Product: The Dead Girl (2006)
Rating: 4.0
A strong cast makes for compelling viewing!
This was a very depressing movie just in the subject matter: the cruel murder of a young tortured soul. The movie itself is in five parts which is told from the point of view of the different characters in the movie. "The Stranger" revolves around Toni Collette who plays Arden, a homebody & plain woman who is caring for her emotionally abusive aging mom, played to great effect by Piper Laurie. Arden finds the 'dead girl' and takes the necklace on the corpse as her own treasure. She also engages in some creepy conversation & sex with a guy she met at a grocery store, played by Giovanni Ribisi."The Sister" is about Rosie Byrne who plays a sibling who is tortured by her parents' continuous grieving for a sister abducted 15 years ago. She also works in the pathology lab, and thinks the "dead girl" could be her long-lost sister.She plays someone who is desperately seeking closure and an end to the endless hope of her parents [her mom is played by Mary Steenburgen]."The Wife" was the most chilling part in the movie...it centers around a woman who is loud and abrasive and whose husband goes on mysterious trips out of town and they both manage a storage place. She takes over for him on one of his trips, and makes a startling discovery in one of the storage spaces, which in turn leads to an interesting if morally questionable decision on her part."The Mother" focusses on Marcia Gay Harden who plays the mother of the "dead girl" and her grief is very palpable and touching to watch. She takes the initiative to trace her daughter's last residence and meets Kerry Washington, who plays a hooker and drug addict who was also her daughter's best friend/lover."The Dead Girl" takes a look at the last hours in the life of the victim, played convincingly by Brittany Murphy [one of her best performances so far]...the last frame was truly chilling to watch.Overall, I found this to be a compelling movie with a tightly-woven plot. The excellent casting added to the emotional depth of the movie and each character was convincingly fleshed out.A worthwhile addition to the thriller genre.