Deadline

source: Deadline

Moviecut—Deadline

Well, Godard said that the proper review of a movie is another movie, and at times this reads like a feature-length adaptation of the Marshall Delaney writeup that got Cronenberg kicked out of his apartment. (It even borrows Cindy Hinds from The Brood.) The setup is transparent: Azzopardi, an acclaimed Maltese theater director, finds himself making films in Canada at the height of the crassness boom. So he makes a movie about a slumming intellectual who writes horror films, ba-dumb-bum. It's a bit of a Frederic Wertham job, that's for sure, it unconditionally posits a cause-effect relationship between on-screen violence and the seduction of the innocents. But it works OK if you don't approach it as an absolute moral judgment, but as a fascinating expression of the frustrations felt by artists working in this economic environment: many of them would really rather have been doing something else, and this fact rarely works in a positive way like it does here. And it also partially redeems another Canuck kiss of death, the movie where absolutely every character is a hateful snot. The redemption isn't in the hazy morality, but in the cinematic sense: the insightful but subtle camera placements, the clever use of montage, and the powerful surreal imagery at the end. Also, you can't accuse it of being humorless when the first diagetic film clip we see is of a murderous snowblower manipulated by a psychic sheep! If it weren't so flawed, it probably wouldn't be as interesting.

This overlooked analysis of a man spiraling into madness is surprisingly brainy, and skillfully realized on meager rations. A horror novelist's dark fantasy world collides with his personal reality, causing a landslide of hallucinatory dementia within both his family life and his his professional endeavors. A very ominous and disorienting Canadian-made nightmare oozing with abstract, disturbing imagery, DEADLINE also benefits from able performers and edgy directorial flourishes. These refinements, conjoint with a conceptually alluring premise, catapult this film above and beyond most horror menu side-orders. As an extra bonus, the legendary new-wave band ROUGH TRADE makes a welcome appearance, just as they were charting with the single HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL. 7/10...definitely worthy of a rental, if not a purchase.

And also difficult to describe, to analyze the deep purpose of this horror yarn, very bloody, shocking, hard to fully understand. It is Canadian, subtle, somewhere a bit, just a bit intellectual for my basic brain, because I still search what the meessage is in this disturbing, twisted minded piece of work. True amazing torture, meatchopper, slaughter scenes that you will not forget. It looks like a Stephen King's story adaptation, maybe because of the horror writer line. Not for all horror audiences, despite the brutal sequences. But a good film, for die hard fans of this unknown gems.

It has an interesting idea that doesn't translate well into the movie. Editing has some problems too, and the acting isn't as captivating. At least it tries to sail through different ways using a common trope in horror movies and even delivers some interesting discussions about the relation between audiovisual works and violence and its impacts on society.

I found Deadline on Tubi and having a love for horror movies from the 70's and 80's, I decided to give it a look. It's not a conventional horror film, the 80's tended towards the slasher genre or the haunted house movies that was popular back then. Deadline is more psychological then straight up horror. The visual horror come more from the movies and stories that the protagonist, a horror screenwriter creates, where the real story lies is in the disintegration of his marriage, his wife being a miserable drug and alcohol addicted woman. They both neglect their three children that indirectly leads to the tragic death of their daughter. They inevitably blame each other and that is when the lead character spirals down. The grief and breakdown of the main character is what really fuels the movie, the performance of the main actors are very good. The neglectful husband, the shrill miserable wife, the pushy insensitive agent and all the people that surround them. This is a gem that deserves to watched by anyone that enjoys offbeat horror and thriller movies and want something beyond the usual stalk and slash films. I do recommend it very highly.

Between an unfaithful wife, children who will not leave him alone and a producer who keeps reminding him of impending deadlines, penning a new script proves challenging for an esteemed horror screenwriter in this Canadian oddity. The editing design takes a bit of getting to used to with the film every so often cutting away from the on-screen action to horror episodes ranging from a blood shower to a woman burned by her grandchildren to an evil goat. As the movie progresses though, it becomes clear that these cutaways are reflective of his thought process and how he is constantly haunted by the things that he has written about, especially at a university conference where students tell him off for "peddling degenerate stuff". This leads to some fascinating discussions as the writer claims that horror is "a way of identifying with things that we might otherwise never identify with". Intriguing as 'Deadline' might sound, it is not the easiest film to warm to, unusual editing aside. None of the characters are particularly sympathetic, especially not the arrogant lead actress in his most recent film and his selfish wife; he is not exactly a model parent either though, and it is at times hard to care what happens to him. The film is, however, quite encapsulating when focused on the horror ideas that haunt him, and what happens to his daughter late in the piece injects much food for thought.

This is an incredibly obscure film. So obscure in fact, that it's exact release date is still a matter of contention. Most agree that filming was finished in 1979, but the film wasn't distributed in the US until 1984, despite having a Canadian theatrical release in 1980. But the film isn't the low budget shlock you'd expect from a long lost 1980's horror flick. Instead it's a purely psychological horror story of a celebrated script-writer, known for his gruesome horror films. His life slowly unravels, with the controversial public perception of his work straining his marriage, and ultimately causing a horrible tragedy. The film itself almost functions more as a drama than a horror film, but is interspread with segments that represent the main character's films, and his brain-storming for a new script. These scenes are fiendishly inventive, and range from pure psychological horror to grotesque exploitation. Luckily, they are mostly used with tact, and represent the character's deteriorating mindset as the film goes on. Sadly, Stephen Young just isn't good enough of an actor to carry such a demanding role. He overacts terribly, stretching his face into unintentionally comical expressions and forcing out his more emotional lines. The film's ending is also a little less than satisfactory, considering the build-up to it. But overall, this is an emotionally turbulent, haunting tragedy, with enough moments of gruesomeness to keep the horror fans entertained. It's certainly more polished and worthwhile than many other obscure genre efforts from it's era.

Entertaining horror movie that offers gore, and a little hypocritical criticism of gore. Pretty well done. A mass-market horror novelist who also adapts all his works for films is having trouble on the set of his latest film, as well as writing the next book or screenplay he's contractually obligated to do. His wife and three kids are neglected, and he is abusive to her when they are together. When he lectures at the university he used to teach literature at, several of the students in the audience criticize his works. He's reminded of what he used to teach, and what he'd said to the director he works with when he first got into films: that once they were successful, they'd do something different. He thinks he's ready to write something different, but the director wants to stick with stuff he feels will sell. Scenes from the above storyline are intercut with scenes from either the author's movies, or ideas he has for movies. Movies are also shown within the movie, as when part of one of his films is screened for the students, and he shows another at a party. They're pretty bloody for the most part! The pressure of having to come up with a new work, trouble with his family, and a horrific event that happens within his family take him to the breaking point.