Deadly Messages

Now I'm looking this film up online to review I find that it was indeed 'made for TV' back 1985 (I had guessed that within the first few minutes of watching it!). That's normally a sign that you're not going to be getting much for your money - cheap sets, unknown actors and a lot of suspension of disbelief required to properly enjoy it. And, yes, it is all those things. But it's also got its charms!

It's about a young woman who finds an old ouija board and ends up getting the titular 'deadly' messages, which warn her of foreboding and lethal events ahead.

I haven't heard of anyone in the cast (I doubt the main villain from 'Robocop' counts as an 'A-lister'), the script is so-so and do be expecting anything in the way of special effects - there's both no need or budget for that. And yet I kept watching. I suppose this is an instance when you can tell the difference between a 'slow burning' story and a boring one. If this movie was just outright dull then the slow pace wouldn't lead to anything, whereas there was at least a decent attempt at crafting a genuine sense of mystery around the central character.

I actually wanted to know what was going on in her life and her past and I was glad I stuck with it to find out. You can't really judge 'Deadly Messages' against massive Hollywood productions - it's not in their league. But in terms of nice, easy-going little supernatural mysteries than you might happen to come across late night on TV, I have sat through much worse!

I read only a couple of other comments about this film, so, I'll volunteer my two cents, as well. 'Cept I'm not gonna disagree with the other reviewers - I, too, thought that this was an above-average flick. Laura realizes that she is locked out of her apartment and peers through a window. Maybe her housemate (who she doesn't know very well) will see her and let her in. Instead, Laura witnesses a guy choking the roomie. In a panic, she gets the fire department to respond to an alarm at her flat. The cops are also dispatched. In spite of Laura's story, the police can't find a body, or any signs of a forced entry or struggle; so, to them, Laura looks like a kook. To make matters worse, it's learned that it's not the first time when the co-tenant has dropped out of sight. One of Laura's diversions is to play with a Ouija Board. From it she receives information about what she saw, her address, and eventually, herself. Throughout it all, she has difficulty convincing a detective - even her boyfriend - of what she suspects and her own identity. Finally, she is confronted with it actually being HER story. The movie starts out kinda slow, but causes one's interest to increase as it progresses. I hope that the unsympathetic portrayal of the police is exaggerated. I guess it was part of the attempt to show frustration at being disbelieved - like: sure you were abducted by aliens. This dummy also appreciated one of the final scenes, wherein the pieces of the puzzle were nicely summed up by those involved. Not a lot else to praise or badmouth here. Bottom line is: it's time and/or reasonable bucks adequately spent.

Formula movie and you can pretty much figure the plot and who is who from the beginning. However it is well acted and with out an excess of gore.

After forgetting her key and not being able to get her room mate to answer the door of a third story apartment, Laura Daniels is gutsy enough to use the fire escape. You guessed it she witnesses a murder. Naturally with out clues the police do not believe her. Things start to snow ball as Laura plays with a Quiji board, and figures out she is being stalked. The whole thing would be over in 15 minutes if anyone would believe her. And there are plenty of `Stay in the Car' type scenes. The only thing I guessed wrong was there were no scenes with jumpy cats. Hopefully it will one day come out on DVD.

On the outside, DEADLY MESSAGE appears to be one of those play-it-safe US TV movies of the 1980s, a mildly supernatural thriller about a woman who has the power to communicate with the dead thanks to a handy ouija board. However, this is only a minor sub-plot of the film, which turns out to be something else entirely: a unique combination of false identity drama, a chase thriller, a murder mystery, and a psychological mystery. It's unwieldy and not entirely successful, but the combination of elements means that it's a lot better than I'd expected.

There are huge flaws here, not least a cheat twist ending which means the viewer has no way of solving the mystery beforehand due to information being kept from them. On the other hand, the cast is solid, including heart throb Michael Brandon as the romantic interest and the tag-team of Kurtwood Smith and Dennis Franz as cops. Kathleen Beller is more sympathetic than most as the heroine, mixed up in one of those "is she mad?" style plot lines.

Amid the clichés, I was amused to notice that this film is heavily inspired by THE TERMINATOR, which was released to cinemas a year previously. An entire sub-plot involves the main character being stalked by a killer who wears sunglasses and a leather jacket and who appears to be unstoppable in sequences which bring to mind the Arnie flick. Hell, they even drafted in THE TERMINATOR's Brad Fiedel to do the soundtrack!

I am surprised nowadays how many TV movies I've seen are slow-moving - and yet, their scripts run about 1 hour and 42 minutes today as opposed to 1 hour and 52 minutes some 20 years ago.

Even with more time to fill, there were TV movies like "Deadly Messages" around that moved at a quick pace, were suspenseful and entertaining.

The story in "Deadly Messages" continues to evolve until the very end, so there is always a surprise around the corner for the viewer.

Laura Daniels (Kathleen Beller) is a pretty young woman living with her attorney boyfriend Michael (Michael Brandon) when one night, as she is trying to gain access to her apartment from the fire escape because she has no keys, she sees the woman staying with them murdered.

Afterward, she becomes convinced - with reason - that the killer is after her, especially after a Ouija board sends a message that says "I am going to kill you."

The police don't believe her; her concerned boyfriend takes her in for a CT scan, where it's discovered that she's had electroshock therapy. She denies it. Michael then finds more evidence that something is terribly wrong with the woman he thought he knew.

There are parts of "Deadly Messages" that will have you on the edge of your seat, and the suspense really builds. Beller, who seems to be retired now, is a likable actress capable of big histrionics, which were needed for this film.

Brandon has less to do, and his part isn't the most sympathetic, but he comes off fine. Dennis Franz is guess what, playing a police detective in this, and it's a very similar character to NYPD Blue's Andy.

Well above average - I love suspense movies; I wish more TV movies were like this one.