Deadgirl (2008): No Thank You

This movie is sick and twisted, which is not inherently bad. However, its choice to stew in the depravity, rather than to move forward with a compelling story and interesting ideas, make it an unrewarding experience.

Before I begin reviewing the movie, I wanted to relay a funny coincidence with you all. In the middle of watching Deadgirl, one of Rickie’s teachers pops up in the library. The actor is the same person who played the lead in my thesis film “Among Wolves.”Apparently, he has acted in several B-movies and low-budget horror films. It completely caught me off guard and made me laugh. This reminded me of some other interesting things that occurred when I was casting “Among Wolves” that horror fans might appreciate. Daeg Faerch’s (Young Michael in Zombie’s Halloween) mother auditioned for a small role in my movie. Her husband and Daeg tagged along for the audition. The whole family acts. As much as I wanted to cast her because of her connection to Halloween, she was not quite right for the part. Who did I cast instead? Hunter Leah from The Quick and the Undead. What a funny world.

The second choice for Mr. Euro Trash from Twilight.

Anyway, back to the movie. Deadgirl is a tough film to watch. Full of sexual deviance, unsympathetic characters, moral ineptitude, and just plain wrongness, it is definitely not recommended viewing for most audiences. At first, I was intrigued. Rickie and J.T. seemed like they were going to be a fun pair of high school outsiders to follow. Their exploration of the abandoned insane asylum leads to the miraculous discovery of a dead girl who is not quite dead. How did she get there? Why is there? Is she alive or dead? Is she human? Is she fully conscious? Dozens of questions begin circulating through the character’s and viewer’s heads. Unfortunately, very few of these questions are answered. Instead of exploring what I thought would be more interesting subject matter (i.e. the dead girl’s story), the movie dwells on the disgusting actions committed by the supporting cast and the frustrating inaction of the lead.

Not cool.

 I’m not opposed to dark films. I’m also not opposed to films that display abhorrent behavior. What I don’t like about Deadgirl is not that it glorifies such behavior, but that it fails to comment on it. Sure, what is occurring onscreen is obviously not intended to be seen as acceptable, but what are the filmmakers trying to say when everyone who discovers the dead girl (with the exception of the lead) decides to conduct sexual activity with a corpse-like body held captive? Are we to expect nothing more of the men of the world than to be so misogynistic that issues like rape, necrophilia, and sickness hardly faze them? Some may argue that the main character represents a foil to all this madness, but I don’t think this is the case. He submits to the behavior through indecision, inaction, and incompetence. How does he arrive at the decision that he is okay with the rape of the dead girl? That he is okay with keeping a girl chained up for the sexual satisfaction of his buddies? He may not support it, but he is obviously not affected enough to do anything about it.

That's right. Just stare a little longer. 

You suck, Rickie.

The love story that sparsely populates a story about sexual violence is also concerning. Oddly, Rickie’s obsession with JoAnn is depicted as one of the reasons why he does not engage in sexual conduct with the dead girl. I get the impression that had JoAnn not been a part of his life, he would have been less inclined to turn down his chances with the dead girl. Did our lead really need extra ammunition? Couldn’t the fact that participating in such behavior is simply wrong be enough of a reason?

SPOILERS BELOW

In the end, when JoAnn is dying, Rickie decides to turn her into a dead girl as well so that he can be with her. This tells me that he never truly loved her; she was an object of aesthetic appreciation…nothing more. If he really loved her, then he would let her go instead of transforming her into an inhuman beast held against her will. Again, I ask…what are the filmmakers trying to say here? If you can’t get it, force it?

END SPOILERS

Can you find the non-jock in this picture?

Aside from the dark themes, Deadgirl is an only marginally competent film. It does succeed in establishing tone, but the screenwriting, acting, and editing detracted from what could have been an interesting story. Admittedly, the beginning of the film is suspenseful, creepy, and had me wanting to find out what happened next. Yet, instead of expanding beyond the sexual deviance plot, it just lingers in it. The dissolving friendship between J.T. and Rickie comes in to play only when it’s convenient, as does the Rickie’s fascination with JoAnn. While there are a couple scenes with comic relief, the subject matter doesn’t allow for much of an emotional palette. The film feels like a synopsis…it never really gets beyond its initial premise.  Most of the acting is good, but in a film like this, it’s quite noticeable when someone is not performing well. The jocks and JoAnn, in particular, are distracting. At times, I even found J.T. and Rickie to be less than convincing, but they were mostly solid. In conjunction with the storyline stretched thing, the editing makes the film drag through its 100 minutes. Some scenes feel too long, whereas others feel too short to have any consequence. I also think a slightly different cut would have diminished some of the poor acting, but I may be presuming too much.

All in all, Deadgirl  is a heavy film with style, but lacks substance and storytelling craft. It skims the surface of a lot of issues, but never presents an intellectual conversation and never allows for a real emotional investment.  

More Crayola Weirdness

I thought I would share a couple more pictures of my goofy artwork from the past.

Would Thomas Jefferson Steal a DVD? Part 3

Intellectual property has also been called intellectual protectionism and an intellectual monopoly. When conceived, it was indeed considered a temporary monopoly that was enforced by the state. Although intellectual property includes industrial ventures, such as patents and trademarks, the copyright monopoly is perhaps more of a threat to freedoms. This is because it is not only a source of economic control, but a source of creative control. The purpose of copyright law appears to benefit the artist upon a superficial glance. It was conceived to protect creators from “idea theft” and to provide financial incentive for artists so that they can make a living from their art. On a broader level, copyright law serves a specific government interest: to promote progress, art, and culture by offering these incentives and protections. In the text of the United States Constitution, the purpose of copyright and patents laws were “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”[1] As legislation involving copyright continues to develop, the purposes have evolved with the economic interests of media conglomerates.

Artists’ interests are not at the center of this legislation. These protections have been subverted in favor of profit. Copyright laws have extended purposes in supplying legal means of financial retribution and implementing economic superiority. What was once a legal recognition of the value of creativity has become a mechanism of controlling the entertainment industry. Since nearly all the media in the United States is managed by a handful of companies, their lobbying power to pass more advanced copyright law ensures their ability to control the type of media consumed. “[T]he purpose of patents and copyrights,” according to the Framers of the Constitution as well as legal scholars, “is not to enrich the few at the expense of the many.”[2] Copyright infringement also provides these major conglomerates a means of prosecuting individuals and other artists only with financial interests in mind. Not only do small violations add up to a large number in fines, but fear of prosecution adds to the atmosphere of control that is desired, creating an inevitable chilling effect on speech. The less options consumers have, the better for these companies because when “monopoly over ideas is absent, competition is fierce.”[3] Competition is narrowed by modern copyright law, as increased restrictions confine artists and limit consumers.

There are two components of copyright law: the ability to buy and sell copies of an idea and the power to control how others use the idea. While the purchasing power associated with DVD’s or CD’s for example is not disputed, the control after the purchase is controversial. This right is sometimes referred to as “‘intellectual monopoly,’ to emphasize that it is this monopoly over all copies of an idea that is controversial, not the right to buy and sell copies.”[4] The temporary monopoly may be granted to literary works, musical works, dramatic works, choreographed works, pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, motion pictures, and sound recordings. While this ownership period was intended to be limited, it keeps growing.  

The first known use of copyright protection came with Britain’s Statue of Anne in 1710, which was granted a reasonable 14 year period of protection. In the United States, the duration of copyright protection has increased from 28 years with the option to renew for another 28-year-term, to the life of the creator plus 70 years.[5] The idea here is that relatives of the creators should be included in the benefits of copyright protection. The Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, which added 20 years to the prior 50 year period, was passed in 1998 under much contention. It was often referred to as the Disney Copyright Extension because it was viewed as an attempt to keep Steamboat Willy—the original cartoon in which Mickey Mouse appears—out of the public domain. In a legal challenge that ended at the Supreme Court, opponents of the Act claimed that extending the monopoly for works that were already protected violated the purpose of copyright. If the primary governmental purpose of copyright is to foster new creations, then there is no need to extend rights for existing works. The Court disagreed, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explains:

Beneath the facade of their inventive constitutional interpretation,

petitioners forcefully urge that Congress pursued very bad policy

 in prescribing the CTEA’s [Copyright Term Extension Act] long terms.

The wisdom of Congress’ action, however, is not within our province

to second guess.[6]

While the Act may be a matter of poor policymaking, the majority of the Court reasoned that it was not a constitutional matter. However, Ginsburg’s analysis adds more weight to the fears of the Act’s challengers; Congress has the ability to make copyright terms virtually endless in the interest of major corporations, such as Disney. Some fear that the lovable black mouse will never enter the public domain, as Congress created “a virtual dam blocking the flow of information into the public domain.”[7]

---

[1] (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 United States Constitution 1787)

[2] (Boldrin and Levine 2004, 10)

[3] (Ibid, 10)

[4] (Ibid, 9)

[5] (Pember and Calvert 2007, 580)

[6] (Eldred v. Ashcroft 2003)

[7] (Samuelson 2003, 154)

Thanksgiving on Elm Street Part 3

For my last post, I discussed my memory issue with bad movies. I forget the ones I don’t like and forever remember the ones I enjoy. Aside from the original film, I recall the most from the third installment in the Nightmare on Elm Street series.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors

1987 sure was a good year. Only that particular point in time could have produced this epic entry, which features an equally epic song by Dokken. If I were to imagine the perfect 80’s moment, it might very well be the leader singer belting “We’re the Dreeeaaam Warriorrrrrsss!” Aside from the hair band awesomeness, Part 3 is just a solidly entertaining movie. Freddy’s back with a new viciousness and a sick sense of humor. Creative kills, some gore, decent EFX, and macabre exposition brought all the elements that many missed from Part 2. As much as I enjoy Freddy’s Revenge, I must say that I am thankful Dream Warriors realigned the rails and put the series back on track.

Two cherries on top of this victorious sequel sundae: Wes Craven and the cast. Craven returned to work on the story, offering his most excellent skills to craft a tale that recaptured the successful features of the original while offering something new. Freddy’s back story is a welcome addition to the lore of the Nightmare films. Plus, the son of 100 maniacs has a ring to it. Craven and the other writers also did an excellent job of recreating the confusing fantastical world of the subconscious. Natural law is replaced by terrifying dream logic. The second winning component of Dream Warriors is the cast.  Firstly, we get the return of Heather Langenkamp. Her cute face is always welcome on my television screen. It’s always nice to see where our main character’s end up. In this case, Nancy is helping teenagers who have sleep disorders. Way to go movie, this actually makes sense. Thanks! Nancy’s father, played by genre-favorite John Saxon, also jumps in on the fun towards the end. To top this off, we get Patricia Arquette as the Final Girl. She seems destined to play roles that require lots of screaming, mental disturbances, and she generally portrays someone with a messed up life. Throw in Laurence Fishburne and you got yourself a pretty impressive cast for an 80’s sequel. 

For this post, I thought I would we could relive my three favorite kills together. Not only is it fun (and maybe a tad sick) to pick favorites, but it will help me remember the deaths in the future. One of my goals in doing Thanksgiving on Elm Street was to resolve the confusion in my brain over which kills happened in which movie. So let’s begin the murder rundown.

 Phillip:

Poor Phillip. He has to have one of the most painful deaths I’ve ever seen. His veins are ripped out of his wrists and used as strings to puppeteer him off the roof of the hospital. Ouch!!! I think this may be my favorite of the three. The first kills are often some of the best.

Jennifer:

In the grand tradition of killing characters off in ways that relate to their weaknesses or desires, Freddy shoves this aspiring actress straight into primetime. I’m always happy to get the snide quips from Mr. Krueger as he’s murdering helpless pre-adults.

Taryn:

If needles make you cringe, then you won’t like this. Taryn, an ex-addict, is stabbed with 10 hypodermic needles. While it is simple and not necessarily gory, it is quite effective.

Conclusion:

Dream Warriors is awesome. 'Nuff said. Depending on how the rest of my retrospective on the Nightmare films goes, this will probably be my favorite of the sequels.

Thanksgiving on Elm Street Part 2

As I’ve said before, out of all the major horror franchises, I’m definitely the least familiar with Freddy and his films. I’ve only seen most of the movies once and I have a difficult time keeping them straight in my memory. Some of them I have just forgotten about completely. Usually when I can’t remember anything from a movie, it means I didn’t like it. My brain has this way of pushing out bad information so that it can save room for the important things like memorizing every single line of Army of Darkness. That said, I had almost zero memory of the next entry for Thanksgiving on Elm Street.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge

Given my background in easily forgetting bad movies, does that mean I didn’t enjoy Part 2? As the movie continued, I kept saying “How could I NOT remember THIS?” Perhaps my inaugural viewing of Freddy’s Revenge wasn’t so pleasant and I wiped it from my brain. Now, however, I am sure to remember it forever. Why? Because I actually liked it…a lot. I know I’m making the boys over at Tower Farms very happy when I say this. Despite the forced drama, the weirdness of its characters, the ridiculous scenarios, the unpolished Freddy metaphysics, and the wacked-out plotline, I thoroughly enjoyed the second installment. It has all the awkwardness of Sleepaway Camp and all twisted insanity of Silent Night, Deadly Night, all while somehow taking itself seriously. For this post, I’m going to give you a bunch of reasons why you should like Part 2. This list may confuse you. In fact, it may contain all the reasons that you hate this movie, but it just might give you a newfound purpose when returning to this ill-received sequel.

10 Reasons You Should Like Freddy’s Revenge

#1: Jesse screams like a girl
It’s not like Jesse only lets out girly blood-curdling screams once or twice. It happens on at least four distinct occasions and it’s pretty amazing. It’s not every day that you get a Final Guy, let alone a Final Guy that might as well be a Final Girl.

#2: Jesse’s Dance
There’s this incredible dance scene conducted by our hero Jesse to “Touch Me.” It’s highly sexualized, completely unnecessary, and will make you cringe. The best part is when he closes his dresser drawer with his butt, which is shown in close up.

#3: Jesse walks around everywhere with an exposed chest
I get that he is being taken over by Freddy and all, but does that somehow prevent him from buttoning up his shirt? The filmmakers just want you to see the glimmering sweat from his pectoral muscles...or lack thereof.

#4: Marshall Bell as Coach Schneider
Marshall Bell always plays a jerk. And he’s pretty good at it. What really makes this movie special is that the kids joke about Schneider being a masochistic guy that hangs out at S&M bars…and it turns out to be true.

#5: Homoerotic subtext
If you weren’t getting the hint from the previous three reasons, then let me explain it to you. Jesse constantly complains about Freddy “taking him” and getting “inside him.” When he is about to score with Lisa, he leaves to jump in bed with his pal, Ron. The homoerotic suggestiveness is even on the Wikipedia page for this movie.

#6: The snake
So the movie pulls this trick on you: Jesse is asleep in class and suddenly a snake starts slithering around his neck. You assume it’s occurring in Freddy’s dream world, but nope! It’s real. Somehow his buddies snuck across the entire classroom, retrieved the pet snake, and put it around Jesse without the teacher noticing. When Jesse wakes up screaming like a girl, the teacher says, “If you want to play with animals, Mr. Walsh, join the circus.”

#7: The Exploding Parakeet
Do I need to explain this anymore? Anytime animals explode for no reason in front of a family, including a little girl, it is funny. I love animals, but it’s still amazing.

#8: The Walsh Family
These people have the best reactions to all the bizarre occurrences. In very beginning of the film, they are having breakfast and suddenly they hear a woman—I mean Jesse—scream the most horrendous scream upstairs and they just kind of shrug. The little sis says, “Why can’t Jesse wake up like normal people?” This is great because the next time Jesse screams from a nightmare, they rush into his room like a SWAT team. And the father’s reaction to the Parakeet scenario is equally golden, blaming Jesse, saying that he put a cherry bomb in the bird. HA!

#9: People get all dramatic and stuff
Both Jesse and Lisa scream and cry like they’re working for an Oscar nomination. It’s incredible. There is no sense of humor about them, just blatant drama that isn't felt on the other side of the screen.

#10: The Pool Party
So Lisa throws this cool pool party, where everyone is dressed respectably and listening to jazz music. Yet, the moment her parents go to bed and the lights turn off, the party gets wild! And I’m not joking when I say the moment the light goes off. Suddenly, rock music is screaming from the radio and beer is flowing. Mingling turns into making out. And what’s they pay off for this? Are all the kids going to get horribly mutilated at the party? Well, no…not really. Only a few. This disappointment is all part of the charm.

So....Wait, you’re still not convinced? Did I actually make you hate the movie more? Let’s just agree to disagree.

My Little Spotlight in the Deep, Dark Vault of Horror

Remember that Ms. Horror Blogosphere thing I mentioned? Well, the spotlight on my blog is now up on The Vault of Horror. Check it out here for an interview and a bio that I wrote up for the entry. While you are there, be sure to look at the other contestants that are up so far. They have some awesome sites. Also, if you aren't familiar with The Vault of Horror blog itself, it would behoove you to give it a good looksie.

Oh Shit, it's Friday the 13th!

Everyone has a special post for the wonderful occurrence of a Friday falling on the 13th day of the month. Since I've done retrospectives on all of the Friday films last month, what is left for me to do? Well, I thought about it for a while (like 3 whole hours) and found the perfect idea. In commemoration of the holiday, I am going to share a collection of "Oh Shit" faces from the Friday the 13th films. What is an "Oh Shit" face? Well, it's probably better for me to just show you...

"Oh shit, zip up your pants."

"Oh shit, my hands are hairy."

"Oh shit, but I'm the Final Girl!"

"Oh shit, I can't act!"

"Oh shit, I'm allergic to knives."

"Oh shit, you finished just in time."

"Oh shit, this movie's in 3D!"

"Oh shit, I'm dying for realzzz this time, I promise."

"Oh shit, my hand fell off!"

"Oh shit, there's something in my eye."

"Oh shit, guys, I'm really getting cold...guys? I'm not kidding. This isn't acting. I'm actually acquiring hypothermia as we speak."

"Oh shit, I just realized that 1920's porn was the last thing I ever saw..."

"Oh shit, my death is off screen!!!"

"Oh shit, giving it up tonight was a good call."

"Oh shit, I'll never say 'Talk to the Hand' ever again!"

"Oh shit, my career is already dying."

"Oh shit, you can't kill the girl with perfect boobs."

"Oh shit, this hurts, this really really hurts."

"Oh shit, I just came in here to take a shit."

"Oh shit, I'm f'ing crazy."

"Oh shit, I can't breathe!!!!!!!!"

"Oh shit, Jesus, help me out here."

"Oh shit, this is what I get for being a jerk."

"Oh shit, this monster stole my earring."

"Oh shit, you mean this blood is real?"

"Oh shit, this voyage is doomed."

"Oh shit, I just wanted to rock!"

"Oh shit, I become BAMF."

"Oh shit, that was not the type of money shot I was expecting."

"Oh shit, my death is so COOL...get it?"

"Oh shit, this sucks on so many levels!" (No work necessary on my part)

AND THE GRAND FINALE...JASON'S TURN:

"OHHH SHIT!!!!!!!!"

As a final note, I'd like to thank the amazing BodyBags Count site for so many of these images and for being a wonderful guide to the death scenes from all of the classics. It's like an encyclopedia of kills, with images and useful information.