IMDb > The Dead Girl (2006)
The Dead Girl
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The Dead Girl (2006) More at IMDbPro »

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The Dead Girl (2006) -- Clues are sought to a young girl's death in this thriller/drama
The Dead Girl (2006) -- The clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated people begin to intersect.
The Dead Girl (2006) -- Sinematurk - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
6.8/10   6,354 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
No change in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Karen Moncrieff
Writer (WGA):
Karen Moncrieff (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Dead Girl on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
26 April 2007 (Hungary) more
Genre:
Drama | Mystery | Thriller more
Tagline:
One life ends. Seven others begin. more
Plot:
The clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated people begin to intersect. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
2 wins & 4 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(13 articles)
Brittany Murphy, Stephen Moyer Spooked by 'The Caller'
 (From Bloody-Disgusting.com. 18 November 2009, 10:33 PM, PST)
Columbia Pictures Acquires FX Guru's Screenplay 'Supermax'
 (From Bloody-Disgusting.com. 8 September 2009, 1:50 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
The Search for Ways to Fill Holes in the Soul more (56 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Toni Collette ... Arden
Piper Laurie ... Arden's Mother
Don Smith ... Cop #1 (as Donnie Smith)
Michael Raysses ... Cop #2

Earl Carroll ... Reporter
Dorothy Beatty ... Grocery Checker
Eva Loseth ... Grocery Store Customer

Giovanni Ribisi ... Rudy

Rose Byrne ... Leah

Joanie Tomsky ... Therapist

James Franco ... Derek

Christopher Allen Nelson ... Murray

Mary Steenburgen ... Beverley, Leah's Mother

Bruce Davison ... Leah's Father

Kate Mulligan ... Party Girl
more
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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for language, grisly images and sexuality/nudity.
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
USA:85 min | Netherlands:93 min (theatrical version)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital
Certification:
USA:R | Australia:MA | Singapore:M18 | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | Ireland:18 | UK:15 | New Zealand:R16 | France:U (with warning)
Filming Locations:
Acton, California, USA more
Company:
Bruin Grip Services more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The name on the Missing Persons report for Brittany Murphy's prostitute character reads "Krista Kutcher." Murphy dated actor Ashton Kutcher after they starred together in the movie Just Married (2003). more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Melora meets Rosetta her face is beaten up. When she takes Rosetta to eat her face is normal looking but when she drops her back at the motel Rosetta's face is back to being a mess. more
Quotes:
Beverley, Leah's Mother: If she were dead, I would know it in my heart.
Leah: She's dead and she's never coming back!
more
Soundtrack:
Take It As It Comes more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
47 out of 53 people found the following comment useful.
The Search for Ways to Fill Holes in the Soul, 17 May 2007
10/10
Author: gradyharp from United States

Karen Moncrief has written and directed this terrifying, searching, agonizing, and exceptionally fine story of the responses of five different people to the discovery of a dead girl. By dividing her story into chapters named after The Stranger, The Daughter, The Mother, The Wife, The Sister, and The Dead Girl she offers us fully realized characters, each of whom is affected by the opening discovery of a mutilated young dead girl's body. The technique of non-linear film is not new, but Moncrief raises it to a new, powerful level, a fact that makes this film one of the more sophisticated and successful of the past few years.

Arden (Toni Collette) is a homely frail girl who accidentally discovers the dead girl, taking a necklace from the corpse before reporting the discovery to the police. She is a caretaker for an invalid, foul-mouthed cruel mother (Piper Laurie) who berates Arden for being so ugly and for involving them in a murder case. Arden flees, meets The Stranger Rudy (Giovanni Ribisi), a tattooed, scary appearing guy who is attracted to Arden because she appears so innocent. He courts her with tales of serial killer manners and yet eventually gains Arden's fractured self-perception trust with physical contact. The next chapter introduces Leah (Rose Byrne) who works with Derek (James Franco) in the mortuary where the dead girl's body has been deposited for autopsy. Leah discovers markings on the dead girl that convince her this is the sister who has been missing for 15 years, a fact that her parents (Mary Steenburgen and Bruce Davison) refuse to accept. Leah's tenuous hold on reality is altered by Derek's consolation and physical attention.

The Wife episode offers a view of Mary (Mary Beth Hurt) and Carl (Nick Searcy), a married couple with mutual distrust: Mary knows Carl has flings with prostitutes while Carl feels Mary is too controlling. Mary discovers a chest of torn bloody underwear in one of their business Storage Containers, connects the items with Carl in a suspicion that Carl may be related to the death of the dead girl, and burns them. In The Mother we finally meet the true mother Melora (Marcia Gay Harden) of the dead girl Kritsta (Britanny Murphy) as she traces the clues from the body to a seedy motel where she meets Rosetta (Kerry Washington), Krista's roommate and lover, only to discover that the dead Krista ran away from home to become a prostitute and drug addict in response to a childhood abuse problem with her father. Melora is informed that Krista has an illegitimate three-year-old daughter Ashley whom Krista loved and Melora seeks to care for the only remains of the dead girl - her granddaughter and her lover.

This film beams with brilliant performances: Collette, Harden, Byrne, Laurie, Hurt, Searcy, Washington, Steenburgen, Franco and Ribisi are poignant in their depiction of damaged people whose lives are altered by the Dead Girl. This is ensemble acting of the finest category. The production values are strong and the director's control of what could have been a meandering saga is firm and keeps the story from becoming sensationalized. This is yet another brilliant little film that deserves a very wide audience. Grady Harp

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Krista's last few moments on screen EmpireRecrDs1020
The dead girl's daughter marshmela
Which part did you find the saddest? toto_hobson
Underrated. imgangster26
Why do you think the Women did not turn in her husband? PillowT3
Song at the end Mossad007
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