TORONTO AFI FEST SITGES

TORONTO
FILM FESTIVAL 2008
AFI2008
FEST
“Deadgirl will
remind you of the
best of Cronenberg.
“The thing’s
pretty much
fucking
Cleverly written, stylishly
directed and morbidly
fascinating. ”
- AINT-IT-COOL-NEWS
brilliant.”
SITGES
FILM FESTIVAL 2008
“One of the
smartest
teen horrors
I’ve watched
in some time.”
- INDIEWIRE
- FILM THREAT
Every generation has its story
about the horror of growing up.
“An audacious, perverse shocker.
This adolescent fantasy-gone-wrong proves difficult to dismiss.”
- Reuters / Hollywood Reporter
synopsis
Daringly original and genre-busting,
DEADGIRL is an odyssey into the soul of our
alienated youth. But by injecting universal
teen moral moorings into something
fantastical and terrifying, the film takes the
conventions of the horror and coming-of-age
movies and turns them on their heads.
When high school misfits Rickie (Shiloh
Fernandez) and JT (Noah Segan) decide to
cut school and find themselves lost in the
crumbling facility of a nearby abandoned
hospital, they come face-to-face with a
gruesome discovery: a woman whose body
has been stripped naked, chained to a table
and covered in plastic. When both react to the
situation in extremely different ways, the boys
soon find themselves embarking on a twisted
yet poignant journey that forces them to
decide just how far they’re willing to stretch
their understanding of right and wrong.
A no-holds-barred look at the horror
of growing up, DEADGIRL stars Shiloh
Fernandez (Red), Noah Segan (Brick),
Michael Bowen (Kill Bill, Jackie Brown),
and Candice Accola (Juno).
CLICK HERE
to view the
Deadgirl teaser
“Legitimately frightening
and surprisingly
funny.”
–Metro Canada
“NOT SINCE ‘SESSION 9’ HAS AN
ABANDONED ASYLUM BEEN USED
TO SUCH UNSETTLING EFFECT.”
–VARIETY
“Two new faces at Toronto who show more artistic
verve and bravery than many of the festival’s masters
are co-directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel,
the filmmakers behind the clever, scary, unsettlingly
sexual teenage bondage thriller Deadgirl.”
- IndieWIRE
the filmmakers
Marcel Sarmiento & Gadi Harel, Producers/Directors
Marcel Sarmiento was a participant in the new director’s program at
Twentieth Century Fox’s Searchlab, His films include Heavy Petting (‘07),
starring Malin Akerman, and Deadgirl (‘08). Gadi Harel spent his early career
as an apprentice to a private eye and reporting for The New York Observer.
His films include the post-modern noir Nights Like These (‘03) and Deadgirl
(‘08). In 2006, Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel created Hollywoodmade, a
Los Angeles-based production company for motion picture production and
a wide variety of other creative pursuits. In 2008, Bloomsbury published
The Modern Con Man, a tongue-in-cheek lifestyle guide that they co-wrote.
Deadgirl is Hollywoodmade’s first feature film. Recenrtly, they signed a deal
to write and direct their follow up for Gold Circle Films. It will be a remake
of the Danish thriller, Morke.
Trent Hagaa, Writer
Trent Haaga has been involved in over 40 feature films as an actor, screenwriter,
and producer. He is the co-author of the instructional/humor book Make
Your Own Damn Movie, available from St. Martin’s Press. Deadgirl is his fifth
produced screenplay.
the cast
Shiloh Fernandez (Rickie)
Noah Segan (JT)
Shiloh appeared in Gardens of The Night alongside
John Malkovich, Jeremy Sisto and Harold Perrineau,
and From Within (After Dark/Lions Gate). Shiloh also
played the role of Pete Doust in the feature film Red,
opposite Brian Cox. Most recently, Shiloh appeared
in Cadillac Records for Sony / BMG, a period piece
dealing with the rise and fall of the influential R&B
label Chess Records. He plays the role of Phil Chess
opposite Adrian Brody, Beyonce Knowles, Jeffrey
Wright and Gabrielle Union.
Noah starred opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the
Sundance-winning film Brick and Fox’s The Visitation.
He re-teamed with Brick director Rian Johnson for a
cameo in The Brothers Bloom, opposite Mark Ruffalo,
Adrien Brody, Rachel Weiss and Rinko Kikuchi. He can be
seen in What We Do Is Secret with Shane West and Bijou
Philips, a biopic about the seminal, legendary punk band
The Germs. Noah also stars in Lionsgate Entertainment’s
Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, and opposite Nikki Reed in
Chain Letter, from the makers of the Saw franchise.
Candice Accola (Joann)
Michael Bowen (Clint)
In addition to Deadgirl, Candice has completed
the independent feature On the Doll with Brittany
Snow, and was featured in Juno, opposite Ellen
Page. She also appears in Hannah Montana: The
Movie.
Michael Bowen has been acting in television and
feature films for many years, including guest spots on
“ER,” “NYPD Blue,” “The X-Files,” “CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation,” and “Lost.” Some of his feature film
work includes roles in Jackie Brown, Magnolia, Kill
Bill: Vol. 1, Walking Tall, After the Sunset, and Bobby.
directors’
statement
“We were interested in making
a film that explored the pain of
being young and the confusion
of growing up, but in a way that
felt altogether new.
What excited us about Trent Haaga's script was the
way it told a story that felt familiar at first, but then
took a dramatic and terrifying turn into a direction
no one could possibly anticipate. It touched upon
typical teen fears – intimacy, abandonment,
uncertainty – and spun from realism to the surreal,
and then back again. We felt the very nature of the
script embodied what it was like to be a teenager –
uncompromising and rebellious, while at the same
time maintaining an earnestness, even in the most
desperate of circumstances. That emotion, as well
as some pretty dark humor, was important to keep
us connected to the characters, even when their
actions turnedhorrifying or uncomfortable.
There's a point in life when many see for themselves a
disappointing future that differs greatly from the one
they always expected. It can be a painful moment –
what we see as the “horror of growing up”– and as
filmmakers, we were excited to explore the theme
through such an uncompromising, unique, and
hopefully unforgettable story.”
MARCEL SARMIENTO
GADI HAREL
additional praise
“I have never seen a film that so absolutely captured the sheer horror
of peer pressure, of wanting to be accepted, of finally finding your own
little piece of the world and what you’d do to protect it. Conceptually,
this thing is playing with the kind of material that Carpenter, Romero
and Craven were all playing around with early in their careers.
It is a film with something to say.”
– Aint It Cool News
“A cautionary tale for the ages.”
–San Francisco Bay Guardian
“A teen-angst-and-terror opus.”
–FANGORIA
“The horror genre is in need of vastly original ideas likes this.”
–FIRST SHOWING
“Floats smoothly between dark comedy and horror, and the result is
a coming-of-age film like you’ve never seen before.”
–SLASH FILM
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Mark Horowitz •H20 Motion Pictures •mark@h20motionpictures.com • [t] 310-459-2440 • [c] 310-880-9372