Review of Deadgirl (2008) by Chris M — 08 Oct 2009

While this film is certainly flawed, I think it's a lot more interesting than most people will give it credit for. The knee-jerk reaction to this is that it's sick, horrifying, and senseless. I'd say yes to the first two but a definite no to the third. The premise is out there, but it effectively drives the point home. Much can be made about our individual differences, but we all have the same basic needs. Acceptance, love, sex, power...to name a few. When we can't meet these needs in normal, healthy ways, we meet them in abnormal, unhealthy, and, if taken far enough, horrifying ways. The circumstances leading to our horrifying actions never justify them, but they undeniably push us to those ends. It's why we have rapists, child molesters, crazed gunmen. We like to write these people off as sick and disturbed, convincing ourselves that they all have something fundamentally wrong with their brains. While this is certainly true in some cases, we often ignore the simpler and probably more common cause: they have gone too long without their needs being met, and they can't go on that way any longer.

That's why Deadgirl's ending especially is so upsetting and so brilliant. Even the most conscientious of us can only take getting crapped on for so long before resorting to more questionable methods of satisfying our needs.