Deadline (2009)
Starring Brittany Murphy, Thora Birch, Tammy Blanchard and Marc Blucas
Written and Directed by Sean McConville

 

The film stars the now late Brittany Murphy as screenwriter Alice, who goes off to an old house set up by her producer in order to reach her deadline. Murphy is dropped off alone at the house by friend and maybe lover Rebecca played by Tammy Blanchard. After this, there’s an ordeal between Alice and her ex-boyfriend Ben, which is hints early on of Alice going through a very traumatic ordeal.

While Alice spends her time writing and roaming the house searching for inspiration, she stumbles upon old video tapes of the previous owners. Video tapes that just so happen to be the exact same type that her camera plays – with all the technology changes nowadays this actually seems farfetched. The tapes show David and Lucy, Thora Birch and Marc Blucas respectively, with David taping Lucy during every day activities as well as during the preparation of the arrival of their newborn baby. What begins to be witnessed through the filming is that David is beginning to suspect in his mind that Lucy is not carrying his child but someone else’s.

As Alice watches on, the house she is at begins to bellow out the screams of a woman, with a chair tipping over on its own, and Alice’s laptop typing things by itself with words that scream, in repetitive imitation of Jack in “The Shining.” The story goes on with Alice searching for the answers to what happened to David and Lucy as well as trying to keep her own sanity in check. From there the film goes cliché with jump scares, predictable story twists, and an unimpressive ending. Definitely worth its straight to DVD release.

The only bright spot on a sad note was Murphy. She embodies a disoriented, prescription drug needing mental case, someone who at the drop of a hat could lose her sanity forever. Watching this film after her death, it was almost as if I was watching Murphy scream out to the audience with a cry for help. Seeing her play the role, it hits you hard, it leaves you wondering how much prep she really needed to exhume rather than taking the energy or lack thereof from her own life experiences at the time of the films making.

Murphy may be known more so for her roles in “Clueless,” Just Married,” and the voice of Luanne in “King of the Hill.” Yet the films I will always know her for are “Sin City,” “Don’t Say a Word,” with Michael Douglas – the film which got me interested in “Deadline” to begin with, and the indie movie “The Dead Girl,” which to me was Murphy’s finest moment in a film that is very much under the radar.

There may be four or so more films Murphy finished prior to her death so picking a final career defining moment is still yet to come, if it hasn’t happened already. But one thing is for certain, in Hollywood, you are either hot or not at many points during a career. Murphy was not hot at the time of her death, but we as movie goers know that the heat can turn up at any given time whether it be a small part in a great studio film, or a huge role in a independent. Sadly, we will never know if or when that heat could have risen. Good bye Brittany Murphy, you will be missed.