Deadline

This Canadian film is often sold as a horror film but it is actually a twisted drama. Stephen Young stars as Steven Lessey, a successful author and screenwriter who is having a bad case of writer's block. The works he has profited from don't satisfy him now and he is searching for "true horror" to write about. As the film progresses, his personal life begins to unravel alongside a series of hallucinations.

DEADLINE is a mixed bag. Its biggest flaw is that there are no likable characters in the film. Young's character is a jerk and his wife is just as bad. I couldn't care less what happens to these self centered people. Director Mario Azzopardi also makes sure to distance mainstream audiences by filling the scenes from Lessey's head with extremely graphic gore. It is well done but probably sends the audiences looking for a drama running. However, the film does make some interesting statements on the influence of violence in cinema and some of the hallucination scenes are truly haunting. Cindy Hinds, the young girl from Cronenberg's THE BROOD, co-stars as Lessey's daughter.