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This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This film begins in a rather uncharacteristic way: a young girl who is a screenwriter and is trying to recover from a destructive love relationship decides to isolate herself in an old and remote mansion in order to be able to finish a new script within the deadlines. However, the house hides a mystery surrounding the previous tenants who will tinker with her head. Okay, nothing new here. It's the usual light horror thriller, blending "haunted house" with "psychopathic killer coming to kill the girl", seasoned with "found footage" and served with such a lack of originality that it becomes very predictable and lacks any tension or suspense. How am I going to feel tense or stay tuned to the screen if I know what's going to happen? Things get better when the story of Lucy, the previous inhabitant, begins to develop, giving a dramatic and human touch to a story very empty until then. In a way, we are more able to care for Thora Birch's character than the main one, played by Brittany Murphy. Another problem is the tremendous slow pace, as if the director wanted to "fill the sausage" just to get a movie lasting more than an hour. Combine that with the predictability I've mentioned and you'll understand that it turns out to be boring most of the time. As for the cast, Brittany Murphy does not surprise me or show great interpretive ability (she was never close to being a great actress and the tabloid news about her death can be more interesting than her filmography), Birch complied with which was required of her, but didn't particularly shine. It's not worth talking about Marc Blucas, who played a papier-mâché villain.

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

It's 'Dead', all right... Brittany Murphy, so good in early supporting roles, was never capable of headlining a movie on her own, especially one so obvious as "Deadline". Fragile young woman, on the run from her abusive ex, takes refuge in a rambling Victorian house beset with creaking doors and dripping faucets--oh yes, and a ghost as well. Capably-produced thriller is woefully under-populated and embarrassingly derivative, a Julia Roberts/Kate Hudson cast-off. Murphy is so enervated, she barely reacts to wet footprints in a house where she's living by herself. Technical elements and Carlos José Alvarez's ominous scoring outshines the writing from Sean McConville (who also produced and directed). McConville is the perfect example of someone who was raised on tatty B-movies and screamers--he has no other inspiration to draw from. * from ****

"Deadline" is a very creepy film in many ways. The late Brittany Murphy looks like death, at least partly on purpose as her character, Alice, is very sickly but this is no way to remember her. It was literally like watching a diseased ghost, and that realism was too much for me.A writer in a remote house with psychological problems hears and sees strange disturbances but is it all in her head or is somebody, or something, trying to kill her? The story has been done many times before, and this wasn't a particularly good rendition of it. That's the main reason why the IMDb rating is so low. The filmmakers even seemed to get confused with the ending. They gave us a resolution but they hadn't quite worked out all the details.The film itself though, was very well shot. They set-up a creepy atmosphere from the very beginning and never let up. Subtle camera work kept up the same suspense level throughout. This film was made on a low-budget and they made it well.Recommending this is tricky. I was faithfully terrified - not so much because of the storyline but because of what I was watching. Brittany Murphy was so pallid and anemic, it was scary. And the atmosphere and slow moving camera shots were done so efficiently well, significantly better than most horror-thrillers that I have seen. If you want to be scared from a well-told story, you won't find that here. If you want to be scared from the realism, then you just might want to take a look. If I knew what I was getting myself into, I wouldn't have watched it. And yet, at the same time, I'm glad that I did - I like seeing low-budget independent films made well.