Film

Deadgirl

Name: Deadgirl
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 2008
Cast: Shiloh Fernandez, Noah Segan, Michael Bowen, Candice King, Nolan Gerard Funk

Horror
Very dark

A horror film about two high school misfits who discover a chained, seemingly undead woman in an abandoned hospital and must reckon with the moral abyss that opens between them. It's bleak, deliberately provocative, and furious with its teenage characters—less interested in scares than in watching decent people rationalize descent. Uncompromising and difficult.

TMDb rating

2.7

If you liked this

Martyrs2008

A French horror film that matches Deadgirl's refusal to look away from cruelty or offer easy catharsis. It asks hard questions about suffering, complicity, and what horror cinema owes its audience. Genuinely destabilizing.

But Extremely graphic violence and sexual trauma depicted without softening. Not a film that lets you off the hook or rewards passive viewing. Punishing in the best and worst sense.

The Descent2005

A claustrophobic creature film that works because it takes its characters seriously and their terror genuinely matters. Smart survival decisions, believable friendships, and a willingness to kill people you care about.

But The creature design is less interesting than the human psychology. Some found the sequels tainted the original, and there's a genuinely nihilistic ending that won't satisfy everyone.

A Dark Song2016

Two people in a house, mostly talking, moving toward something unspeakable. It's slow and strange and the film trusts you to sit with dread and emotional weight. Haunting and unexpectedly tender given how dark it gets.

But Glacially paced. Very little happens plot-wise for long stretches. The ending divides people sharply on whether it earns its ambiguity.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Deadgirl

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Ginger Snaps2000

Both use genre to examine how young people rationalize moral compromise; both are fundamentally about friendship tested by bodily horror and the question of whether love survives knowing what someone is capable of.

A Canadian werewolf film where the transformation is explicitly metaphorical—puberty, womanhood, the horror of your body changing against your will. It's funny and genuinely moving while being a real genre film. The bond between the sisters mirrors what Deadgirl interrogates about male friendship, but inverts it.

But The werewolf effects are dated and the film doesn't always balance comedy with horror smoothly. Some sequences feel more teen-movie than horror.

Starry Eyes2014

A young woman's Faustian bargain in Hollywood gradually corrupts her friendship and soul. Character-focused horror that uses genre to explore complicity and the cost of ambition. Visually stunning and deeply uncomfortable.

But Sexual coercion and body horror throughout. Doesn't shy from depicting exploitation graphically. The tone is glacial and airless—it's a slog by design.

The Wailing2016

A Korean mystery-horror that refuses to answer its questions and trusts the audience to sit with uncertainty. Morally murky, formally ambitious, and genuinely unsettling in ways that linger. Masterful filmmaking.

But Nearly three hours, subtitled, and the ending is deliberately inconclusive. Demands active engagement and multiple viewings to parse. Not a comfort watch.

Goodnight Mommy2015

An Austrian horror about two boys and a stranger in a bandaged face that slowly reveals itself to be about something far darker than the premise suggests. Formally precise and morally corrosive.

But Graphic violence toward children. The twist, while earned, will make you want to shower. Bleak in a way that offers no redemption.

The Babadook2014

Psychological horror that uses the supernatural as a framework to examine grief, resentment, and the violence parents sometimes direct at their children. Genuinely frightening and surprisingly nuanced about mental illness.

But Relies heavily on jump scares and might feel formulaic if you've seen a lot of contemporary horror. Some find the ending too neat given how dark it goes.

We Are Still Here2015

A haunted-house film that builds genuine dread and earns its violence. The characters are specific and believable; when bad things happen, they matter. Gorgeous cinematography and a genuine sense of cosmic wrongness.

But Relatively quiet first half might feel slow. The payoff is brutal, which some will find cathartic and others exploitative.

Prevenge2017

A British film about a pregnant woman committing murders at the behest of her unborn child. Funny, weird, formally inventive, and uses genre to explore motherhood and control in unexpected ways. Audacious.

But Deliberately absurdist and tonal tonal shifts won't work for everyone. Doesn't take itself seriously in ways that undercut the horror. At times feels more like an art film than a thriller.

Come True2020

Both films are fundamentally about the weaponization of a passive body and what it means when people who should know better participate in that weaponization. Both refuse to let the audience off easy by vilifying their male protagonists—instead forcing complicity.

A slow-burn sci-fi horror about a girl in a sleep study that gradually reveals itself to be about bodily autonomy and what institutions do to vulnerable people. Formally adventurous, genuinely unsettling, and morally serious about exploitation.

But Genuinely experimental in structure and pacing—some will find it self-indulgent. The ending is cryptic and the film asks a lot of the audience without always paying off clearly. Bleak without catharsis.

Requiem2006

Like Deadgirl, it's a film about the powerlessness of a person reduced to an object—here by religious and medical institutions rather than teenage boys. Both interrogate how normalcy and routine can conceal atrocity. Both refuse to offer the comfort of narrative resolution.

A German film about a young woman experiencing what may be demonic possession or mental illness, shot as a pseudo-documentary that refuses to choose. Based on a true story. Formally rigorous, genuinely horrifying, and morally clear about institutional cruelty masquerading as care.

But Intensely bleak with no redemption. Graphic depictions of abuse by authority figures. In German with subtitles. The pseudo-documentary format and slow pacing will feel punishing rather than suspenseful to many.