Between an unfaithful wife, children who will not leave him alone and a producer who keeps reminding him of impending deadlines, penning a new script proves challenging for an esteemed horror screenwriter in this Canadian oddity. The editing design takes a bit of getting to used to with the film every so often cutting away from the on-screen action to horror episodes ranging from a blood shower to a woman burned by her grandchildren to an evil goat. As the movie progresses though, it becomes clear that these cutaways are reflective of his thought process and how he is constantly haunted by the things that he has written about, especially at a university conference where students tell him off for "peddling degenerate stuff". This leads to some fascinating discussions as the writer claims that horror is "a way of identifying with things that we might otherwise never identify with". Intriguing as 'Deadline' might sound, it is not the easiest film to warm to, unusual editing aside. None of the characters are particularly sympathetic, especially not the arrogant lead actress in his most recent film and his selfish wife; he is not exactly a model parent either though, and it is at times hard to care what happens to him. The film is, however, quite encapsulating when focused on the horror ideas that haunt him, and what happens to his daughter late in the piece injects much food for thought.
