TV Guide Review, Ken Fox - "The Dead Girl" ****
...In the most powerful segment, "The Mother," Melora (Marcia Gay Harden) arrives in L.A. after the police identify the body in the brush as that of her runaway daughter, Krista (Brittany Murphy). Bonding with Krista's roommate Rosetta (Kerry Washington), Melora learns the sordid details of Krista's life as a drug-addicted prostitute, and comes to terms with what drove Krista from her home.
Read the full review at TVGuide.com
Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman - "The Dead Girl" A-
They could be kinky Sunset Strip thrillers tucked away on late-night cable or, just as often these days, mainstream horror hits, but 9 out of 10 of the movies that deal with serial killers, hookers, and the perils of life in the sleaze lane can justifiably be labeled exploitation films, and it's worth recalling why. They tap our voyeurism in a way that inspires fear, or a certain dangerous excitement — the lure of underground kicks — but not, for the most part, empathy. These are films that exist to scare and stimulate rather than to make you feel anything.
Read the full review at EW.com
N.Y. Times, Stephen Holden - "The Dead Girl"
...In “The Mother,” the most satisfying vignette, Melora (Marcia Gay Harden), the mother of the dead girl, who has been identified as Krista (Brittany Murphy), drives to the fleabag motel where her daughter shared a room with Rosetta (Kerry Washington), a drug addict and prostitute. Rosetta takes Melora, a typical middle-class mom, to meet Krista’s 3-year-old daughter, Ashley. From Rosetta, Melora finally learns why Krista ran away from home and has her rose-colored vision of her idyllic family life shattered.
Read the full review at NYTimes.com