Deadbolt (1992 TV Movie) User Reviews (13)

I actually thought it was pretty good & worth a look, certainly not as bad as I had feared.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 23 March 2006]

Deadbolt starts with Alec Danz (Adam Baldwin) taking a a fully prepared breakfast on a tray upstairs to his girlfriend Katherine (Dominique Perreault) only to discover her lying in the bath & having slit her wrists... Marty Hiller (Justine Bateman) has everything going for her, she is a 3rd year med student & has a good research job to pay the bills, she is young, attractive & has her whole life to look forward to. However one day that all changes when she discovers that her flat has been broken into & decides to let her spare room out to a man to help pay the rent & for some protection, at first Marty agrees to let the room to Phillip Berrin (Mark Camacho) over Alec but Marty gets a call to say that Phillip has been murdered so she lets Alec take the room after all. At first things go well but it soon transpires that Alec is a psycho who just wants to be with someone & the someone he has chosen is the unlucky Marty whose life begins to fall apart because of Alec's plans but the worse is yet to come as Alec will go to homicidal lengths to win Marty over...

This Canadian production was directed by Douglas Jackson I have to admit I quite liked it. The script by Frank Rehwaldt & Mara Trafficante moves along at a fair pace & it sets it's stall out early on, no endless scenes of boring exposition as we know Alec is a psycho & the film lets him get on with it. I really liked the story & the ideas here, I liked Alec's devious plans & they were satisfying to watch unfold plus they were quite feasible & not too far fetched although I wasn't sure about Alec's motives & simply painting him to be a nasty sort of guy isn't motivation enough for him to become obsessed with Marty to the extent he would literally murder to be with her & then frame her for one of them so she couldn't go to the police or leave him. Anyway, overall I thought Deadbolt was a nice tight little thriller that more than kept me watching & entertained for 90 odd minutes & wasn't to far beyond the realms of possibility, I mean I'm not saying it's realistic or anything but it's more credible than a lot of thrillers out there which helped me relate to what was happening.

Director Jackson obviously wasn't working with a fortune & as a whole Deadbolt looks a bit on the dull side just like the made-for-TV film it so obviously is. There isn't any explicit violence or gore apart from a couple of slit wrists & a brief scene of someone getting shot in the head but there is a fairly tame sex scene.

Technically Deadbolt is alright, just about the best thing I can say about it is that's it competent. The acting was fine in my opinion, Baldwin makes for a good villain & Bateman makes for a likable & good looking leading lady.

Deadbolt was a nice surprise, it's not life changing stuff that's for sure but on a basic entertainment level I liked it. When all said & done I thought it was good solid film, it's as simple & straight forward as that, I think you could do a lot worse than this & I'd say give it a go if you can find a copy somewhere cheap or catch it on TV for free.

Clever, Cunning, CHILLING!

[Leafan · 6/10 · 2 December 2001]

The best movie I have seen in a long time, Deadbolt succeeds with an interesting plot, it's cleverness and the great performance of Adam Baldwin as the killer room-mate. Baldwin pulls off a performance which lets you take this stranger into your heart and your mind...bad mistake! You realize this as the story flows and gasp as you see the ease with which your life can be ended without dying. Some may say it's a rip-off of such films as Single White Female and Misery, while it is true it takes inspiration from these films, it really does stand on it's own two feet and if I may say...knocks the socks off Single White Female. This movie is ONE TO WATCH so as the tagline says... MAKE UP THE GUESTROOM, YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE HAS ARRIVED!

single white male seeks same

[kirk_bones · 7/10 · 26 April 2006]

i have read a lot of reviews slating this movie but i found this to be tense engrossing thriller. Medical student Marty(Justine Bateman)needs a roommate after her flat gets broken into so she takes in Alec(Adam Baldwin). At first he seems like a nice young man,he likes opera,cooks and seems like the perfect roommate till he decides he wants Marty for himself. He begins changing the locks,transforming the flat and finally locking Marty in a padded room.Anyone who gets in his way gets dispatched by various means which include killing someone with a tyre iron. Justine Bateman ,an actress we just haven't see enough of, is great as Marty who thinks she can look after herself till she realises things are out of her control. Sure we have seen this all before in various movies but this film is lifted by Adam Baldwin who is more creepy and evil than one can possibly imagine and he certainly scared the hell outa me. I like the way this film used violence and psychology to put it's point across and it certainly puts me off ever taking in a lodger. Deadbolt i give 7/10

All you need to know is...

[Flamehead 3 · 20 January 2002]

Just a real bad clone of Misery, just the genders switched around. Now the psychopath movies are getting cliched. Baldwin is the dime-a-dozen psychopath, and he's locking his love in her room whilst murdering off her only points of contact. Now she's trying to get out, while he cuts away every attempt. Please, just watch Misery. Same thing, just a lot creepier and enjoyable than this.

I'll take "What this movie should be put behind" for 500, Alex

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 6/10 · 10 March 2010]

Seriously though, had all the good titles been taken by all the countless other "psychopath gets close to common person" flicks? This holds no surprises, other than perhaps the fact that it ends so abruptly that it might be more like stopping. If you've seen a single one of these(and let's face it, that's probably the full amount of actually great ones in this overpopulated sub-genre to thriller), you've seen them all. The clichés are riddled throughout the generic script. Every other line of Baldwin #64 could, indeed, be accompanied by orchestral stings that signify evil and you might not even notice it. They try too hard, and it winds up being distractingly unrealistic as opposed to creepy. The acting is poor, with the kid definitely being the worst(she's also got the least tolerable role). There are numerous instances of characters(who, by the way, are entirely forgettable and unbelievably bland) reacting however the scene requires them to. Much like Whispers, which appears to be the only other thing by director Jackson that I've watched, this just holds next to no interesting or memorable elements. It's been done before, and it is far superior elsewhere. There is some disturbing content and a bit of violence in this. I recommend this solely to big fans of the cast and crew. 6/10

It was good considering it's over 12 years old

[jack4740 · 6/10 · 11 June 2006]

Well i was flicking through channels on SKY when i came across a movie called Deadbolt on the Horror Channel,to be honest its more Psychological than horror in my opinion.But its good,i reckon anyway,and no i haven't seen misery,but Deadbolt is good.I am surprised its 12 years old,for a Film made in 1993 its pretty good picture.I haven't really heard of any of the actors in Deadbolt seems to me most of them are just Groupies including Alec Baldwin by groupies i mean people who walk around in the background while a big scene is happening,or actors that take little short lived parts in the film.

I will be watching!

Room for one more?

[sol-kay · 5/10 · 30 December 2008]

***SPOILERS*** Very uneven thriller that has to do with med student Marty Hiller, Justine Bateman, trying to make ends meet in both finishing medical school and paying her rent at the same time. In pops young drifter Alec Danz, Adam Baldwin, who's more then willing to pay Marty half her rent but he first had to dispatch Phil, Mark Comacho, who answered Marty's newspaper add, in shearing her apartment, first! Smashing Phil's head in after offering to fix his flat tire, that he earlier flattened, Alec takes his squeaking loafers which will later identify him, to Marty, as Phil's killer.

We have very little information to what exactly makes Alec tick in that he seems to have no job or any means of employment even though he's what turns out to be an excellent carpenter with an unlimited supply of cash. It's later that Alec uses his carpentry skills to imprison Marty in her apartment, in a sound proof room, making her his virtual slave. It's Marty's ex Jordan, Chris Mulkey, who suspects that there's something fishy about his former Mrs' roommate in that he, at age 29, never filed an income tax return in his life!

Knowing that Jordan is on to him Alec sets up an elaborate plan to do the pesky lawyer, Jordan's profession, in. This is done by Alec setting up a scene in a fancy French Restaurant where Jordan loses his cool and later, with Alec's help, his head in a game of Russian Roulette! Alec then leaves a number of clues implicating Marty in her ex-husbands murder. Now having Marty just here he want's her Alec starts to turn the screws on her that results in Marty becoming a prisoner in her own apartment!

You have to draw your own conclusion in just why Alec is so crazy about Marty in that he goes so far, murdering four people, to get her to become his personal sex slave. For all we know Marty reminds Alec of his previous girlfriend Katherine, Dominique Perreault, whom he drove to kill herself by slashing her wrists in her bathtub. Marty knowing that she hasn't long to live as long as she's being held captive by Alec tries to kill him before he can, when he gets tired of her, murder her first!

Spiking his cheesecake with a strain of deadly botulism, that she had in a petri dish, that would have killed a full grown four ton elephant has very little effect on the love crazed, for Marty, Alec. Even with his head busted open, by Marty hitting it with a lamp, Alec only ends up spending a night in the hospital before getting back on his feet and into action. Framed, by Alec, for her ex-husband Jordan's murder the now escaped Marty tries to give herself up to the police and for once tell them her side of the story.

A now full recovered, from botulism poisoning, Alec leaving no stone unturned tracks Marty down together with her friend Theresa,Michele Scarabelli, at the safe-house that she staying at. It's then that Alec in trying to murder Marty, for both rejecting and poisoning him, gets the surprise of his life in ending up being, what he was so good at doing to others, what he never dreamed would be possible: The "Fall Guy" in the movie!

Pedestrian Thriller..

[anxietyresister · 3/10 · 22 March 2006]

How do you make a crappy made for TV movie? Simple..

Take one ounce of single woman

Make sure she is fresh from a bad divorce

Put her in a empty flat

Mix in a handsome lodger with a dodgy history

Stir until sparks fly

Add in a sprinkling of suspicious best friend, jealous ex-husband etc.

Beat the dish thoroughly until sprinkling is quickly gone

Insert just a pinch of secret evidence about lodger's past

Be sure to place evidence near to woman

Knead the dough flat into a final conclusion

Keep doing this for a rather tedious 20 minutes

Chuck it in the oven, and voilà! You have yourself a nice overcooked thriller!

Unfortunately, this recipe is rather hard to swallow under normal circumstances. But if your tastes are extremely low, or you like high fat foods with no filling, then this is the perfect dish for you! Be warned though, if you have an allergy to bad acting, or suffer from an inability to suspend disbelief, this probably doesn't come recommended. Try a nice orange soufflé instead, or just get some sleep.

Thank you for attending today's cookery class. Next week.. how to boil an egg! See you soon.. 3/10

Badly acted, cliché-ridden, throwaway film

[movieman_kev · 3/10 · 20 February 2009]

Marty (Justine Bateman of Family Ties) is searching for a roommate after someone breaks into her place. After her first choice is found murdered, she lets psychotic Alec (Adam Baldwin, known for NOT being one of the Baldwin brothers) move in. At first he seems too good to be true and they enjoy a romantic tryst, much to the chagrin of Marty's jealous over-protective ex-boyfriend. Then he begins to show his true colors.

This movie was an extremely generic, strictly by-the-book thriller. Woman-in-peril? check. Jealous suspicious ex-lover? Check Romantic affair with a guy whom turns out to be nuts? Double check.And as such, it's extremely predictable. You know how they're going to get from point A to point B to C. So no tension to be had, leading to boredom and apathy to why you even watched this lame film in the first place.

My Grade: D

Deadbolt is amazing

[aaronshepherd-41650 · 10/10 · 13 October 2022]

This movie is fantastic. Cast was excellent gets right into it with a shocking start this film gives U more than U could possibly want unlike other obsession films that take the same old story and try and make it a mystery even we all know whats going to happen this film pushes U into a soaking atmosphere which U are sucked into It uses its screen time amazingly. This film is misery, single white female, fatle attraction on crack it's fantastic like come on it was a made for tv film with a tiny budget yet still makes the absolute best use of it unlike theatre releases like fatal attraction, misery yet still over comes them this film is a much watch also if U like deadbolt U should look into watching another fantastic made for tv film called cupid just as amazing.

Pretty bad.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 4/10 · 15 October 2008]

Please pay attention film-makers, this is NOT how you should make a movie.

While "Deadbolt" is hardly the worst movie I've ever seen, I just can't exactly call it a good or effective one either. It hardly has any good ideas of its own and it uses a bad build-up, which just never pays off in the end.

It's obvious that this movie got made for TV. It has this typical look and atmosphere over it, which a movie just has never ever benefited from. It's also painfully obviously that the movie just didn't had the most talented people involved in the creation process. Both the acting and the directing is really lacking, as well as the story obviously.

Besides the fact the story is hardly anything original and is something that has been done a lot better in earlier genre movies, the movie also has some real problems with its build up and logic. The build up is simply far too slow and basically nothing good or interesting is happening in the movie its first 30 minutes. After that the thriller elements more or less start to kick in but again, it doesn't use a good enough build up for this to consider this movie a successful or effective genre piece. The movie just never becomes tense, also since you just simply couldn't care less for any of the characters, which is mostly due to the acting performances from its actors.

Justine Bateman is just not the kind of actress you should give the main lead. She is good enough for small bits in TV-series but letting her carry an entire thriller movie on her own is a very bad idea. Sometimes I like Adam Baldwin in his roles but main problem with Baldwin (no relation to the Baldwin brothers) is that ever since his "Full Metal Jacket" he thinks he can just play a psycho in every movie and that he can get away with just everything. Granted that he always gets typecast a lot though. He plays his role in this movie far to over-the-top, which just doesn't make his character really believable and therefore the movie as a whole also just doesn't quite work out as intended.

The movie also just didn't always made quite sense to me. So you turn into an obsessive and murderous psychopath when your wife commits suicide? And after you've been locked up for 5 weeks, with very little food and water, by a man who has murdered your ex-husband, your best friend and your roommate-to-be, all you worry about is what the police is going to think? Some things within this movie just didn't made much sense, which also made this movie quite ridicules in parts.

It's also of course a fairly predictable movie, also since it just isn't the most renewing or original one around. It's the kind of movie of which you just know in advance how each scene is going to end and how's going to live or die and how and when.

You're simply better off not watching this little unknown TV movie thriller.

4/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Deadbolt is dead in the water

[rezmo-2 · 23 September 2000]

I used to like the character the Justine Bateman played in that Michael Fox sitcom...She was like a small jewel that plays relief to the main stone of the setting. Now she's supposed to be the main stone but in my opinion doesn't even come close to rising to the occasion. She's pale and confused. Sometimes I thought that she paused long enough before responding to effect complete break in character...has she forgotten her lines? So, what seemed a very shallow made for TV movie, was made even less exciting by a pretty slack performance. Nothing worth a real analysis here. Just don't waste your time.

NOT TOO BAD

[Big Movie Fan · 24 March 2002]

This was a good film. In it, weirdo Alec Danz becomes the roommate to a young medical student called Marty. Everything seems okay at first until Justine Bateman finds out Alec is a weirdo.

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD)It was very gripping at times and there were some great scenes in it. My favourite scenes was where Alec Danz gets Marty's ex-husband to shoot himself in the head. I also liked the scene where Alec kills Marty's prospective roommate.

Adam Baldwin does a good job in this film. His character is a psycho. As far as Alec Danz is concerned, he's doing nothing wrong. He locks Marty in a padded room and expects her to love him. He is truly insane but acts sane at the same time.

It was gripping throughout. However, the ending of the film was a bit of an anti-climax. In a film like this you expect a lot of action and suspense at the end but you don't get that in this film's ending.

All in all, a reasonable film. My only other criticism is the fact that one of my favourite actors Anthony Sherwood didn't get enough to do in this film and the same goes for Michelle Scarabelli.