When you start up a horror flick from the 80s or early 90s and its aspect ratio is 1.33:1 (like the old TVs), you know you are in for a ride. Usually, these films are in a VHS-copy-of-a-VHS quality and nobody in the main cast has a picture on IMDb, however, Dead Girls has been remastered and released on Blu-ray, so one can enjoy the schlock in full HD. Only one actor has a picture on IMDb, though.
Dead Girls rides on the 1980s’ Satanic Panic against heavy metal music and is inspired by the case of John Daniel McCollum, who, allegedly, committed suicide after listening to Suicide Solution by Ozzy Osbourne. It begins with the mass suicide of a cult that is based on the member’s love for an all-girl heavy shock factor metal band, Dead Girls.
There is one survivor, Brooke, and she happens to be the sister of Gina, aka Bertha Beirut, a member of Dead Girls. Gina is blamed for the deaths by her Republican family and the band decides to take a two-week break in a cabin, but they are followed by a psycho wearing a Dr. Phibes-esque mask and armed with a nail gun and other weapons referenced in the band’s songs. They also take the sister with them, who is still in shock after having survived a suicide attempt.
Oh, yeah, Gina is also psychic and can sense when people are in trouble, which causes some issues when the psycho starts killing off her band mates in true slasher fashion.
The film was made for 100k dollars. That’s not a lot of money, however, they used it wisely. The film is basically all set in one location, a rented cabin, and a lot of the scenes are shot outside in daylight. As someone who has seen a whole bunch of zero budgeted films, this really doesn’t look like one. It’s well lit, well shot and all in all looks professional. The audio isn’t perfect but that just gives it charm.
The actors are also surprisingly good in their roles and it’s surprising that most of them didn’t do much before or after Dead Girls. I could have done with more gore, but all in all, Dead Girls is a good slasher flick with a crazy ending.
