Our Green Screen

At a recent Q & A, we were asked about digital effects in the movie. There are probably three or four very minor moments, things that needed smoothing out but hopefully go unnoticed... but we did have one green screen shot, which sorta makes it Deadgirl's most complex digital effect.

Here's the hospital we needed to show the boys approaching.
But it was the last day of production, and we were out in the middle of nowhere. So we filmed Shiloh and Noah against a green screen.
A quick test showed us that this might actually work.
Then it just took some time to finesse, including making the building look even crappier. Voila, a much-needed establishing shot.

As seen in Chicago

Jenny Spain at the Music Box Theater screening.
The Horror Society caught the Chicago screening and reports about it here.

Also, a couple of other reviews from this weekend:
"If there weren't some poisonous kernel of truth in Deadgirl's grotesque, testosterone-poisoned 'what if?' premise, no-one would be squirming." - Miss Flick Chick
"Twisted and unpredictable." - We Are Movie Geeks
"Sickly fascinating." - Critic's Notebook

Thanks

We had an overwhelming turnout to our cross-country screenings this weekend, so to everyone who came out to see the movie -- THANK YOU.

As seen in LA

As seen in New York

As seen in Austin

This new Fangoria review has some nice things to say, though this paragraph is our standout:

"While providing a wealth of subtext to ponder, the movie also delivers a heaping helping of graphic gore and sexual material, though the former can’t be enjoyed on the level of traditional splatter and the latter is anything but arousing. DEADGIRL intends to crawl deep under your skin and stay there awhile, and its creators’ refusal to frame the violence in a manner where it can serve as vicarious entertainment may be part of the reason some genre fans have complained that it doesn’t go far enough—itself a comment on how certain people (expect to) view women."

"Read this review carefully..."

The Staten Island Advance begins its review with those words, and what follows is nothing short of brilliant: "It's entirely possible that this movie couldn't be for you, and should you wander into it by mistake it could leave you irreparably damaged, unable to have a healthy sexual relationship, to experience love, to make friends. And nobody wants their life ruined by a movie."

"Expect Deadgirl to Raise Hell"

The release of this movie has introduced us to some new (for us, but probably not for everyone else) blogs and websites and magazines. Buzzine is just the latest example of this. Here's their take on the movie.

Scared of the Truth

Every once in a while we get a review where it's pretty clear the writer actually loves the movie but is either unable to admit it to themselves or to others. This is such a review.

"Seriously F-ed Up"

- Paper Magazine

"Don't Frack with the Undead"

Dan Persons' Might Movie Podcast takes on Deadgirl in this week's edition: "Directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel suggest that this be looked at as a kind of twisted coming-of-age story. I suspect midnight audiences will be too busy having their buttons pushed to get too far down to the subtext. In any case, it's obvious that Sarmiento and Harel (working from a script by Trent Haaga) can mount a stylish, daring nightmare, whatever the theme. It's a helluva way to greet the new day."

Click here for the podcast interview with the directors – definitely worth the listen.

"Deadgirl reaps a sense of substantial, twisted alienation..."
- Metromix

National screenings begin tomorrow
in a city near you.
Click here for details.

More Salon

Salon's Andrew O'Hehir just filed a new piece that seems to be mostly about the aura of Deadgirl, but also manages to make a few nice observations about the movie, too. (Sorry, it's going to be a long excerpt, but it's worth it)

"Deadgirl is a much better-crafted and subtler film than it sounds like... Its horrifying ideas and images -- I should make clear that very little of the violence is actually shown on screen -- serve as a symbolic lure, meant to draw you into a dark, compelling tale of teenage male bonding and high-school class warfare. Its two protagonists, weak-willed pretty boy Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and dead-end greaseball JT (Noah Segan), are classic teen outsiders, tormented by the jocks and staring at a long future of low-paying service jobs, alcoholism and chronic disappointment. If you consider the story as psychoanalytic drama, the dead girl not only isn't human, she isn't real at all -- she's nothing more than the fantasy projection of their masturbatory and perhaps homoerotic desire.

The writing-directing team of Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel capture the sublimated violence of JT and Rickie's banter in unusually convincing detail; in fact, the movie's best scenes have nothing to do with the slowly decaying undead chick in the basement. (Although the violence quotient is relatively low, the squirm-inducing makeup effects are highly effective.) Try as you may to squeeze "Deadgirl" into some pseudo-feminist frame, it doesn't quite fit. This is a movie about youthful male alienation -- that venerable American-cinema topic -- and its tragicomic consequences."

"Don't Say I Didn't Warn You..."

So says Red Reed in his hilarious and loving review of Deadgirl, in which he describes the movie as "part S&M porno, part supernatural chiller, and worthy only if you’re interested in how far movies can go before the police arrive."

At a theater near you

Everything you need to know about our upcoming Midnight Roadshow can be found right here at the...

new Deadgirl website

Remember to check back for updates. We already know Denver and Tacoma are being adding in August.

All About Deadgirl

"Deadgirl ventures into the dark, terrifyingly real recesses of the human mind in a story that explores the social and sexual dynamics of adolescence... it's strikingly original for a genre in which originality hasn't been a strong suit of late. Despite the supernatural aspect, it's a stunningly real and insightful character study."

[Click here to read the entire About.com review]

"Unnerving and Surprisingly Poignant"

"Every now and then a low budget horror movie comes along that not only surprises you, but also turns out to be one of the strongest movies you’ve seen in a while. Don’t get me wrong, Deadgirl will offend as many viewers as it entices, if not a little more, but there’s something about this twisted little tale that will keep you hooked..."
– 24 Frames Per Second

And while we're at it:
[links embedded]

"A grim and scary story about coming of age in a messed up world. Original, daring and extremely haunting." - JoBlo.com

"A dark fairytale about necrophelia and taboo love as well... a rather unique yet definitely very unpleasant experience." – Lowdown Magazine (uk)

Also here's a beautifully written review from the blog Cereal Nocturnal, that includes thoughts like "Deadgirl does explore the unnerving progression from the dull normality of our everyday life to the excitement of human confrontation produced by total mayhem" and "Love is presented as an inevitable psychosis" and finishes with this: "Who wouldn’t fall in love with a dead girl when heaven is a dark damp basement with absolute sexual freedom, and hell is an open blue skied piece of shit lonely world, full of jocks and their pretty girlfriends?"

And also:
Slashing the Seats has some nice things to say.
Cinema Suicide reviews the flick, too.

"Crappy"

"Deadgirl is one of those films that I am afraid to tell you about..."
- Dr. Joy Browne

But keep in mind, her entire review for Eagle Eye reads: "This is one fascinating, fun movie! This is probably the best-edited movie you’ve ever seen. This has probably got the best car chase you have ever seen! It’s really fun.”

"As much as I'm inclined to rant about the sickness and depravity of this stuff, I'm not sure I can write off this film outright." - salon.com

Salon has jumped into the debate.

Theatrical Roadshow

Screen Daily ran a story today about our upcoming theatrical plan, "a simultaneous one-weekend, midnight-only, roadshow-style theatrical event in 9 major markets, starting July 24." Click here for the article. We'll be posting more details about all this pretty soon...

In the meantime, some advance domestic reviews as we get closer (click a quote to link to the whole thing).

"Kind of a nightmare version of 'The Last American Virgin'. One of the best horror movies of the year so far." -eSplatter

"Genre bending, weird, gruesome and one of the most interesting films I have seen in years." - Horror-Movies

"I urge you to seek out the closest theater near you that'll be showing it."- The Vault of Horror

"Disturbing, sadistic and over the top insane but also easily one of the most imaginative films I have seen in a very very long time." - ShootForTheHead

"Once in a while a film comes along that jars you out of your cinematic slumber. For die hard genre fans it’s tough to find that one gem that really cuts through the muck and raises the bar. This year Deadgirl has become that film." - BrutalAsHell