Nameless and Eponymous: Deadgirl (2008)
My dear readers, though it may align me more with the common moviegoer than with my fellow arbiters of cultural import, I will be the first to admit that I am seduced by many a horror film that offers viewers nothing more than a pleasurable sit in front of a screen. But horror has always been a reliable source of more challenging narratives, films that pulse with moral outrage, from George Romero’s rebukes to Larry Cohen’s critiques. Deadgirl proudly announces itself as a peer of these more subversive tales, taking society to task and raising its defiant voice to provide a stinging reproach of teenage boys, provided that all teenage boys are rapists.
Deadgirl, the poor thing
Specifically, Deadgirl tells story of a gang of youths repeatedly raping a undead woman who they happen upon in an abandoned asylum and is primarily concerned with the internal conflicts that arise from differing opinions on how they should go about their raping. On one end of the moral scale, you have the timid, reluctant rapists. These rapists by no means go about their unholy violations lightly, oh, no! They want to vex greatly over the matter before finally lavishing their lady fair with unwanted attention. One would never catch these rapists even thinking about committing non-consensual intercourse without first setting the scene, perhaps with a little mood lighting and a set of fresh undergarments.
On the darker side of the spectrum, you have the murdering rapists, who are really all sorts of bad when you put the old skull to the matter. Not content to merely repeatedly violate their victim, they're also rather into throttling the life out of the poor woman when they’re finished. Admittedly, in this story they do limit themselves to the one zombie-like victim and she does manage to revive herself thoroughly after each of these regrettable sessions but nevertheless, I think we can all agree that these particular rapists are thoroughly in the wrong.
One of the film's less sensitive rapists in shady repose
For some, this may all seem a joyless procession of sexual battery, a parade of shame-sodden delinquents having their various ways with a voiceless, nameless, deathless woman. But these sorts of unflinching perspectives are necessary when routing out societal evils. I dare say, if all pubescent boys were actually absent of all consideration and humanity, Deadgirl would be a ripping good condemnation indeed.
Deadgirl runs 101 minutes and is rated R for strong aberrant sexuality, graphic nudity, bloody violence and pervasive language.
