DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by Marcel Sarmiento, Gadi Har
Starring Shiloh Fernandez, Noah Segan, Eric Podnar, Candice Accola, Jenny Spain
Release date 8 June 2009 (region 2); 15 September 2009 (region 1)

While poking around an abandoned hospital, teenagers Rickie (Fernandez) and JT (Segan) come across a naked girl tied to a table. When they discover that the girl is undead, JT decides to use her as a sex toy, much to Rickie’s unease…

Ever wondered what would've happened if Day of the Dead’s zombie-on-a-chain Bub had been a naked dead girl? Well, wonder no more as Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Har’s very odd indie flick fuses teen sex fantasy onto zombie conventions.

Actually, the word ‘zombie’ is never used here, and the mute dead girl of the title is hardly the rotting cadaver you’d find in a Romero movie. Nevertheless, it soon becomes clear that she’s a fully-fledged member of the undead, and later scenes reveal she has a hankering for human flesh as soon as she’s ungagged.

The majority of the film is more low-key than your typical zombie flick, and the central focus is on the deteriorating relationship between reckless JT and the more morally-conflicted Rickie. As JT tells his pal, the girl offers them the opportunity to live out the kind of fantasy that small town no-hopers like them would never be able to do in ‘real life’, but despite being obviously tempted, Rickie can’t quite bring himself to give in to his dark side.

It’s an interesting blend of coming of age and horror themes, with a central premise that is both fascinating and vaguely distasteful. While we’re never encouraged to condone what JT is doing, there’s something rather objectionable about how the camera lingers over what is essentially a naked sex slave for much of its running time. The occasional burst of gross-out comedy also jars slightly with the film’s more serious themes, though some of these sequences are undeniably amusing.

Deadgirl is at least a film that provokes debate, and the decent performances and atmospheric cinematography mark it out from lesser low-budget shockers.

Extras include a brief ‘making of’, a featurette on the special effects and a commentary from seemingly everyone involved in the movie. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 6/10
An original, if vaguely sleazy, twist on the undead formula.