Messages Deleted (2010) Movie Review

Messages Deleted – ABC Film Challenge – Mystery – M – Messages Deleted – Movie Review

Director: Rob Cowan

Writer: Larry Cohen (Screenplay)

Cast

Matthew Lillard (Scream)
Deborah Kara Unger (Silent Hill)
Gina Holden (Final Destination 3)
Serge Houde (50/50)
Chiara Zanni (Valley of the Boom)

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

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Messages Deleted starts when screenwriting teacher Joel Brandt (Lillard) receives an answer phone message from someone begging for help. He believes it is a prank call and ignores it. However, when Joel meets his girlfriend Claire (Zanni) they get a shock when a body is thrown in front of them.

This ends up being the person calling for help. Detective Lavery (Unger) leads the investigation with the clues pointing directly at Joel. Meanwhile, Joel starts his own investigation, as he tries to save the people calling him.

Verdict on Messages Deleted

Messages Deleted is a mystery thriller following a screenwriter that finds himself in the middle of a series of murders. He gets a call from the killer using the victim to beg for help. This sees him becoming the prime suspect as he races to prove his innocence.

The movie gets to use the idea that screenplays are not always perfect and need something to bring a twist to the story. It spends a lot of time pointing out the faults in the events as if it was a screenplay being written. This gets to bend the meta of the movie well, as we are left guessing as to what will happen in the end. Unfortunately, we get a twist that doesn’t click as well as it should and one that takes away from a lot of what we have previously seen. Matthew Lillard is great in the leading role, being the shining light of the movie.

Final Thoughts – Messages Deleted is a nice tense thriller, let down by a twist that doesn’t completely make sense.