Esquizofrenia

Mmm, a nervy girl with mental problems and on medication, decides on a whim, on hearing that the psychotic ex who's been stalking her has just been released from jail, that the best course of action would be to isolate herself in a huge, spooky, remote house without any transport. The premise alone is illogical enough to make most viewers put this back on the shelf.

But my excuse is that it was on Five in the afternoon and, once I'd elected to give it a go, it was too hilarious to stop watching.

The pace of the film verges on the glacial. Brittany Murphy, looking wan and pretty and rather like a ghost herself, wanders around in some sexier equivalent to pyjamas, wondering how she got herself into this nonsense. It starts to seem like nobody in the whole world ever moved so slowly. I can hear the director instructing her, 'Walk into the room slowly', then urging, 'No, Brittany, slower! Slower!' She sits in a tub and gazes mournfully off to one side. For hours.

It's another one of those films that's predicated on the notion that a previous occupant felt the necessity to video every single thing that ever happened to them and that Brittany's character, rather than finding this nauseatingly narcissistic and tediously self-absorbed, would be sufficiently intrigued to watch all this footage back.

Oh, I forgot to mention that she's a writer of some kind (people who stay in old, spooky houses generally are) and supposedly working to a deadline, not that you would know it. I think this may have been for some time in the next millennium.

If your idea of horror is a few creaky doors and some very weak light fittings, you possibly might find yourself ever so slightly unnerved for a nanosecond. Otherwise, be prepared to find this a scream for all the wrong reasons.

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

Brittany Murphy plays an emotionally broken young woman looking for solitude to try to meet a deadline for a manuscript. The movie itself is haunting since Murphy actually does die about a year later under suspicious circumstance after wasting away from some trauma. Her death in real life is deemed natural, but skeptics think there's more to it and her husband does about 6 months later from virtually identical "health issues.". It's almost prescient. Her character is offered a beautiful but secluded house to stay in while she finishes her manuscript. This "friend" is not doing Her any favors as the house is haunted, or cursed. Age finds some home movie cassettes and becomes obsessed with them. The home movie footage documents of the prior couple's disintegrating relationship. Fortunately she plays the dozen or unmarked video cassettes in chronological order. Also, coincidentally the emotional and physical trauma she recovering from is mirrored in this couple's relationship. As she watches her character begins to unravel emotionally and physically. Can she survive this haunting and learn what happened to the prior occupants? Brittany is believable and great in this role. Watching this knowing that she actually dies in a highly weakened state in a year is eerie. Overall though this is barely an average horror film.

Deadline is written and directed by Sean McConville. It stars Brittany Murphy, Thora Birch and Marc Blucas. Music is by Carlos José Alvarez and cinematography by Ross Richardson.

Recovering from a psychological breakdown and required to finish a screenplay for a deadline, writer Alice Evans (Murphy) retreats to a remote Victorian house. Once there, though, mysterious goings on begin to accompany her. Undetered, Alice begins to unravel the terrible secrets of the house. But at what cost?

One of the last films made by Brittany Murphy before her sad and untimely death, Deadline (poor title) is mostly friendless in the world of the haunted house sub-genre. Yet in spite of its flaws and tired old set up of premise, it's hardly one of the worst of its kind. It's all very low key and thriving on moody mystery atmosphere, both things which are aided by better than average music scoring and photography. Performances by the cast, in what is purely a six character piece, are very committed, managing to make the thin script more palatable. There's a couple of jolts placed within, while the scenes involving Birch and a clearly unhinged Blucas are genuinely creepy.

Its reputation tells us that it's just too low key for some, and for sure it brings nothing new at all to a well populated formula. While the outcome is infuriating and has proved to be unforgivable for many a sub-genre fan. But with expectations set at low this rounds out as a decent enough time filler for those who like atmosphere laden haunted house pictures. 6/10

The first thing I noticed about this movie was it's soundtrack. It's barely there. I mean it's there but it's so quiet you don't realize that you've been listening to it until it blasts out for a sec or two & then goes back to lurking just below the radar. It adds to the sense of dread that permeates this movie. Brittany Murphy doesn't look well at all in this movie & I hope that's because of the needs of the character & not because she was sick. She is effective though. So is Thora Birch in her part. I can't say much more about it without ruining it but I will say it might be a ghost story or a Psychological thriller. That is up to the viewer. I have my opinion but I'm not going to bore you with that. You know what they say about opinions don't you? Oh, by the way this is one of the quietest movies I've ever seen. Ever. It adds to the atmosphere greatly. Give it a shot, you might be surprised....