Deadgirl ReviewsMarcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel bring strong direction to the film and the actors Shiloh Fernandez, Noah Segan and Jenny Spain (in the titular role) bring strong fearless performances to their respective roles.
"Pic the skirts the edge without going over, and judging from the raucous reception during its Midnight Madness preem at Toronto, twisted auds clearly do exist for such blatantly "wrong" material. The titular corpse more accurately qualifies as a "living deadgirl," with the pic joining the recent trend of zombie movies that never identify themselves as such. Instead, tyro horror helmers Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel focus on the script's more "River's Edge"-like aspects… The directors maximize their location choice for some ominous haunted-house antics. Shooting on a Viper FilmStream camera at Linda Vista Hospital in East Los Angeles, the helmers capture every glint and shadow as they track the teens through creepy underground passages, matching the action with nerve-jangling sound design. Not since "Session 9" has an abandoned asylum been used to such unsettling effect… The two leads show promise, with Fernandez sporting the pinch-faced sneer of a young Joaquin Phoenix. Jenny Spain's a good sport as the deadgirl, flashing her grease-smeared breasts and blackened gums on command (a cult starlet in the making)." -
VARIETY
Deadgirl![]()
: A well-made but seriously twisted movie about two teenage boys who find a girl chained up in the basement of an abandoned mental hospital, and then discover that she is immortal. Aside from the supernatural elements and the extreme violence, the film is derivative of mid-1980s John Hughes but completely watchable on account of Jenny Spain![]()
's inspired performance as the titular character. "Two new faces at Toronto who show more artistic verve and bravery than many of the festival's masters are co-directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel, the filmmakers behind the clever, scary, unsettlingly sexual teenage bondage thriller DEADGIRL. In the pulse-pounding story, high-school friends Rickie and JT skip school and break into an abandoned mental hospital for usual male mischief. Once inside, they discover the body of naked girl tied to a table. Once they decide to keep the woman imprisoned, matters turn bloody very quickly. DEADGIRL is one the smartest teen horrors I've watched in some time, a nervy twist on SAW-inspired victim movies. Companies that do not shy away from controversy and are willing to take risks in order to grasp a youthful audience would be wise to get in business with Sarmiento and Harel. DEADGIRL, from Hollywoodmade, invites gory comparisons to recent thrillers like HOSTEL and TEETH and delivers all the shocks horror fans demand. Any controversy that the film would generate due to the brutal treatment of its core female victim may help build interest from non-horror fans inclined to watch controversial art-house fare. Screened in the early hours of Sunday, the Toronto Festival audience who watched DEADGIRL appeared shocked and awed. For newcomers Sarmiento and Harel, that's the type of festival debut even veterans dream about having."
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INDIEWIRE"Probably one of the most challenging films at this year's Midnight Madness (TIFF) is Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel's DEADGIRL, which takes a dark and dreary trip into the underworld of teen adolescence… DEADGIRL, while taking cues from films like SAW and HOSTEL, moreso resembles STAND BY ME and RIVER'S EDGE. The creepy and dark premise, molded around a group of 'innocent' teens, has its main focus on the coming-of-age story than the brutal treatment of the 'deadgirl'... DEADGIRL is not a zombie movie per se, or maybe it is? Either way, the word should be banned from use when converging over the film, as it's something quite different. DEADGIRL is something that has never been done before and it will leave you shocked. A twisted turn of events make DEADGIRL an immediate indie classic and one of the best teen horror thrillers in years."
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BLOODY-DISGUSTING "DEADGIRL obviously is going to get tongues wagging. It is explicitly violent, filled with bursts of shocking gore, and equally explicit sexually. Is this what coming of age looks like in our commodofied times, when we think of everything - people included - as objects to be consumed and disposed of at will? This is objectification of women pushed out to ludicrous, though frighteningly plausible, extremes. Like it or not we all know people who would choose JT's path. We probably wouldn't even have to think very hard to make a list of them, and that's where the film's true horror lies. As shocking as this is, as far fetched as the premise, on an emotional level it is entirely plausible… DEADGIRL has a number of images and sequences guaranteed to sear themselves into your brain, moments of moral degradation you won't quickly shake off. And, in this context, that is a very good thing." -
TWITCH 80-85% Stayed
"DEADGIRL is the next evolution of sex-infused horror genre, which regained traction a couple years ago with the Sundance hit TEETH. For example, at one point, when the dead girl's body begins to dry up, its insinuated that they begin to have sex with the warm gooey wounds in her stomach. About 15-20% off the press in attendance at my screening walked out of the screening before the climax. But don't get me wrong, DEADGIRL is steps above the typical torture porn horror film. Directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel have an incredible attention of mood and tone. DEADGIRL floats smoothly between dark comedy and horror, and the result is a coming-of-age film like you've never seen before (or will likely ever see again)."
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SLASHFILM Deadgirl was written by Troma veteran Trent Haaga (Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV) which tells you what to expect. Ghoulish humour and sleazy gore are the order of the day as two high school losers find a bound body in the tunnels under an old asylum, and it develops that she's some kind of zombie who cannot die. One of the guys immediately starts using her as his sex slave (this was written by an ex-Troma guy, remember) and increasingly violent complications ensue. All along the characters seem surprisingly blase about standing around watching their friends have sex with a diseased zombie and then doing the same right afterwards.
There's better acting and more character development than you'd expect, though, and the movie thankfully doesn't go for the overplayed all-out gross-o-rama of so-called 'torture porn' films or recent Euro shockers. The directors seem more interested in telling a story - weird though it may be - than throwing gore in your face, which is a surprising approach given the subject matter. It's still pretty disgusting, though, so definitely keep the kids (and the sane people) away.
Special kudos to Jenny Spain as the Deadgirl; she's quite creepy and projects a lot of personality in a dialogue-free and, one would assume, physically demanding role. Great poster, too.
-Conall Pendergast
TIFF Must See Films
Another nice list to be on: Today's Variety lists 17 movies to answer its headline "What are buyers sizing up at the fest?" The batch includes new films by Darren Aronofsky, Richard Linklater, Paul Schrader and Guillermo Arriaga. It also includes DEADGIRL: "Dark fantasy laced with humor by tyro helmers Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel. One of the few available offerings in the Midnight Madness section."
For its 8th annual "Chasing the Buzz" poll, the Toronto Star asked a 24-member panel to name the films they're most interested in seeing. Of the 312 movies at the festival, only 44 were named... and considering the winning pick, Steven Soderbergh's CHE, only received 5 votes, we're thrilled DEADGIRL was included at all. Our single vote came courtesy of Greg Cruse of Tofilmfest.com, who said...
DEADGIRL (Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel): "Shot using digital gear from the next James Bond flick, this is a Midnight Madness choice I think program founder Noah Cowan would be proud of."
2008 Toronto International Film festival- Hollywood Life House-Held at the Empire lounge in Toronto, Canada.
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