Deadline (2009)

I don't mind bad movies if they are funny or make sense in some way but this movie is really bad storytelling. It really makes a mockery of everything a Hitchcock or a Poe stand for. I wanted to like this movie because of Brittany Murphy co-star of 8mile but the rest of the movie is just so bad that she has no chance of saving it. Especially the story within the story is a real insult to the intelligence of the viewer and the actors are playing it with strictly phony feelings. Moreover, the plot avoids all chances of a good plot twist and runs perfectly predictable and really tries not to be too scary or profound in any way. This movie is a good example of very bad storytelling.

Brittany Murphy is Alice, a writer in her early 30's who moves into a spooky old Victorian mansion in order to be alone to work on her book as well as distance herself from a traumatic nervous breakdown. But no sooner is Alice settling in, that the house is getting the worst of her imagination courtesy of strange noises and nightmares. Now Alice, already in a fragile mental state, must deal with that as well as an ex who recently got out of prison.I found myself enjoying this film much more than I thought that I would've, thanks in no small part to a nice atmospheric soundtrack as well as a surprisingly adequate subdued performance by Murphy. All of this is almost (but not quite) enough to make up for a pretty clichéd and heavily predictable storyline. The late Britt does the most with what little she's given.My Grade: C

Well i watched it a couple of days ago. I thought i was going to see a thriller, maybe with a twist or too. What a waste of time. What a piece of crap. I am sorry Brittany Murphy (RIP) but you could do much better than this. No wonder why it went straight to DVD. Don't waste an hour and a half of your life people. The story is awful and the characters are not the ones you can relate too. Nothing in this movie seems to get it right. Also Brittany Murphy seems to be not in her best. I don't know what was going on in her mind when she agreed to star in this movie. And the rest of the cast is not in it's best i think. The only reason i to see this movie is if you are a fan of Murphy, although i don't think this movie does her justice. The only thing i found a little interesting is the cinematography. I saw some good looking shots throughout the movie. All and all, a movie to avoid.

"Deadline" is a very creepy film in many ways. The late Brittany Murphy looks like death, at least partly on purpose as her character, Alice, is very sickly but this is no way to remember her. It was literally like watching a diseased ghost, and that realism was too much for me.A writer in a remote house with psychological problems hears and sees strange disturbances but is it all in her head or is somebody, or something, trying to kill her? The story has been done many times before, and this wasn't a particularly good rendition of it. That's the main reason why the IMDb rating is so low. The filmmakers even seemed to get confused with the ending. They gave us a resolution but they hadn't quite worked out all the details.The film itself though, was very well shot. They set-up a creepy atmosphere from the very beginning and never let up. Subtle camera work kept up the same suspense level throughout. This film was made on a low-budget and they made it well.Recommending this is tricky. I was faithfully terrified - not so much because of the storyline but because of what I was watching. Brittany Murphy was so pallid and anemic, it was scary. And the atmosphere and slow moving camera shots were done so efficiently well, significantly better than most horror-thrillers that I have seen. If you want to be scared from a well-told story, you won't find that here. If you want to be scared from the realism, then you just might want to take a look. If I knew what I was getting myself into, I wouldn't have watched it. And yet, at the same time, I'm glad that I did - I like seeing low-budget independent films made well.