Deadgirl (Marcel Saemiento and Gadi Harel, 2008):USA

Reviewed by Alessa Valenzuela at the AFI film festival, Los Angeles California.

Dead Girl is a zombie film with a unique twist; this teenage horror is anything but anticipatory. The film poses the question, what would you do with total control of another semi-living human being free of consequence. Directors Marcel Saemiento and Gadi Harel (Hollywoodmade pictures) honestly captured what a zombie film is all about, fear and loathing that leaves you reeling for more. I had never been more relieved that it was all finally over and at the same time I wanted desperately to watch it all over again. The Afi film festival screened a variety of films spanning genres and countries, Dead Girl happened to be the first film I didn’t have to read. The most interesting aspect of this zombie film was that it was set in contemporary America, and told the story of two typical teenagers whose response to the discovery of a hot naked dead girl are polar to say the least. Screenwriter Trent Haaga uses a lot of language for his characters that is very reminiscent of greasers in the 1950’s phrases like “boy” and “son” are rarely used among teens in the 2000’s.

  The story is about two best friends JT (Noah Segan) and Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) who are the slackers who ditch school one after noon to drink beer and mess around. They decide to hang out in an old abandoned psych word. While checking our some underground tunnels in the place they stumble upon a rusted shut door. Once inside they find a supermodel hot dead girl chained and gagged in a bed, immediately the boys are faced with what they should do with the girl. Although she is clearly dead her body sill moves. The most important scene immediately follows the discovery that divides the two friends; JT wants to use her of his own dark fantasy while Rickie battles with the morality of the situation and his own ideas for the girl.

The film is follows classic horror conventions where the supernatural slashes with our natural world by way of a good vs. evil narrative.  The most striking images sneak up on you when you least expect it. Cinematically dead girl was the only film I saw throughout the festival that used a dissolve shot between scenes. I found this to be distracting and made the film feel a little cheap. Repetition of metal pipes and dark cellars contribute to the aesthetic of the film, which really made the film quite freaky creepy. As conventional as the story sounds, dead girl offers one surprise after another keeping you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

The graphic picture of the dead girl herself is enough to make you cringe with her tattered hair, dingy teeth, and a thin skinned vainly body. Though the boys take things a step to far more than once, Rickie is the hesitant hero throughout the film and the most intriguing character by far.  I found myself completely enamored with the journey of self-discovery in the face of a seemingly dire situation.  In one specific scene post dead girl discovery we see Rickie come home from school poor a drink and lay down for an afternoon nap. When he closes his eyes we are bombarded with his dreams of JoAnn (Candice Accola) a girl at school that he loves. Beautiful light close-up shots of the gorgeous red head are abruptly stopped when the film quickly cuts to two close-up shots of the dead girls’ mangled and screaming face back to back.

I got the opportunity after the film to speak to the filmmakers during a Q and A with the audience, and I was surprised to find that the film was made in just twenty days on a very limited budget. The film is hardly representative of a low-budget horror flick and instead comes off riveting and authentic to the viewer. As hard as the film is to sit through because of the lewd nature of its character, it is even more difficult to not finish. In the end, I have to say that this film was one of my favorites at the festival, and I don’t really enjoy horror films. If you are looking for a rollercoaster ride, Deadgirl is the film for you, just don’t have a big lunch before hand.