Buckle-up cats n’ creeps, because if you’ve never heard of 2008’s Deadgirl you are definitely in for a raised fuckin’ eyebrow or two, to say the very least…
One hot day, high school chums Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and J.T. (Noah Segan) take a powder from school, and decide to hang out at Ye Olde Abandoned Psychiatric Hospital. Once there they find a naked, mute woman (Jenny Spain) lashed to a table.
Naturally J.T. near-immediately wants to rape the woman, but Rickie is wisely none too keen on that particular action and books… but later J.T. reveals the girl is an undead creature as he attempted to put a murder on her to no avail.
Still with me… if so, you can probably already gauge if this particular flick is your cup of terror tea or not. Moving on…
Soon J.T. is inviting others to have a go at Deadgirl, which eventually involves local bully Johnny (Andrew DiPalma)… the paramour of Rickie’s unrequited crush, Joann (Candice King)… getting his dick bit during a zombie blowjob, which results in both his gory demise, and his ressurrection as a zombie his damn self!
Having enough of the rather tacky antics, Ritchie decides to make Deadgirl double-dead… but others have a different plan…
Directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel and screenwriter Trent Haaga’s (Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV) Deadgirl is not your average, everyday zombie flick, that’s for damn sure… and while full of horrible things, it’s not really a horror film either… it’s closer to a modern morality play taken to extremes… stomach churning extremes for sure, but insanely effective ones!
While a zombie factors heavily into the story, at first it’s an outbreak of one, and we have zero idea of how our Patient Zero got in such a state… and ultimately it takes a backseat to the real meat n’ potatoes of this affair; namely just how fast those teens are willing to go from zero to necrophilia in the space of one second… a move we all know in our subconscious would most likely occur, and that is the real horror on display here.
A lot has to be said for the cast here for creating both characters that are easy to be turned off by, and are engaging to follow; it’s a delicate balancing act that is pulled off wonderfully here and it truly makes the horror that is displayed even more effective and in a sense realistic… at least as realistic as a zombie fuckin’ picture can be anyway!
As with the majority of releases from Unearthed Films, the bonus material presented here offers us many insights and tales of the film’s production while making us appreciate just what it took to bring this demented fright flick to lascivious life!
Said material begins with two audio commentaries; one featuring co-directors Sarmiento and Harel, writer Haaga, composer Joseph Bauer, cinematographer Harris Charalambous, editor Phillip Blackford, and actors Fernandez and Segan (who take us through the film’s production with both an amazing amount of info and a surprising amount of humor), and the other showcasing actress Jenny Spain, who goes into detail on the challenges of playing the eponymous character, as well as her thoughts on the production in general.
Following that we get a selection of interviews featuring Harel, Haaga, Segan, Fernandez, and special makeup effects artist Ojala, who provides the most interesting conversation of the bunch (though all are quality material) as it deals with both his first hand anecdotes of the production as well as his work on the film (including discussion of effects that didn’t go as planned) interlaced with snippets of behind-the-scenes footage… and while we’re talking about Ojala, we additionally get a slideshow of his work all up close n’ personal like (including text commentary from the man himself).
Also included are an archival “making of” featurette, a selection of deleted scenes, footage from Spain’s audition, still galleries (one for behind-the-scenes pics, one for promo images), the film’s trailer, and the picture’s shooting script (along with one for a proposed sequel).
Unlike any zombie flick you’ve experienced, Deadgirl cuts right to the chilling chase when it comes to the all-too likely outcome of the scenario presented, becoming as much a twisted morality play as it is a tale of the living dead… and the copious bonus material collected here by Unearthed Films make for a wicked watch indeed!
