Sony
R4
DVD
Dead Girl caused maximum controversy
when it was shown on the film festival circuit and on DVD it is just as
confronting. Is this simply a misogynist, violent zombie film or is it a lot more?
Certainly the sex and violence is shocking and the sheer misogyny at times takes
your breath way, but there is something under the surface here. This is not
just an extreme exploitation movie; it is a film reflecting on the nature of suppressed
male sexuality and the dangers of peer pressure.
Two dumb, dislikeable teen boys (Rickie
and J.T.) skip school and armed with some brews head for an abandoned mental
institution to get pissed and do some damage. They both have had little luck
with relationships with girls (not especially surprising considering their
characters) and express their frustration by tearing the building apart. As they get more and more drunk they decide
to explore the tunnels under the institution and when attacked by a wild dog,
need to find a way to escape quickly. They find a locked door and behind it is
a naked bruised woman, covered in plastic chained to a table.
While they screw her in every orifice,
rent her out to their friends and generally egg each other on to use her in
every possible way, the sense of utter depersonalization could not be better
displayed on screen. While it certainly is extreme cinema, it is also reflecting
on such significant issues as the sexual suppression of teen sexuality, peer
pressure and depersonalization and the way in which the focus of sexual
attraction can be reduced to an object
and nothing more.
The psycho-sexual horror of the film is
matched by the filming, a dark urban landscape, disintegrating buildings, an
emphasis on shadows, night and darkness. There are regular long and slow camera
shots over pipes, dilapidated halls and broken windows, doors, rooms and
equipment.
I can fully appreciate the shock many
people may take to this film; we are dealing with long periods of necrophiliac
rape and torture combined with obnoxious teen dialogue. At the same time the
physical state of the woman deteriorates with each scene as her wounds don’t
heal and the violence increases, this is not easy to watch.
At the same time everything has its
consequences and there are side effects from being bitten by the “dead girl”
and when she escapes she certainly wrecks havoc. There are some powerful motifs
in the film if you can handle the sheer brutality of the subject matter. As the
boys become more and more reduced by their violence they decide to kidnap a “live
girl” since the dead one is not longer in optimum condition. The way in which
they have become totally dehumanized by their experience of violence and “objectivization”
is viscerally presented. At the same time the way in which the “dead girl”
being reduced to an animal now responds as an animal suggests the effects of
violence and abuse. We never really come to understand how she has become what
she is, but at the end when a new live girl is strapped to the table we come to
consider whether this “zombie state” is a symbol for the ultimate form of
consumer sex object.
Dead Girl is not an easy film, debates
rage about its content, dialogue and misogyny, at the same time there is always
the danger of a film being so “loud” that we lose its message. At times I think
this is true with Dead Girl, the imagery is so severe that many people will not
dig below the surface and consider some of the significant motifs underneath.
This is a challenging film, but cinema
is not always meant to be easy and it is well worth the effort.
(US
R1 Cover shown)
Reviews appear on the Synergy website with
a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with
multiple images and with expanded content. We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy Magazine.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and
print edition of Synergy Magazine.
If you came to this page directly (and
missed our menu), click here to go to the
front page of Synergy Magazine Website or click the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com