Messages Deleted (2009)

A screenwriting teacher is forced to live out the plot of a screenplay idea he stole from a student, who now seeks revenge.

Director:

Rob Cowan

Writer:

Larry Cohen

Stars:

Matthew Lillard, Deborah Kara Unger, Gina Holden

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Lillard	...	Joel Brandt
Deborah Kara Unger	...	Det. Lavery
Gina Holden	...	Millie
Serge Houde	...	Det. Breedlove
Chiara Zanni	...	Claire
Michael Eklund	...	Adam Brickles
Xantha Radley	...	Nurse Bev
Ken Kramer	...	Ben Brandt
Brandon Jay McLaren	...	Dude up Front
Woody Jeffreys	...	Patrick
Ildiko Ferenczi	...	Kathy
Paul Lazenby	...	Tractor
Anna Galvin	...	Lisa Kwan
Biski Gugushe	...	Tech - Shrink
Parm Soor	...	Limo Driver

Storyline

A quivering voice begs to screenwriter, Joel Brandt, to pick up the phone on a message from his answering machine. Thinking it a prank, Joel deletes the message. The caller is found dead. Another caller leaves Joel a message; there is another murder...then another...then another. The killer has Joel's attention, and Joel has the attention of the police. Now the prime suspect in a series of murders, Joel discovers this psychotic killer has targeted him for a reason found within his body of work. Will Joel be able to re-write his ending, or be forced to pay the ultimate price?

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Plot Keywords:

screenplay | revenge | screenwriter | teacher | murder | 

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 February 2009 (Germany)

Also Known As:

La mort au bout du fil

Filming Locations:

Riverview Hospital, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Waterfront Pictures, Main Street Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 92 min (European Film Market)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

At the end of the movie when the female protagonist finishes pouring gasoline all over the main character she drops the can to the ground, landing on its side. After she lights the match and is shot by the male cop, the can is placed back up-right.

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Soundtracks

"School Salsa"
Written by: Rich Walters
Performed by: With The Machines

User Reviews

Senseless, Annoying and Absurd Thriller

Joel Brandt (Matthew Lillard) is an efficient screen writing professor in the university but has never succeeded as a screenwriter. When Brandt receives a weird phone call asking for help, he believes that it is a prank of his best friend Adam Brickles (Michael Eklund) and he deletes the message. When he is having a conversation with his girlfriend Claire (Chiara Zanni) on the sidewalk of a bar, the body of the caller falls off a building in front of them on the sidewalk. Brandt tells to the Detective Lavery (Deborah Kara Unger) and Detective Breedlove (Serge Houde) that are in charge of the investigation about the call that he had received and he becomes a suspect.

When he receives another mysterious call from a woman also calling for help in his answering machine, he goes to the location and finds that she is dead. Brandt becomes the prime-suspect of Detectives Lavery and Breedlove when they find that the message was deleted from his answering machine. When Brandt discovers that the killer is following the only screenplay that he had sold to the cinema industry, "Senseless Killing", he tries to guess the next move of the serial-killer.

"Messages Deleted" is a senseless, annoying and absurd thriller about a screenwriter that is informed about murders that are following a screenplay that he had written stolen the idea from another screenplay.

Joel Brandt is irritating, hysterical, clumsy and imbecile, and takes all the possible wrong attitudes along the story. The plot is based on deleted messages in times when it is possible to have traceability of phone calls, technical means to retrieve a deleted message and surveillance (bugging) a phone number. The stupid open conclusion is never clear but the worst is the use of the word "cliché" along the story. The writer had the intention of making a cult-movie but unfortunately he has totally failed. My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil): "Mensagens Deletadas" ("Deleted Messages")