The Dead Girl
First Look International | Release Date: December 29, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TV Guide MagazineKen 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
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Moncrieff pushes a view of women as victims that might create its own pornography of masochism if it didn't touch so many authentic shattered nerve endings. Read full review
88
PremiereJenni Miller
Dark little indie thriller. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The cast is something of an indie movie hall of fame that includes Giovanni Ribisi, Mary Steenburgen, Brittany Murphy, and Toni Collette. Marcia Gay Harden is particularly fine as the murdered girl's mother. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie 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
75
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
As with her debut feature, "Blue Car," Moncrieff treats sensational material with a disarming matter-of-factness that ultimately makes a deeper impression. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Moncrieff manages to get beneath the skin of several of these characters, a nifty trick considering what a crowded world she's created. In all, it's a grueling, emotionally taxing, discomfiting film. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The film is also an impressive showcase for a large ensemble cast that also includes Josh Brolin, James Franco and Kerry Washington. The standout, however, is Hurt, who gives an almost unbelievably courageous performance as the movie's least sympathetic character. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A challenging film populated with characters who are depressed, on antidepressants, or strung out on mood-altering drugs, The Dead Girl is a downer with resonance. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
By the movie's end, writer-director Karen Moncrieff's The Dead Girl delivers considerable emotional impact. But that doesn't mean you've enjoyed the journey. Read full review
70
VarietyRobert 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
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
The universe of The Dead Girl is an almost uniformly dreary one, whose women are all either dowdy or whorish. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJim 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
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Confounds expectations -- about slasher stories and about film narrative in general, in part by being closer to a collection of interconnected short stories than to a novel. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Darker than the shadow of death. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The way Moncrieff has structured The Dead Girl, it's catnip for actors: Divided into five chapters, the script affords juicy roles requiring only a few days' work from each member of its impressive ensemble. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
If the segments are uneven, Moncrieff -- with the help of her excellent cast -- nevertheless crafts a gripping overall narrative that exposes a shared dissonance among the protagonists. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Stylish, highly accomplished and, thanks to its severely restrained palette, mostly off-putting.
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The film is mired in gloom, not just sadness, but heaviness. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
What happens when several characters' lives intertwine with the maggot-infested corpse of a prostitute in The Dead Girl? A whole lot of crying. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen 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
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