The Horror Show
Dead Girls
by Neal Fischer and Del Harvey
Women in horror are often portrayed as victims, but on occasion they serve as heroes, or even the femme fatale. With the exception of rape and revenge films, I don’t think I’ve seen a women portrayed in all three roles within the time of a single film. Needless to say, Brain Damage Films made a horror anthology based around that very concept, Dead Girls. Chicks get murdered and come back with a vengeance. I like anthologies. I like deadly women. I like poorly setup framing devices that don’t contribute to the overall continuity of the movie. So, what’s not to like with this one here?
The first segment, Over My Dead Body follows Suzy, who while at a party, suspects that her boyfriend is cheating on her. He claims that the other girl is just a childhood friend. Suzy isn’t a fool though. Her boyfriend decides that he wants both girls but Suzy doesn’t want any part of it. He attempts to force himself upon Suzy, accidentally killing her in the process. Any reasonable human being would call the police but Suzy’s boyfriend and his roommate decide to just dump the body. Suzy doesn’t stay dead though. She comes back to silence her dog of a boyfriend.
In Theta Phi’s Never Die, Courtney and Avery decide to join the most popular sorority Theta Phi. At the party, Courtney, Avery, and a handful of others are selected to become pledges. Theta Phi selects one of their pledges for an initiation rite, which is more like a hazing ritual. They drug their pledge and terrorize her with horrific masks; this year’s victim is Avery. Things go awry and poor mild-mannered Avery drops dead. She comes back throwing away her prudish ways and takes up the way of killing people in the bathtub with a hair straightener.
The final segment, Vengeance is Mine follows Maggie, a young girl reduced to working the street. Her priest sexually assaulted her in the church. She attempts to confide in a nun but not even she is willing to believe Maggie. Since she is so much younger than all the other street girls she rakes in the most money. One hooker in particular starts seeing green plotting to kill Maggie and run away with her cash. However, Maggie has been through some crap and isn’t going down without a fight.
I liked the overall concept of this movie but I think it was executed rather poorly. The wraparound features a girl running from some guy who is out to get her for some reason. We get very little back-story here but I was willing to forgive that. The girl meets a ghost girl who gives her a book foretelling what will happen. The ghost appears in Over My Dead Body seemingly resurrecting Suzy. However, this is abandoned in every other segment. In Theta Phi’s Never Die, it is heavily foreshadowed as to who resurrected Avery. I don’t want to give it away but it definitely wasn’t the ghost girl from the wraparound. I don’t think there was much communication going on between writers here. The only segments featuring the ghost girl were both written by Del Harvey. I can say pretty certainly that the girl in Vengeance is Mine wasn’t even dead. If she was, it was glossed over without me catching it even though I watched that segment twice. I guess it makes sense why that particular story didn’t quite fit in. Drake Linder was the only stand-alone writer that wasn’t involved in directing. So, even less communication between writers and directors there. I really think that there was very little to nothing actually connecting any of these films together, overall it lacked cohesion.
Let’s talk about Theta Phi’s Never Die for a minute. This movie is about a nerdy girl who is accidentally murdered due to a failed prank. She then comes back to life, but sexier, and with a thirst for vengeance. She also exhibits super human strength after returning as well. Does anything about that plot sound familiar? No? Well it should. That’s because it’s the exact same plot as the 2005 horror film Tamara. You want to know what it’s about? Don’t worry, I’ll tell you! It’s about a nerdy girl who is killed in a prank gone wrong. Due to a magic ritual, she is brought back, sexier and demanding vengeance. She also exhibits inhuman powers. Unfortunately, that makes Theta Phi’s Never Die an almost exact rip-off of Tamara. However, since Theta Phi’s Never Die is considerably shorter it’s more like the cliff-note version. So, for whatever reason, if you have to watch Tamara for a test but lack the time, just watch Theta Phi’s Never Die. I also suggest changing the title to Theta Phi’s “Must” Die because, well, it’s catchier and makes more sense.
My second major issue with this movie lies in Vengeance is Mine. Clearly this particular segment is about religion. It portrays religion as hypocritical and completely messed up. Even though I agree, this movie shoves the message down your throat. Maggie is a hooker, cool, but was it necessary for her to be a nun themed hooker? Everything was about religion but it was done in such a literal way it got old fast. Don’t make the viewer do any work, that’s cool. I liked that Stake Land took a much more symbolic and metaphorical approach in regard to religion. It forced you to think and put the pieces together for yourself.
I really wanted to enjoy this movie because I loved the concept and I love anthologies. Sadly, I think that if one of the dead girls in this movie is actually living you can’t still call this movie Dead Girls. I also hate it when movies take an attractive girl and just give her bad make-up, glasses, put her hair in a bun, and make her slouch a little to make her ugly. Here’s a little note, that doesn’t actually make her unattractive. Another thing, these characters were some of the most one-dimensional characters I’ve ever seen. Even though I blame a portion of it on the terrible acting portrayed by every single actor, the writing is really to blame. My personal favorites are the girls from Theta Phi’s Never Die their sole interests lay in being bitches. They literally exhibit no other aspect of being a human being. This movie does almost everything wrong. I personally think that these dead girls should have stayed dead. These stories were never meant to be told.
Billy Wayne Martin, HMS
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