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The Dead Girl

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 18, age appropriate for kids over 18; suggested age 17.

  • Is it any good?

    3.0

  • Common Sense says

    Murder victim links stories of women's survival.

Why We Rated This not for kids

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    Women and girls are repeatedly placed in terrible positions by abusive, violent men and regularly make wrong decisions. Still, the movie suggests that these women want to do right but don't have the options that would let them do so.

  • Violence:

    Woman's corpse found in field (bloody close-ups of hand, mouth, buzzing flies); Arden cuts her hand (bloody); Arden threatens her mother; discussion of serial killing; morgue scenes show bodies on gurneys; woman finds grisly evidence her husband is a serial killer; Rosetta appears beaten (face broken and bruised); Krista smashes a truck with a pipe; serial killer menaces Krista (her voice fades out as she gurgles and the screen fades to black).

  • Sex:

    Sex scene at beginning involves bondage (with a belt) and ends with woman's naked body (breasts and torso visible from overhead angle); two prostitutes are involved in sexual scenes (one shows oral sex performed on a man -- not quite explicit, but close); costumes are often revealing (bared midriff, cleavage, short skirts); woman burns her clothes (breasts visible); sexual slang ("blow you," "d--k," "wetting your little noodle," "sticking your thing in anything that moves," "suck off").

  • Language:

    Profanity includes many uses of "f--k" (at least 60), plus "s--t," "hell," "ass," "damn," "asshole," and "bitch." Someone gives the finger.

  • Consumerism:

    Mentions of FedEx, Sears catalogue, Pop Tarts.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Conversation about anti-depressants; cigarette and marijuana smoking; Rosetta appears high and says her mother was a junkie" references to crack (paraphernalia visible).
 

What Parents Need to Know

About The Dead Girl

Parents need to know that this dark, mature movie puts women and girls in relentlessly grim situations. The five interconnected stories all revolve around a corpse left by a serial killer in a field. By turns, the women discover the body, examine it in a morgue, learn the killer's identity, and remember the victim personally; a final segment shows how the girl met her killer. Violence is rendered as effects more than acts: bruised bodies and faces, the bloody and decaying corpse, etc. Sexual images include oral sex and many shots of bedraggled prostitutes (skimpy costumes, bruised limbs and faces). There's cigarette and pot smoking, and a crack pipe is shown. Language is incessant, with more than 60 uses of "f--k" (and plenty of other swearing).

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Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about the role of mothers and daughters in this movie. What messages is it sending about women? What is it saying about the effects of broken families on daughters? Does it suggest that mothers lost in their own grief or rage abandon their children? What are the consequences of that? How does the murder affect the different women connected to the victim? Could a different event have had such powerful consequences?
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