I will not bother to recount the story - it is a familiar one, I'll just mention the good points of the movie: 1- Brittany Murphy does an excellent job - she is pretty fearless going in the attic numerous times; not getting creeped out by the old house noises; is convincing as she gets wrapped up in the story of the prior residents (as observed by the husband's extensive videotaping - which Brittany finds); 2- good use of "less is more" approach to filming the build up to the climax - very good creepy music - set an atmosphere of dread - punctuated by the woman screaming (which did not seem to bother Ms. Murphy - it sure would have me); 3.) maddening ambiguity - did the guys wife, Lucy, actually have an affair with Luke? she never denies it - keeps repeating "We're having our baby" - as if that would stop her. The ending has a couple of twists and some possibly disturbing aftermath to the events. One other reviewer thought that the writers thought some of this up at the last minute - I agree. The bad: too coincidental that Brittany and the woman in the house had similar circumstances - they did not have to do that to make it interesting. Also Brittany was there to write, but in the whole movie I did not see her write a word - so I think the title is just an excuse or afterthought to the plot. They had to get her to the house by herself in some way.One other good thing - the subtle undertones that Brittany and her roommate were more than just friends. It never came out, but it looked like her roommate had the hots for her at times - but maybe I'm imagining it.Overall entertaining. One other thing I can say, unlike so many horror movies I have started watching lately - at least I watched this one to the end. One line I liked "Old house are like old people - grumpy and testy." So true. DonB

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

Our Beloved Brittany Murphy, Did you know that New Orleans offers a haunted plantations tour? I like to think this was why an old Victorian mansion in Louisiana was chosen for you to showcase your immense acting talent in the horror genre. The house and you make "Deadline" highly suspenseful.I was delighted to see your friend and costar from "The Ramen Girl", Tammy Blanchard. Will there be more collaborations? Tammy and you exhibit a close and warm friendship during the time she drives you to the Victorian house and leaves you there alone after a tour of the house.You convincingly convey you are a screenwriter named Alice. You are glad a producer friend has given you use of the house. You want to spend time alone working on your script We learn you have to deal with some emotional trauma from a past boyfriend named Ben. We find out on your first night alone that you also have to deal with a haunted house.Even though you are alone you manage to keep us glued to the screen. Scary things and noises convince us you are not alone in the house. You convey vulnerability and we become more and more concerned something is going to happen to you. It seems the ghost character played by Thora Birch keeps trying to communicate with you. On a phone call with Tammy, Your decision to remain in the creepy house to work and figure out what is going on is believable.You continue to rivet us to the screen. Your acting is intensely contemplative and responsive. Right up to the end we are concerned for Thora's life and your life. This reminded me of the dramatic acting by Marilyn Monroe in the melodrama "Niagara" , which she starred in at the age of 27 in 1953.This is a creative and original look at relationships and dealing with emotional stress. I am proud of you for starring in this role in "Deadline".

I just watched this horrid film 2 days ago. At no point did I think this was in any way good. The only reason I suffered/survived the whole thing was that I was trying to see if maybe it was one of those slow at first and then gets good movies. I was wrong. I spent the last two days trying to figure this movie out. The way it ended, it all made NO sense to me. Then as I was reading other reviews to see if anyone felt the same, or if someone had understood it and explained. Thankfully, someone did explain it. Sort of. It was more of a 'theory', but I'll go with it, since it made sense to me after I thought about it. Basically, Alice goes to the supposed creepy house to finish a screenplay, her 'girlfriend' drops her off and then leaves. Alice starts seeing/hearing weird things in the house. Alice finds a box of tapes and starts watching them. Uses them to write her screenplay. Witnesses a murder on it. Turns out a lot of what we saw, happened in her head. She was reliving repressed events. After, unfortunately remembering the movie, Alice called Rebecca at one point and asked her to look up information on David and Lucy. At the end, when Alice calls Rebecca again to tell her that David is in the house, Rebecca has no idea what Alice is talking about and says "I haven't talked to you in over a week, I've been worried about you." And that leads me to believe that the conversation with Ben didn't happen. For one, if Rebecca hadnt heard from Alice all week, she didn't really tell Alice that Ben was out of jail. Which lead me to believe that Ben isn't really out of jail... And he couldn't have possibly known where Alice is, nor could he have gotten her number.From what I gathered, Lucy=Rebecca, Alice=David... and Ben seems pretty unimportant...but maybe he plays Davids mom or the one that 'David' thought 'Lucy' was cheating on him with? Who knows.. If you notice, at the beginning of the movie, when they're in the car, Alice has the video camera and is recording Rebecca. At the end of the movie, Rebecca goes downstairs to look for David, she finds only the video camera on the floor and on the tape she sees herself on a bed, just like when Alice first found the tapes and it showed Lucy on the bed and David recording her. There was so much and nothing at all going on in this movie at the same time.