Films & Events
Deadgirl
Rickie and JT are high school outsiders, bullied by jocks and despised by the in-crowd. Though both would rather drop out than bear this never-ending misery, Rickie chooses to stay, if only to catch fleeting glimpses of JoAnn, his childhood crush and the current girlfriend to the captain of the football team. Then one afternoon, while cutting class, the pair makes a bizarre discovery in the darkest depths of an abandoned hospital—a beautiful young woman, neither living nor dead, strapped to an operating table. Horrified by their find, Rickie flees, while JT stays behind to satiate his darker appetites. Soon, however, the pair’s secret slips out to the worst person imaginable, and what follows is a series of gory confrontations that test Rickie’s loyalty to both JT and JoAnn. Since its premiere at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, no horror film has generated more buzz than Deadgirl and deservedly so. Co-directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel took a script many in Hollywood felt was “too shocking to produce,” yet the finished product is a chillingly complex and accomplished fright flick that skillfully pushes the limits of explicit violence and sexuality without ever slipping into the exploitative. Director Gadi Harel expected to attend May 28 and May 29 screenings
Sponsor:
Scarecrow Video
Cast & Crew
Director: Gadi Harel, Marcel Sarmiento
Producer: Marcel Sarmiento, Gadi Harel
Editor: Phillip Blackford
Screenwriter: Trent Haaga
Cinematographer: Harris Charalambous
Music: Joseph Bauer
Principal Cast: Shiloh Fernandez, Noah Segan, Candice Accola
Filmography: Heavy Petting (2007); It's Better to Be Wanted for Murder Than Not to Be Wanted at All (2003)
World Sales: H2O Motion Pictures
Average rating:
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(10 reviews)
user reviews
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Upsetting., May 29, 2009
By Brendan Davis
“If David Lynch decided to film a coming of age snuff flick, it would probably have a strong resemblance to this.
The movie is upsetting, and unnerving. It grated on my nerves, and bothered me in a lot of ways. In a great way. The violence, rape and all-around abuse are filmed as tastefully and”
… full review
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Dark subject matter, disappointing outcome, May 29, 2009
By J Daniel Scott
“***This review contains spoilers***
Deadgirl embodies everything I love about seeing movies at SIFF: finding movies that push the envelope, cross the line, and tear down barriers of what is acceptable in film (last year’s Towelhead comes to mind). In that regard, Deadgirl succeeds.
Rickie and”
… full review
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Heathers meets Stand By Me and goes deep underground, May 29, 2009
By Jillayne Schlicke
“It would be easy to dismiss this film as exploitative but there’s way more going on beneath the surface. On the one hand, it might seem as though Rickie and JT are holding opposing moral positions and the directors use this as dynamic tension to move the film forward. But the way I see it, Rickie”
… full review
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Unique, exciting, yet ultimately unfulfilling, May 30, 2009
By Michael Maring
“To start, seeing this at the Seattle International Film Festival, the 'short' before the movie was almost enough to ruin the entire thing. If I hadn't have been very interested in seeing the main film, the short was bad enough to walk out on.
But as for Deadgirl itself - it is intriguing, and”
… full review
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deadgirl:brain dead, May 30, 2009
By cine cita
“as a general rule i love extreme cinema-- particularlly the kind that stands up to good semiotic shake down. seeing films like inside, trouble every day, in my skin, and irreversible, if anything make me eager to see the next horror film that will kick my ass, turn my stomach and spark my”
… full review
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The following short films will screen before this film
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Canada, 2009, 9 min.
For a period of time, while we believe it to be perfectly still, lifeless flesh responds, stirs and contorts in a final macabre ballet. Are these spasms merely erratic motions or do they echo the chaotic twists and turns of a past life?
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