The Dead Girl (2006)
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 79
Fresh: 59 | Rotten: 20
This dark thriller boasts a fresh approach, but it can still get bogged down by its heavy subject matter.
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 22
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 7
This dark thriller boasts a fresh approach, but it can still get bogged down by its heavy subject matter.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 12,089
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Movie Info
Karen Moncrieff, the Independent Spirit Award-nominated director of Blue Car, assembles a stellar cast comprised of Toni Collette, James Franco, Giovanni Ribisi, and Mary Beth Hurt to tell the tale of one girl's mysterious death, and how the tragic actions of the people who surround her eventually led to her savage murder. When the brutalized and lifeless body of a once-vital young girl (Brittany Murphy) is discovered, a community is scarred by the unspeakable horror of seeing one of their own
Cast
-
Toni Collette
Arden -
Rose Byrne
Leah -
Mary Beth Hurt
Ruth -
Marcia Gay Harden
Melora -
Brittany Murphy
Krista -
Kerry Washington
Rosetta -
Piper Laurie
Arden's Mother -
Giovanni Ribisi
Rudy -
James Franco
Derek -
Mary Steenburgen
Beverly -
Bruce Davison
Bill -
Nick Searcy
Carl -
Josh Brolin
Tarlow -
Christopher Allen Nelson
Murray -
Dennis Keifer
Tom -
Elizabeth Pernoll
Ashley -
Gillian Pernoll
Ashley
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All Critics (82) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (21) | DVD (8)
Karen Moncrieff's previous film, the shallow and pretentious Blue Car, in no way prepares you for this superbly acted, emotionally acute picture.
Top CriticThose who pass on The Dead Girl are missing something. Moncrieff has assembled a remarkable (and mostly female) cast, and there are moments in this film that are as powerful as anything currently in theaters.
Moncrieff never gets melodramatic with subject matter that easily could have been; she won't make you feel good, but she will make you feel.
All Screams aside, movies about serial killing are rarely chipper affairs. But few are as glum as The Dead Girl.
Murphy, devouring a bad girl role to go with her image, makes her the most alive person in what is most certainly not your typical Hollywood serial killer movie.
It must be said that The Dead Girl is a film of considerable integrity. But before that, something else must be said: That's about as unappetizing an opening to a film as can be imagined.
A dreary Chick Flick serial killer film, that puts a human face on the vic as it focuses on all the women affected by the serial killer.
The tone is fittingly dark, the writing impressively poetic, and the performances excellent absolutely across the board.
Murder victim links stories of women's survival.
The masterful film, which was also released on DVD this week, sends shivers up your spine and devastates you five times over, then has you longing to wipe the sweat off your brow and start watching all over again.
This film demands to be rewatched, its jigsaw of lacerated lives assembled again . . . reaches a dirge-like crescendo . . . [There's] a fascinating torrent of convoluted introspection and stubborn perseverance in the women here.
The Dead Girl segues from one turgidly-paced, soul-crushing sequence to another with very little reason to continue watching.
Intriguing and unpredictable, this multi-layered film delivers a profound ripple effect as it explores the complexities of anger, grief, denial and retribution
A little hope peeks out from the clouds, but it's a bleak outlook.
A rather remarkable innovation in the female empowerment genre, for its heroines aren't the helpless weaklings we're used to seeing in a typical slasher flick, but rather intelligent, emotive individuals inclined to rely on all their faculties.
THE DEAD GIRL provides several of terrific actresses with meaty roles and for that reason alone (let alone Moncrieff's fluid direction and solid, if uneven, scripting) it deserves to find an audience.
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Unblinking and critical about female-rooted and female-specific concerns.
s she stands, so perversely resistant and so utterly naked, Ruth embodies the grief and torment of being a live girl.
Audience Reviews for The Dead Girl
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