DEADGIRL

Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and JT (Noah Segan) are two high school misfits who, bored one hot summer's day, decide to bunk off for the afternoon. They take a walk along the beach and then JT suggests that they head for the old abandoned asylum nearby. Why? Because it's too hot outside.

After breaking in to the derelict nuthouse the pair take a tour of it. Within minutes, they've opened the beer cans in their rucksacks and begin trashing the place. Ah, to be a teenager again!

Having had their fun, the boys soon become bored again. JT suggests they go down to the building's tunnels, tucked away in the hospital basement, for a good scare. They venture down there, and do indeed shit their pants when a guard dog confronts them barking.

This leads the boys to race down a deeper tunnel, where JT discovers a barricaded door. Intrigued, he sets about clearing access to the door while Rickie looks on unsure.

What they find behind the door shocks them both: an emaciated naked woman (Jenny Spain), strapped to a table and covered in a sheet of clear plastic. The lifeless lump is presumed dead, and instantly the boys have different ideas on what they should do next. Rickie thinks they should leave quickly and inform the authorities; JT sees an opportunity to feed their raging teenaged hormones ...

Rickie leaves in disgust after JT punches him for being cowardly, but is enticed back later that day when JT claims he has something amazing to show him. When they return to the basement room, JT takes the pistol from Rickie's belt and shoots the girl in the stomach three times. He then proceeds to tell Rickie how the girl wasn't dead after all, but JT had strangled her when she struggled against him earlier. She'd returned to life, and so he killed her again. And again. Sure enough, Rickie observes as the girl continues to writhe on the table as the bullet wounds slowly heal themselves.

Should the boys tell someone, or keep this dirty secret between themselves? After much persuasion, Rickie agrees to the latter - on the strict condition that no-one finds out. But his private life suffers as a result, the heavy burden of his secret causing him to become withdrawn at school and at home.

When he finally visits JT in the asylum's basement, Rickie is distraught to find their school pal Wheeler (Eric Podnar) shagging the girl while JT watches. Rickie soon learns that JT is charging kids at school $10 a time to have their way with the girl - and decides it's time to action.

But things go from bad to worse. Rickie becomes more and more infatuated with childhood friend Joann (Candice Accola), who in turn is dating violent jock Johnny (Andrew DiPalma). When Johnny learns of Rickie's feelings for Joann he turns on the outcast, and is inadvertently led to the girl in the basement - and it's there where an increasingly psychotic JT begins to catch on to the effect the girl has on anyone she bites ...

Possessing that same kind of indie cool that pumped through the likes of HEATHERS and MAY, DEADGIRL is a well-photographed and sassily scored film. Performances are generally strong from the young cast, with Fernandez playing the down-and-out antihero with convincing panache.

Segan overdoes his character admittedly, turning into a psychotic rapist overnight in unconvincing manner. But elsewhere the cast do a fine job of playing it straight throughout this darkly humorous coming of age horror.

And horror this most certainly is. Despite the odd one-liner and some undeniably farcical situations, this is incredibly morbid fare. When the deaths begin in the film's final hour, things get extremely grisly. But it's the scenes prior to this, where the teenagers get their kicks from copulating with the girl, that are really unsettling. Is it rape? Or is it necrophilia? Or, is it both? Whatever the answer, it's disturbing stuff.

Thank the Lord then that the film escalates into more fantastical, less plausible territory in it's latter half. This at least allows the audience to distance themselves from the sickness on screen, and even take in the odd guilty giggle.

The film does become gory, but the action is edited in quick cuts so that, however nasty the onscreen graphics are, they're kept to brief glimpses of a gaping wound here, a splatter of gore there.

Building steadily but leisurely towards a mordant finale that will stay with you afterwards, DEADGIRL is a stylish attractively smooth film. It's hip without trying too hard, and funny without ever descending into outright stupidity.

The subject matter may repel some viewers, and the objective voyeurism the film employs at times will not sit easy with those who are already thinking this sounds like misogynistic fare. But there's a fine balance between what's offensive and what's challenging, and thankfully DEADGIRL finds that equilibrium. Just.

Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1, the film looks terrific here. Slick visuals and cinematic photography are complemented by a solid, sharp transfer.

2.0 and 5.1 audio options are proffered in English, and both provide sterling playback. Audio levels are crisp and clear, offering consistent even balance and unchallenged audibility.

A nice, slowly moving animated main menu leads into a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

Extras kick off with a commentary track from editor Philip Blackford, cinematographer Harris Charalambous, co-directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel, composer Joseph Bauer, writer Trent Haaga, plus actors Fernandez and Segan.

Recorded at midnight at Blackford's house, you'd imagine a commentary track with so many people involved to be a mess of everyone speaking over each other. Instead it's a fluent and easy-to-follow chat, with the crew taking the lead with much technical information. The two actors have the least to say, but when they do they're more anecdotal and consequently arguably more interesting. Overall though, this is a worthy listen.

"Exquisite Corpse" is a slick 7-minute Making Of featurette, with cast and crew members speaking retrospectively in a studio about the genesis of the film. Interspersed with clips, it's a short but valid contribution to the disc.

A gallery of make-up effects footage follows, offering 20 pages of behind-the-scenes photos. There's some explicit stuff here. The great thing about this gallery is that each page is graced with text from FX artist and designer James Ojala, offering further insights into the gruesome work he created.

Finally there's the film's original trailer. Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1, the trailer is 90 seconds long and does a good job of conveying the film's brooding atmosphere while making mention of the numerous festival accolades it's garnered.

The disc defaults to open with trailers for DARK FLOORS, MANHUNT and SHUTTLE.

Imperfect, but interesting and incredibly dark, DEADGIRL may well be the sleeper horror hit of the year.

Review by Stuart Willis