This film is a blast! DEAD GIRLS falls into the now-defunct category of "heavy metal horror," a small subgenre that mixed 80s rock mentality, big hair and leather pants with either a slasher or satanism horror plot. Other films in this field include ROCKTOBER BLOOD (1984), TRICK OR TREATS (1986), SLAUGHTERHOUSE ROCK (1987) and SHOCK 'EM DEAD (1990), but DEAD GIRLS has them all beat. Despite a loopy plot and low-budget limitations, director Dennis Devine pulls out the stops to make sure this is an entertaining film.
The Plot: Gina, lead singer of the all-female rock band The Dead Girls, has ESP abilities and foresees the future. In the opening dream, Gina's sister Brooke ("Life's a dog! A total bummer!") and her friends commit group suicide, slashing their wrists with razors. Brooke ends up surviving, so Gina and the band travel back to her hometown, where everyone finds their morbid lyrics to be responsible for the teenage suicide deaths. The band decides they need a vacation so Brooke can recooperate and they can avoid bad publicity, so off they go (with tour manger Jeff and a nurse) to a secluded lakeside cabin. A black-gloved psycho in a trench coat and skull-face mask shows up and starts to kill everyone off. The murderer kills according to the band lyrics, leaving behind such titles as "Nail Gun Murders" and "Drown Your Sorrows" at the scene of each murder.
Points are deducted from the film for its fully clichéd plot, and it is, like I said, a late bloomer in both the slasher genre and the heavy metal film genre, but it's still a very fun flick...featuring fine acting from a likable cast, good gore effects and a well-written script with several interesting plot twists. Some may think the end goes a TAD bit overboard, but it's unpredictable and original. And despite what the other poster said, this was not shot on video. The film looks fine.
