Mesmerizing. Disturbing. Haunting. Creepy.
All of these words can be used to describe Deadgirl, a film that is so much better than I was expecting. Actually, I am not quite sure what I was expecting when I sat down to watch this. The premise alone is more than enough to garner interest from the curious horror crowd and some controversy from the press. To put it simply, two teenage boys go to an abandoned mental hospital to skip class. While they are there they discover a naked woman tied to a gurney. There is something wrong with her as she does not speak and stares at them with blank eyes. The discussion is whether to get the authorities or to keep her. They choose the latter. This decision sends them down a dark path that will forever change them.
There is something about the way this movie plays with themes of power, control, and friendship. On top of that, it also plays out a little like a coming of age tale. Two aimless boys have their lives toyed with by their inability to deal with the situation. The male ego and libido are dissected in a way that could not have been done in a non-genre film. The zombie/horror element lends itself to new opportunities. What would be unacceptable, nigh unthinkable, in a straight drama becomes disturbing and haunting, not to mention perfectly acceptable in what has the surface shine of a horror film.
Deadgirl begins during a fire drill at a high school. Two students, Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and JT (Noah Segan), decide to skip the rest of school. They head off to a long abandoned mental hospital where they proceed to pull out the beers and smokes. Their adventures take them to the tunnels beneath the building. Well, you know what happens here. The duo find the woman shackled, devoid of clothes, and covered with a plastic sheet.
JT decides, over Rickie's objections, to keep her. Each day they visit the remote room where they proceed to rape her repeatedly. If she gets a little too frisky they just punch her in the head. She keeps coming back for more. As time passes Rickie's conscience begins to kick in, which brings him to blows with JT. Eventually, word gets around school about what is going on in those long-empty corridors. We all know that the more people who know about something like this, the quicker something will happen to bring it crashing down. When that crashing moment comes, it will leave you shaken, with the final moments seared into your mind.
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