Where would you draw the line?

I've been busy as of late and haven't posted much, so I thought I'd finally take the opportunity to tell you what I think of the most recent movie I've seen. I'd love to say I went to see Jennifer's Body over the weekend, but alas.... I live 37 miles from the nearest theater (yep, it's true) and with a big V8 SUV that sucks down gas that's just too far to be traipsing there all the time. Thank God for Netflix or I'd be a failed fan.


Anyway....


The movie I watched (on Netflix Instant Viewing, which is so convenient!) was "Deadgirl".




I'm not sure what to make of this direct-to-DVD film. I think I liked it. I'm not sure I'll watch it again. What exactly does that mean?

Well, it was different. A zombie film, if we're truly categorizing. Though the "Z" word is never mentioned once.
And I must say this: If only the actual dead girl looked as good as the girl on the DVD cover.


Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez)and J.T. (Noah Segan) are skipping school. Time for some beers in the old abandoned asylum (because we all have those in our backyards, right?)...




J.T. and Rickie


First they feel the need to trash the place. Why no one ever thought to throw chairs through glass windows and scatter old medical charts until these two yea-hoos came is beyond me. But whatever. They tire themselves out doing this until they are collapsed against a wall pounding down the brewskies. (But if I'm being petty, J.T. had a small backpack with him, and it was apparently like Jesus with the bread and fishes - it just kept producing beers.)


A random mutt (like some Doberman mix with a God complex) scares them into running and hiding. Where that dog came from is beyond reason.
The guys happen upon a 'secret' room in which they make a bizarre discovery. A naked girl, lying on a gurney, chained up and covered with plastic. First, it appears she's dead. But after probing her with a finger, she moves. Alive, right?



The title character


Okay. What would your first thought be?


Mine would be that someone else is possibly there and they should get the hell out of there!
Even my second thought would be coherent. Beat feet out of there (see a trend, here?) and call the damn cops, anonymously if you must - but get the girl some help.


But nooooo. What do these two numbskulls do? Discuss having sex with her.
Oh. My. God.


Actually, J.T. brings it up. Rickie - obviously the one with a conscience - tells him he's out of his mind and that they need to let her go, or at least call the cops.


But J.T. cannot be deterred. His hormones take over and he says he's not leaving. Rickie, completely scared as well as appalled, ends up leaving him alone with his new 'girlfriend'.
Rickie, being halfway normal, is completely distraught.




The next day J.T. convinces Rickie to come back to the asylum with him, telling him he's got to see something. Once there, he tells Rickie that he has beaten and strangled the captive (Jenny Spain). Close to freaking out, Rickie is then told the girl is still alive.
He then proceeds to shoot her, three times in the gut, to prove his point.
It does.

Now here's where the obvious zombie situation comes in. Though it's never labeled as such, when someone is maimed, beaten, strangled and shot repeatedly and doesn't die, they are a ZOMBIE.


Throughout the course of the movie, J.T. continues to lose his grip on reality, even inviting another of their friends to "try her out". They are using her as a sex toy, albeit a grungy -who knows when her last shower was - stinky - freaky looking zombie-sex toy.




NnnnnnASTY!



Rickie never participates, instead obsessed with a girl at school, who comes into the plot full force near the end. He also decides to sneak back to the nuthouse and free the girl, with less than stellar results.


God, this movie was sick. Just the thought that someone would do this - and having seen tv shows like Criminal Minds, knowing they do - is just beyond belief. I realize the chick was dead, but doesn't that make it even more disturbing? Sex slaves are one thing. Screwing the dead is another altogether.

It wasn't unwatchable, and there was very little gore. But to see a couple horny teenagers getting off on having sex with (basically) a corpse is borderline ghoulish. Definately macabre.


A distinctively independent film, the acting was good - very believable. Only one actor was horribly miscast, and that was the reprehensible acting job by the token bully/jock. Bad, bad, bad. Plus he was like, at least twenty five playing a teenager. I hate that! I was actually happy to see him meet his maker (sorry for the spoiler but you just know he's gonna bite it as soon as he's on screen!)....his death scene (seen in a flash, really) is the absolute best. I literally went back and paused the screen.


Twice.


WTF?

The plot was simple and straight-forward with no real underlying meaning. And the ending was satsifactory, though I have to say I saw it coming.


All in all, a decent watch for all you sick perverted horror fans out there.


The movie's tagline is a hoot: "You never forget your first time."
Whoa.




(alternate DVD cover)