Dennis Devine
Two days before Christmas in 1985, heavy metal loving Reno, Nevada residents Raymond Belknap and James Vance got drunk, smoked weed, went to a church playground and stuck a 12-gauge shotgun under their chins and pulled the trigger. Belknap was killed instantly while Vance only managed to blow off the bottom portion of his face. After countless hours of reconstructive surgery and endless pain, Vance passed away three years after the incident. The young men's parents then did what a lot of people in similar situations do: Tried to blame-shift the pain away. They found their boogeyman in Judas Priest's 1978 cover of Spooky Tooth's "Better by You, Better Than Me" and subsequently sued the band for killing their kids. The claims involved supposed subliminal messages (such as "do it, do it, do it") being hidden inside the song somehow brainwashing their sons into taking their own lives. The civil case went to trial, experts testified for both sides and the judge threw the lawsuit out soon after. The case had been percolating and making front page news in the American press for years before the actual trial and appears to have been something of an influence on the film we're about to watch.
A bunch of sullen, big-haired teens gather together by some candles in a dark room. They're all fans of a female "death rock" group called Deadgirls, whose dark lyrics are all about death, destruction, depression and suicide. The ringleader of the group - Brooke (Ilene B. Singer) - reminds everyone that "Life is a dog! A total bummer!" before they all whip out knives and slit their own wrists. Everyone ends up dying except for Brooke, who's now unresponsive and has somehow willed herself into a psychosomatic coma. Brooke's estranged sister, whom she hadn't even spoken to for two years prior, also happens to be Gina Verelli (Diana Karanikas), lead singer and chief lyricist of Deadgirls.
After the death of her parents in a car accident when she was just eight, Gina was raised in a small town by her hyper-religious aunt and uncle and was a church choir singer prior to being discovered by pushy talent agent Artie (Brian Burr Chin) and thrust into the band. But everything about Deadgirls is a gimmick. They make jokes about how untalented they all are and don't really mean what they sing. It simply sells. Each of the members have their own stage name, own style, own shtick and own persona. Gina, for instance, goes by "Bertha Beirut" and likes to strangle herself with an American flag while on stage. Away from her Deadgirls stuff, she's sensitive and sweet.
There's also bitchy former magician Susie Stryker aka "Cynthia Slain" (Angela Scaglione), who "eviscerates" herself during performances, the weapons-obsessed Amy aka "Nancy Napalm" (Kay Schaber Wolf), who chooses not to reveal her "past reality" and boasts about knowing "how to use over 200 different military-issued anti-personnel devices," Julliard-trained drummer Mark Grant aka "Randy Rot" (Steven Kyle) and Dana aka "Lucy Lethal" (Angela Eads), who's in charge of the make-up and is either Marky's sister or his girlfriend or perhaps both. It's complicated... so complicated I could never make sense of it myself!
Due to Gina's rapidly crumbling mental health, prompted not only by Brooke's suicide attempt but also death threats, frequent nightmares, hallucinations and premonitions and her bandmates' opposition to her wanting to change the doom-and-gloom direction of the group ("We're the Deadgirls, not The Shirelles!"), the band decide they need to take a short break to regroup and arrange a vacation at a secluded mountain cabin. Gina insists on dragging her sister, who's finally up and getting around but still a little loopy, along. Also coming are Brooke's private nurse (Deirdre West), Jeff the security liaison (Jeff Herbick) and weird female "super groupie" / stalker Karen (Mara Holland), who goes everywhere the band goes whether she's invited or not! Waiting for them when they arrive is a stuttering, voyeuristic handyman named Elmo (David Williams), who one girl describes as being "retarded or something."
Gina will be leaving behind a long list of aggrieved people, who either directly blame her for the suicide deaths or have other, more self-serving objectives. Her aunt (Carol Albright), who has recently lost control over a significant amount of inheritance now that Gina's of age, tells her "I hope you burn in hell for this!" A local reverend (Marshall Martin) whom the aunt had been forking over large amounts of cash to, views the girls as "lost sheep" and may now have to look for a new revenue stream if they aren't feeling as generous as the aunt. Brooke's pissed off boyfriend threatens, "You're gonna pay!" Now that I think about it, basically everyone else in this backwards small town would probably have a motive for revenge, though she also reconnects with supportive former boyfriend Mike (David Chatfield).
Considering all that's going on (quite frankly, too much!), it comes as no surprised when someone slaps on a disguise (rubber skull mask, trench coat, fedora) and starts laying into the group. Whoever is doing it is also patterning their killing spree after the band's songs, selecting titles like "Nail Gun Murders" and "Drown Your Sorrows" as inspiration. Though most of the death scenes are pretty tame, there's at least some variety. There's a hanging, a drowning, a stabbing, a throat slashing, a few shootings (by nail gun and pistol), a head beaten in with a tree branch, someone getting blown up, an eye gouged out with a crucifix and, in the most gruesome and bloody bit by far, fingers and a hand chopped off with an axe.
Almost a decade ago, I made a list of twenty hidden gems made in the 80s (LIST HERE) that I thought more genre fans should check out. I included Dead Girls on said list and didn't think much of it at the time, then laughed my ass off after stumbling upon the following comment referencing that list on Letterboxd:
While I think having me euthanized for having a differing opinion is a bit extreme, it did get me thinking about that list and this film's place on it. If I had to make the list all over again, right now, would I include Dead Girls? Nope. I've now seen many good obscure 80s genre films and this one would not make the cut. Do I stand by my original statement that this is a fun movie? Yep. Still do. And this revisit after so many years did nothing to alter my original assessment.
Where Dead Girls differentiates itself from other low budget U.S. hack-and-slash flicks of the era is doing a better-than-usual job setting up its premise like a whodunit, with loads of potential suspects (basically everyone!) and red herrings. The script by Steve Jarvis then manages to capitalize on all that in a big way by using said suspects to deliver one unexpected turn after another during the last 20 or so minutes, leading to a grim, unexpected twist. There's also some witty dialogue and most of the primary characters are fleshed out in an entertaining way.
All that said, this low budget 16mm production is far from perfect. It's too long (105 minutes), drags at times and it's clear as day watching just where some of that fat should have been trimmed. First thing to go should have been all of the stuff involving Gina's ESP abilities, a plot angle that's introduced, goes nowhere and is then simply forgotten about for the rest of the film. There are some technical issues, too, especially with the audio recording and editing. A hair is also on the lens during some scenes. Most of the acting is amateurish, though Karanikas is a solid lead and there's strong support from Eads and West. Many of the people seen here also appeared in Devine's previous film: the shot-on-video FATAL IMAGES (1989).
This was first released on video by Raedon, who had one of the worst catalogs of the entire VHS era, which makes Dead Girls one of their best releases by far. I do however wonder if the person who wrote the plot synopsis on the back of the case actually even watched the film. In 2022, Vinegar Syndrome finally released this on Blu-ray on their set "Home Grown Horrors: Volume 2" along with the low budget slasher MOONSTALKER (1989) and Hanging Heart (1989). It's restored from the original camera negative, so it's looking about as good as it ever will now. Their release also comes with two commentary tracks and the 93-minute documentary Dead Girls Rock: Looking Back on Dead Girls, featuring interviews with the director, writer and a number of the cast members.
★★1/2
