OR

Email Address

Password

Forgot password?

The Dead Girl

2006

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews

See All

65

USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 41 Ratings

See All

8.5

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8.5	Your Score
8.5	User Score Universal acclaim based on 41 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Dead Mary

Now Playing: Dead Mary

The Dead Girl

Movie Details & Credits

First Look International | Release Date: December 29, 2006 | R

Starring: Toni Collette

Summary: The Dead Girl is a quintet of stories about seemingly unrelated people whose lives converge around the murder of a young woman. (First Look Pictures)

Director: Karen Moncrieff

Genre(s): Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 85 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Stream On

Metascore

Critic Reviews

100

TV Guide Magazine Ken Fox

All behave in ways that may at first seem incomprehensible, but through Moncrieff's expert storytelling, each woman is finally rendered merely human. Read full review

88

Premiere Jenni Miller

Dark little indie thriller. Read full review

78

Austin Chronicle

Marjorie Baumgarten

There is no surprise or justice or sense to the whole thing. Just sadness. And a sense of all the lonely people and where they all come from. Read full review

70

Village Voice

Jim Ridley

Moncrieff's glum, somber film is something of a needed corrective at the moment, when horror movies are turning into weightless exercises in morally sanctioned sadism. Read full review

70

Variety

Robert Koehler

More ambitious than her 2002 debut, "Blue Car," Moncrieff's new film maintains her focus on women, expanding to include a range of ages, circumstances and psychologies. Picture's drama, however, is deliberately fractured into a quintet of stories that vary considerably in their overall impact. Read full review

63

New York Daily News

Jack Mathews

Darker than the shadow of death. Read full review

30

The New York Times

Stephen Holden

Just when it seems as though the language of insult and humiliation couldn’t get any nastier, the movie escalates the barrage. Read full review

SEE ALL 21 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

10

CallenK.

Jul 5, 2007

A terrific movie from start to finish. The acting is wonderful throughout and the plot lines are fresh. This is a woman's movie par excellence.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

9

MichaelL.

Jun 2, 2007

Excellent film with an excellent cast. Yes, it's unpleasant, but it's real. The dysfunction and damage family systems create can wreak havock on lives for generations to come. This is truly a horror film--with a brain, unlike Eli Roth's torture porn. Because we know these Excellent film with an excellent cast. Yes, it's unpleasant, but it's real. The dysfunction and damage family systems create can wreak havock on lives for generations to come. This is truly a horror film--with a brain, unlike Eli Roth's torture porn. Because we know these people and we know these situations. Thank God there are filmmakers with intellect who are brave enough to tell stories that effect us more deeply than watching someone dismembered by a chainsaw.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

8

ChadS.

May 16, 2007

The title, as we soon learn, is metaphorical as well as literal. There's more than one dead girl in "The Dead Girl". Six or seven, actually; more than one per chapter in some cases. During the first story, we can see that Arden's mother(Piper Laurie, reviving the role she played The title, as we soon learn, is metaphorical as well as literal. There's more than one dead girl in "The Dead Girl". Six or seven, actually; more than one per chapter in some cases. During the first story, we can see that Arden's mother(Piper Laurie, reviving the role she played in "Carrie") murdered her daughter(Toni Collette) a long time ago. Next up is Leah(Rose Byrne), a coroner-in-training, who(along with her mother) died the day her younger sister went missing. She'd rather hang out with corpses than with James Franco. Both women are on the verge of being reborn when it's thought that the "Jane Doe" Leah is working on might be their missing family member. "The Dead Girl" is not so much a downer, but it can be sobering, especially the final story; the story of the "dead girl", who ironically, turns out to be the most alive girl in the story. Krista(Brittany Murphy) had a hard-knock life, but she was, as they say, making lemonade out of lemons. Murphy is fierce. She really loved Rosetta(Kerry Washington). In life, Ruth(Mary Beth Hurt, from the chapter "The Wife"), stuck with her scumbag of a husband(Nick Searcy), is dying the slow death of an underappreciated housewife. "The Dead Girl" is always intelligent, always dead-on about the facts of life...and death.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

7

StephenS.

Jun 21, 2007

How come the critic reviews and user comments average in the 60s, as compared with the 70s scored by Blue Car, Moncrieff

0 of 0 users found this helpful

4

JamesM.

May 16, 2007

Grim, bleak and uninvolving film whose premise is better than its execution. Given the divergent, fractured narrative, those involved are given to histrionics to compensate for the inherent shallowness. Mercifully brief at 90 minutes or so, although the opening sequence is so lifeless and Grim, bleak and uninvolving film whose premise is better than its execution. Given the divergent, fractured narrative, those involved are given to histrionics to compensate for the inherent shallowness. Mercifully brief at 90 minutes or so, although the opening sequence is so lifeless and inert, that those who choose to continue will inevitably be checking their watch.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

3

TayborneL.

May 24, 2007

In the neo-indy tradition of racing to to bottom and trying to hit the most depressing note thats possible, this film succeeds. In term of being artful about it, ya, it's well made. But it still aims for the bottom, which is easy. The film makers here took the easy way out.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

1

SamJ.

Jan 14, 2007

What an unfocused, trashy film this is. A downer across the board.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

SEE ALL 8 REVIEWS

More From Metacritic

What to Watch Right Now on Paramount+

Find a list of the best recent and upcoming film and TV titles added to...

What to Watch Right Now on Amazon's Prime Video

Get a list of the best movie and TV titles recently added (and coming...

What to Watch Right Now on Netflix

Get a list of the best movie and TV titles recently added (and coming...

What to Watch Right Now on Hulu

Get a list of the best movie and TV titles recently added (and coming...

Awards & Rankings

Current Movie Releases

By MetascoreBy User Score

1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

2 77 Project Hail Mary

5 72 The Sheep Detectives

SEE ALL

More From The Dead Girl

Dead Mary

SEE ALL TRAILERS