“Deadline” Better Than Reputation

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer

Deadlines always sneak up on people, so I should probably mention first that there are still a few spots open in the annual UND Summer Movie Camps that Kathy King and I are teaching in June. Details with links for registration can be found at http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs/SummerMovieCamp.htm

Every so often an independent filmmaker lucks out and gets a couple of recognizable stars to like his script, which then attracts enough investment money to shoot on 35mm film with a full crew and even special effects. Of course, adequate promotion and distribution to find its proper audience can still be a problem after the film is completed. Such is the case with “Deadline,” an above-average little suspense-thriller by Sean McConville, starring Brittany Murphy and Thora Birch. It was shot in 2008, made the rounds of festivals and film markets about a year ago, came out on video late last year, and got some international theatrical showings earlier this year after the untimely death of Murphy.

“Deadline” is the first writing and directing credit for McConville, a former prop man who originally planned to shoot his movie on min-DV for around $50,000 until the stars and money materialized for a more ambitious effort. In true indie-script fashion, the script calls for only four characters, one of whom is seen only at the beginning and end, and two of whom are a parallel story-within-the-story viewed on video.

McConville’s years in film art departments certainly paid off in his atmospheric mise en scene. He also is effective at directing this fairly formulaic genre picture, and some sketchy plot elements are often made up for by the mostly strong performances of Murphy and Birch.

The film appears to be a standard ghost story set in an old dark house and will call to mind any number of other films. Murphy plays a screenwriter who has had a nervous breakdown and wants the isolation of this remote house so she can finish her current project by the deadline. Of course weird things start to happen in the house and she soon discovers a box of camcorder tapes left by the previous residents -– a young couple whose recorded lives reveal unhappy and unsavory secrets. How those secrets relate to her own life and present situation are the key to unraveling various layers of plot.

The vast majority of viewers who have reacted on the imdb were bored, confused, and/or generally dissatisfied with the film, having expected more thrills and shocks instead of the emphasis on moody atmosphere and psychological twists. It’s only 85 minutes long, most of that devoted to Murphy’s character wandering through the house or watching the videos she’s found. Perhaps another five or ten minutes could have made things more clear, but could just as easily have overexplained the character relationships with no room for ambiguity.

There are obvious comparisons to the film “The Secret Window,” among others, but “Deadline” is closer in spirit to “Mulholland Drive” without David Lynch’s perversely disturbing sense of humor or audio-visual audacity. Like a Lynch film, it may take a repeat viewing to recognize various clues planted about what is really going on. Murphy’s real-life death within weeks of the video release gives an even eerier sense to watching the film (as well as to its uncomfortably prescient cover art).

The BluRay of “Deadline” can be found in the modest $12 to $16 price range, making it worthwhile for fans of off-beat thrillers and indie films or either of the two stars. The hi-def transfer of both the image and sound is first-rate, preserving the film look and the bleak, dark environment with plenty of background music and sound effects to help tell the story (as there is very little dialogue). The only bonus features are a brief but interesting “making-of” documentary, a trailer, and previews to a few other Firstlook Studios releases, all in standard-definition.

“DEADLINE” on BluRay –Movie: B / Video: A / Audio: A / Extras: D+

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