Deadgirl (2008)

Directed by Marcel Sarmiento
and Gadi Harel 

Written by Trent Haaga

Rated R for strong aberrant sexuality, graphic nudity, bloody violence and pervasive language.

"Deadgirl" was recommended to me by my long-time horror film buddy Sean Hanson (who shared his review of Saw VI for my Movie Review Double Feature this month). In spite of its graphic depictions of sexual violence, "Deadgirl" is not an exploitation flick. It's a horrifyingly realistic portrait of humanity at it's best and worst (okay... mostly worst). 

Shiloh Fernandez stars as Rickie, a fairly empathetic (if somewhat creepy) high school loser. He skips class one day with his best friend J.T., and the pair decide to explore an abandoned insane asylum. In every horror movie, there are key plot points at which the whole horrific trajectory of the film could have been averted with a simple choice. The lesson?: DON'T HANG OUT IN ABANDONED SANITARIUMS!!!! Alas, I digress. Rickie and J.T. break in with relative ease, and drink warm beer while trashing and vandalizing the abandoned asylum. So far, nothing we all haven't done in high school (just kidding!). After they tire of their teen-angst antics, they decide to explore the tunnels in the asylum's basement.

Once in the tunnels, the boys start to get a little spooked. Their fear is justified when a big black attack dog chases them even deeper into the labyrinthine maze of tunnels and rooms. They are trying to find another way back out when they are strangely drawn to a door that's been rusted shut and has stuff piled in front of it. Clearing the debris, Rickie and J.T. pry the door open, uncovering the sanitarium's darkest secret yet.

Inside, the pair find a naked woman who has been gagged, chained to a bed and loosely covered with a plastic sheet. At first they think she's dead, but when J.T. touches the body, it moves. Rickie, as the only real moral compass in the film, insists that they free the girl and call the police, but J.T. sees a darker opportunity and asks "What if we kept her?". Rickie refuses to stand by while J.T. takes advantage of a defenseless woman, but when he tries to stop him, J.T. punches him, hard. Rickie leaves the sanitarium alone and conflicted, but ultimately enables J.T.'s perversions by not going straight to the police.

The next day at school, J.T. tells Rickie that he has to come back down to the sanitarium to "see something". Rickie follows hesitantly, expecting to find that J.T. has killed the woman. He's not far off. J.T. tells Rickie that the woman woke up when he was raping her and started growling and trying to bite him. He beat her brutally to quiet her, only to find that while she can be knocked out for periods of time, she can't die.

Finding that his unwilling sex slave is a "monster" seems to validate (in his mind) J.T.'s sub-human treatment of her. "She's just some dead girl" he says, as if that justifies his behavior. Instead of questioning the origins of a snarling naked woman who can't die and was found behind a door that had rusted shut in an asylum that'd been shut up for years, J.T. just goes with it, acting like she's a cool toy that he's found and is eager to show off to his friends. Enter "Wheeler", a stupid stoner who shamelessly follows J.T.'s lead and joins in the rape and objectification with great eagerness.

Rickie is horrified by the discovery that the woman is apparently not human (at least not in the conventional sense), but still feels compelled to protect her from his morally bankrupt friends. But J.T. is so enamored with his "find" that he begins sleeping in the sanitarium's basement, spending all of his time with the deadgirl. Rickie sneaks in and frees one of her hands one night only to discover that she has alarming, animal speed and strength when allowed to move. Rickie realizes with great consternation that though his goal is to set the deadgirl free, freeing her carries with it its own dangers.

When the boys underestimate the deadgirl once too many, she exacts bloody vengeance, turning the tables on her attackers. The gory finale leaves few standing, and is quite pessimistic. I felt that the ending was the film's weakest point. Without ruining any of the plot points, I'll just say that I was hoping for a more uplifting resolution. What can you do? It was a cynical movie to the end.

I gave "Deadgirl" a 9/10. It was gripping, scary, disgusting and funny. A sad but realistic look into the inhumanity of human behavior. The last few minutes left a bad taste in my mouth, but overall a very strong film. If sexual violence in films is a major deal-breaker for you, this film is probably one to avoid. Be willing to look  past the surface. I think you'll find this is a surprisingly deep film.













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