Deadline (2009)
Studio: First Look Pictures
DVD Release Date: December 1, 2009
Directed By: Sean McConville
Cast: Brittany Murphy, Thora Birch, Tammy Blanchard & Marc Blucas.
Reviewed By: Annie Riordan

Emotionally fragile Alice, having recently escaped with her life from a violently abusive relationship, decides to move into an isolated country estate for a week in order to finish her screenplay. Alice, with her matted hair, jutting collarbones and the overall , shaky appearance of a lifelong meth head, is a bad candidate for isolation. Within the first ten minutes of the story, we learn that Alice: A – has a gun, B – is taking medication for an unspecified disorder (most likely depression/anxiety) and C – is played by Brittany Murphy. We know it’s only a matter of time before the shit hits the fan.

Nevertheless, Becca, Alice’s, uh…best friend? lesbian lover? whatever…leaves Alice alone in the middle of nowhere without a car and knowing full well that Alice’s ex – the one who tried to kill her and, in the process, caused Alice to miscarry – is out of prison. Yeah, brilliant.

As Alice wanders about the huge, empty house, looking painfully emaciated and severely sleep deprived, strange noises draw her up to the attic where she discovers a cache of hidden camcorder tapes, all of which bear the name of a woman named Lucy. Upon playing them back, Alice watches as the history of the previous tenants – a disturbed young man named David and his pregnant wife Lucy – plays out to its foregone conclusion. Is the house really haunted by the ghost of the abused Lucy? Or is Alice finally losing what little she has left of her sanity?

Frankly, I’m not sure. Nor do I really care. Deadline is much too busy setting up mood to bother with plot. After about an hour of watching Murphy wander around, soak in the tub, and peer around dark shadowy corners, accompanied all the while by eerie piano tinkling and tense strings, it was clear that the film has nothing more to offer, other than a few lame “What Lies Beneath” inspired jumpscares featuring the woefully underused Thora Birch in white contact lenses and gray body paint. Birch looks like she knows she’s in a piece of shit. Murphy looks too stoned to care. Only Marc Blucas provides the film’s real horror as the increasingly unbalanced David. I’ve dated guys like David, and watching his slow descent into possessive dementia was truly stomach-sinking and reinforced my decision to never ever date again.

But Deadline just can’t make up its mind whether it wants to be a ghost story or a Repulsion-esque psycho-thriller and spends its final 30 minutes unraveling like a cheap sweater instead of neatly tying up its many dangling loose ends. By film’s end, you know no more than you did at the onset which is incredibly frustrating to say the least and a complete waste of time besides.

Deadline just might be 2009’s most deserved recipient for what MST3K’s Tom Servo once referred to as the Cannes Palm D’HUH? award. It’s overlong, terribly convoluted, and incredibly boring. I’ve had Nyquil nightmares that made more sense than this flick.

Brutal As Hell Rating: 2 out of 5