The Dead Girl

For other uses, see Dead girl (disambiguation).

The Dead Girl
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Karen Moncrieff
Produced by	Eric Karten Gary Lucchesi Tom Rosenberg Kevin Turen Henry Winterstern
Written by	Karen Moncrieff
Starring	Toni Collette Brittany Murphy Rose Byrne Marcia Gay Harden Mary Beth Hurt Kerry Washington
Music by	Adam Gorgoni
Cinematography	Michael Grady
Editing by	Toby Yates
Distributed by	First Look International
Release date(s)	29 December 2006 (2006-12-29) (Limited US release)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$905,291

The Dead Girl is a 2006 American film written and directed by Karen Moncrieff, starring Brittany Murphy, Toni Collette, Rose Byrne and Marcia Gay Harden. The film was nominated for several 2007 Independent Spirit Awards awards including Best Feature and Best Director. It is the story of a young woman's death and the people linked to her murder. It also features Mary Beth Hurt, Kerry Washington, James Franco, Giovanni Ribisi, Josh Brolin, Mary Steenburgen and Piper Laurie. The film was premiered at the AFI Film Festival (7 November 2006), and was given a limited US theatrical release on 29 December 2006. It was generally well-received. It only ran for two weeks in US first-run theaters, and earned nearly all its revenue from overseas release.

Plot

The movie is presented in segments, each bearing a title:

• The Stranger: Arden lives with her abusive, invalid mother. One day she discovers the naked body of a woman on the property. Arden becomes a minor celebrity, drawing the attention of Rudy, who tells her the dead woman is the victim of a serial killer preying on young women in the area. Rudy asks her out. Arden gets into a fight with her mother, which compels her to finally leave. She has her date with Rudy. In the morning, she calls the police to report a woman (her mother) left alone at home.
• The Sister: Leah is prepping the dead woman in the morgue when she notices a certain birthmark. She suspects that the dead woman is her sister, who was taken from a nearby park fifteen years ago. She asks the sheriff to match the dental records. She is certain the dead woman is Jenny, her missing sister, but her parents refuse to believe that Jenny is dead. The sheriff delivers the test result: the dead woman is not Jenny.
• The Wife: Ruth is angry that her husband, Carl, constantly leaves her alone night after night. The next morning, she discovers clothing, wallets, and ID's in ziplock bags inside a storage unit that is supposedly empty. She matches the IDs to names in the newspapers of the serial killer's victims. Carl comes back late at night with scratches on his neck. After another argument, he leaves the house to go to the car outside. He pulls a trash bag out of the trunk and goes to the storage unit. Ruth asks her husband if he knows anything about the dead women, and he says no. Later that night, she enters the unit and pulls everything out. She drives to the police station, but doesn't follow through with her plan to present the evidence to the authorities; instead she returns home to burn the evidence.
• The Mother: The dead woman has been identified as Krista Kutcher. Melora, Krista's mother, is notified. She goes to where Krista used to live and finds Rosetta, Krista's former roommate. During a tense conversation with Rosetta, Melora learns that Krista was a prostitute, that she had a daughter, and that Melora's late husband had sexually abused her. The following day, Melora takes Krista's daughter home with her.
• The Dead Girl: Krista buys her daughter a stuffed animal for her third birthday. She gets her pimp Tarlow to drive her to Norwalk, where her daughter is, but he backs out at the last minute. She goes back to her room and finds Rosetta severely beaten. She believes a man named Tommy did it. She vandalizes Tommy's car and, when he tries to stop her, she beats him up and leaves on a borrowed motorcycle. When the motorcycle breaks down on the highway, she hitches a ride from Carl. The film ends with Krista smiling happily as she talks about her daughter.

Cast

• Toni Collette – Arden
• Brittany Murphy – Krista Kutcher
• Rose Byrne – Leah
• Marcia Gay Harden – Melora
• Mary Beth Hurt – Ruth
• Kerry Washington – Rosetta
• James Franco – Derek, a love interest of Leah
• Giovanni Ribisi – Rudy
• Josh Brolin – Tarlow
• Piper Laurie – Arden's mother
• Nick Searcy – Carl
• Mary Steenburgen – Beverley, Leah's mother
• Bruce Davison – Leah's father

External links

• The Dead Girl at the Internet Movie Database
• The Dead Girl at AllRovi
• The Dead Girl at Box Office Mojo
• The Dead Girl at Rotten Tomatoes