Pretty Dead Girl
I found it thoroughly impossible to resist a movie called "Pretty Dead Girl" with the subheading "A Musical Necromance." Not sure what that says about me....
"Pretty Dead Girl" is a 20 minute rock-opera starring Christian Campbell ("Reefer Madness," real-life brother of Neve) as a mortician named Morty. Morty's problem is that the only women he's attracted to are the corpses who come through the morgue -- matter of fact, he's so busy romancing the stiffs that he doesn't realize Nurse Viola (Christina Souza) has been dying for his affection. After innocently spying on him, Viola realizes what he's into and devises with a radical scheme to win Morty's heart...
There's no getting around it, the subject matter here is disturbingly demented. However, writer/director Shawn Ku completely offset the tone by injecting the film with bubbly pop songs, stylized visuals, and tacky gags. Meanwhile, Campbell and Souza portrayed their characters with such conviction that, despite their twisted motivations, the characters are not only likeable but downright loveable. All things considered, this is a little movie that really has no right to be as well-made and entertaining as it is... but it's so well-made and entertaining that it's absolutely unforgettable cult movie gold.
"Pretty Dead Girl" has been circulating on online video sites for years, often broken into multiple parts and duped from a broadcast on IFC. It was also released on a DVD titled Shorts! Volume 3, which included an audio commentary by Ku, though that disc is now out of print. If you head over to the official site, you can snag mp3s of all of the songs, and chances are you can buy a DVD direct from the director (as I did, years ago). Although there's no commentary, Ku's DVD-R features all of the songs from the film as bonus features -- and a few of these songs (most notably "Alive") slightly deviate from the other released versions. Ku also had patches, posters and temporary tattoos available... though since these were promotional items and I got mine quite a while ago, there's no telling what he's got left.
