Deadline Blu-Ray with Brittany Murphy, Thora Birch (R) +Movie Reviews

Strictly a Genre Flick

Cory T. Shaeffer | Pittsburgh | 12/07/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Deadline" is a dark atmospheric thriller, recalling "Skeleton Key" and "A Haunting." Brittany Murphy plays a somewhat young and out-of-sorts artist who moves into a large, empty house with a dark creepy past. She moves there alone, conveniently, to escape a past abusive boyfriend.

ALl goes well for a few hours, then strange noises begin to happen. Objects move about with no explanation. Video footage of the young couple who once lived in the house is found by Murphy in the attic of the house. It is eventually revealed in flashbacks that there was some sinister activities in the house in the years that had passed. Surprise!! The 'twist' in the end is not much of a twist at all, and Murphy looks spaced out and dazed throughout the film (kind of how she looked in "Don't say a Word," only a decade or so older.) Needless to say, this role is no stretch for Murphy.

Thora Birch is creepy and believable as the ghost woman in the flashbacks, and her performance creates an eerie, tense mood that make the film a worthwhile rental for fans of this genre, but not much more."

Not about man-hating...

Like confusing movies... | New Mexico | 12/14/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"***** spoiler alert (maybe)******

Whoever called this a man-hating movie didn't watch it through to the end (or else didn't understand it). It is really more of a psychological thriller about sanity and the blending of reality and imagination. I was unsure until the very end what was really going on (which makes me happy as so many movies are too easy to see through). I found it spooky and interesting. I won't say any more as I don't want to spoil it for others who like having to figure things out....."

Avoid! *possible spoilers*

kimberly2000 | California | 01/31/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Badly written and utterly predictable. Pet peeve: promotional artwork gives away too much (and considering how poor Brittany Murphy met her end, is in spectacular bad taste as well). Giving it 2 stars because the acting is decent, particularly from Marc Blucas and Tammy Blanchard, but it's a wasted effort."

You Can't Look Away

Sara | United States | 04/25/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For one thing, this must have been one of Brittany Murphy's last movies (and in knowing that, she appears to be very ill.) There is a memorable scene where she looks through a glass door and pauses for a moment in closing it, and there is just this very final, haunting look on her face. If you like spooky, morbid, suspenseful thrillers that are more about making you jump than grossing you out with blood and gore, you will love this movie! An author, Alice goes to stay at an old house for one week to write. Her friend, Rebecca drives Alice to the house and takes the car back with her. Later, Rebecca lets Alice know that her violent ex-boyfriend, Ben is out of jail and may be looking for her. Alice begins hearing noises in the house and comes across some videotapes in the attic of a disturbed couple (Lucy and David.) She becomes absorbed in their story. When she finds the last tape and Rebecca tells her that Lucy and David were never found and are considered missing, Alice suddenly realizes that one of them could be in the house. The ending is a bunch of twists and turns that are open to interpretation. Is this all in Alice's mind or did someone (other than Ben) try to kill her? Lucy's story and Alice's parallel each other so closely. Did Alice just create the very real characters of David and Lucy for her next novel? Rebecca and the audience are left wondering. This type of movie reminded me a lot of What Lies Beneath. But the ending is more in the style of Alfred Hitchcock. The background music is exceptional and really pulls you into the story."

Decent but Flawed

Alexander Stephen Brown | Vicksburg, ms United States | 04/15/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I didn't go into this movie expecting much considering the cover and it seemed the same as a million other ghost movies I have seen in the past 10 years. Throughout viewing this movie I was dissappointed and entralled.

Brittany Murphy plays as a screenwriter who has just moved into a creepy, old mansion to complete her new script. The movie is filled with odd sounds and bumps in the night, which was glorified in the original Shirley Jackson classic, "The Haunting".

About less than midway in the film Murphy finds a collection of home videos of the previous owners. Of course she watches her find and becomes obsessed. On tape is the documentation of a disgruntled married couple, played by Thora Birch and Marc Blucas. Quickly, she discovers there are frightening similarities between Thora and herself. Brittany discovers later that Thora is murdered and her ghost still haunts the estate.

At first, this movie moves like an Asian horror film, its creepy and almost poetic with its style, however, theres only one problem. There is a scene where Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is playing, Murphy follows the music and sees dead Thora Birch playing the piano, instead of Birch slowly turning to face Murphy the scene becomes loud and obnoxious with poor cgi effects. The result was a cheap scare that lacked a jump. In this one specific scene I have listed two facts that annoyed me. 1. The director went for a poor scare tactic vs. the ghost slowly turning and facing Murphy. 2. PLEASE FORGET CGI WHEN SOMETHING IS SIMPLE *as in Thora's deathly makeup* BE CREATIVE AND USE OLD SCHOOL EFECTS! If Dick Smith could shock millions with makeup and latex what is stopping Hollywood now?

Instead of giving up on the movie, I watched it till the end and the twist was redeeming. I snagged this in the $5 bend at Walmart and feel it was worth that amount of money. This movie is rated R, which I believe is a bogus rating, this is clearly no worse than a PG-13 rated film. This movie is without gore or any major or minor scare factors, but it is an interesting watch. Out of a scale of 1 to 10, I rate it a 6 1/2. The only thing that prevented the movie from reaching a higher number is the Moonlight Sonata scene that frustrated me.

"

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	Deadline Blu-ray Actors: Brittany Murphy, Thora Birch Director: Sean McConville Genres: Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy R 2009 1hr 29min Studio: First Look Home Entertain Release Date: 12/01/2009 Run time: 89 minutes Rating: R
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