearing one and it's not a movie that will be geared towards everyone but for those who take the chance on this movie it is one that gets beneath the skin.

Not for the faint hearted.

PLOT SYNOPSIS:

Misfits in high school, Rickie and JT, cut classes in search of new thrills. Coming across an abandoned hospital, they fool around for a bit when they come across a door that almost refuses to open. Once opened they find themselves face-to-face with a gruesome discovery.

A woman wrapped in plastic, chained to a table and supposedly dead. When tempers arise and different feelings emerge about the situation, the friends soon find themselves going down a route which threatens to destroy their friendship and show their difference of right and wrong when faced with an untimely situation.

One thing to note of Deadgirl is the surprising lack of gore. It's not a bad thing at all. In some movies the only real draw is the gore itself so it's nice that this movie focuses more on the friendship between JT and Rickie, more so on how it deteriorates throughout the course of the film.

It does have some moments though.

The scene that stands out the most in the film, to my likening, is when they discover the Dead girl and the moral compass of what happens. The shock, chill that runs through the body as you watch them discovering her will make you stop for breath. Overall though this is a tight, clever little film that doesn't suffer from overcompensating.

Firstly the two main actors:

JT (played by) Noah Segan: I liked his character, the way he carries himself and his spiral down as he makes all the wrong reasons. Clearly a broken soul at the end he played the part of JT well and made him a nicely rounded character.

Then there was,

Rickie (played by) Shiloh Fernandez: Really I loved his character! He was by far, in my opinion, the strongest actor throughout the film. Seeing him struggle with the right thing to do and his increasing loneliness at school, he played the character fantastically. What made him so likeable was the fact you believed in every moment he was on screen. From Anguish to Fear and everything in between, he was a genuine surprise.

As said before the gore was not an overwhelming factor but when it did occur in the eye of the beholder, it was good. Practical instead of CGI it fitted aptly into the film. Beautiful blood, some nasty gut scenes it does well in the FX department.

The one downplay of the film was the lack of colour. I understand wanting to intensify some colours but sometimes the grey palate overruled the cinematography and didn't look as good as it could have.

Musically, the score is nice. It lingers but never goes over the top. It stayed well within the movie and sounded gorgeous, one of the biggest compliments of the film.

I think my only complaint is that it did not shock me as much as I was expecting, I can feel myself becoming more desensitized as I watch more and more horror films out of the mainstream. Inside, Martyrs, etc have been some of the hardest films to sit through so sitting through Deadgirl was not such a shock as I expected.

That's not to say it doesn't have its moments. There are times when eyes were averted due to the graphic nature of the film but overall it's not that bad despite what I had heard.

Really beyond the gore, the visual aspect it's rather a movie about two friends who both have differing opinions and find themselves down a dark path. It's the pull of where JT and Rickie's friendship is going that makes it such an enjoyable if intense watch.

The final scene is particularly creepy and effective and continues the arc of the story in its own way. But the bottom line is I enjoyed it. Jenny Spain as the Dead girl was captivating and her performance was outstanding given what she had to do, to make the part work.

Intense, creepy, different and absorbing this is a movie I recommend everyone watches. It's one that will get beneath the skin for a long time but a worthwhile experience.

Enjoy and savour this film, there's not many of this ilk out there and really there ought to be. Deadgirl is a movie that proves to be very much alive...