Anna Kendrick’s absorbing directorial debut concerns Rodney Alcala, a serial rapist and killer who was in the middle of a violent murder spree when he appeared on a US gameshow in 1978. Alcala, who died in jail in 2021, may have murdered as many as 130 women and girls, a grim statistic at odds with his jaunty pop-culture moniker of the Dating Game Killer.
The film opens in Wyoming, where a young woman named Sarah (played by Kelley Jakle, Kendrick’s Pitch Perfect costar) pours her heart out to Rodney (Daniel Zovatto), a photographer. She’s vulnerable; he’s attentive. He touches her face, then moves to choke her. It’s the first of a series of vignettes that give voice and presence to Alcala’s victims, sometimes in their final moments.
One notable survivor was Cheryl Bradshaw. Ian McDonald’s script (which featured on the 2017 Black List of the most-liked Hollywood screenplays not yet produced) introduces Cheryl (played by Kendrick) as a down-on-her-luck actor with an overbearing “nice guy” neighbour (Pete Holmes). She’s considering quitting the business when her agent suggests that she appear on The Dating Game.
She faces the wrath of its misogynistic host when she asks such unscripted questions as “What are girls for?” Only the charming Alcala rises to the occasion, leading to a terrifying “first date”. Laura (Nicolette Robinson), a woman in the studio audience, immediately recognises the killer and attempts to warn the crew. Nobody listens.
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Kendrick and her cinematographer, Zach Kuperstein, are listening. They carefully frame every terrifying scene to excise gratuitous detail and give the women characters agency as they fight to survive.
Cheryl’s encounter echoes the experience of the runaway played by Autumn Best, who visibly deadens herself as she attempts to placate her attacker. Zovatto, who played the sinister cult leader in Station Eleven, convincingly switches between dashing and monstrous. Kendrick proves herself a formidable talent on both sides of the camera. The timeline can be choppy, but this is as considered as it is chilling.
Woman of the Hour is on limited cinema release and on Netflix from Friday, October 18th
