When I first heard Anna Kendrick was stepping behind the camera to direct her first film, I kind of expected it to be another Pitch Perfect film … but to find her instead doing a thriller about a real life serial killer and rapist who appeared on a game show in the 1970s was a curve ball I wasn’t expecting. But this isn’t simply a true crime story but instead is about how women were marginalized and heavily objectified. But the biggest takeaway I had while watching this was simply how dangerous things were back then and just how easily a serial killer could be prolific and walk the streets while no one suspected a thing. To get it out of the way, my major gripe with this film is that we meet Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) in the very beginning, and we see that he’s a vicious serial killer who lures his victims with charm while posing as a photographer. I feel this reveal could have been done better and would have added more tension when the film gets to the game show portion. Perhaps there is another edit of the film out there that does this, or at the very least they could have shown the killer in action and not reveal his face.
Then we meet Sheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick), a struggling actress who moved out to LA to become a star but hasn’t had much luck. As fate would have it, her manager gets her a spot on the game show The Dating Game as a way to get her face out in front of the public, and as it turns out one of the potential suitors on the show happens to be Rodney. In the audience there Laura (Nicolette Robinson) is attending the taping, and she recognizes Rodney, and she attempts to do what she can to stop him. When it comes to the portion of the film surrounding the game show, I was absolutely loving this. I love the spunkiness that Kendrick gave the character, seeing how they brought the set to life, and then the tension surrounding Laura; all of this worked so well until it didn’t.
The film really feels like two separate stories and is following four separate characters, the fourth being a runaway who crosses Rodney’s path in the last 30 minutes. This was frustrating, because none of the story threads feel complete, and there just seems like there is plenty of story that could have stretched this out some, or it could have simply focused on just the game show portion.
The ladies do a fantastic job in their parts, each of them from different backgrounds, and really bring this story to life. Each of the ladies even has their moment to shine, and because of this they actually upstage the Rodney character, which I feel was the point to show, that he wasn’t as clever as he believed he was despite his potential high body count. They believe he could have had a 130 victims, which is an insane number, especially when he was only convicted of seven of the murders. What is somewhat surprising is how this film shies away from the violence. I’m not expecting this to be too graphic, but it felt a bit too tame, as though they were afraid that going too far would make Rodney not as charming, which is frustrating, because we know he’s a monster, and every woman who crosses his path should be very afraid.
As a first time effort, I’d consider this a win for Anna Kendrick, while I’m not the biggest fan of some portions of the film, I love how she captured the feel of the old-school game shows. The production designs are on point along with the costumes and makeup, I almost wish there was a bonus released that showed her recreation of the episode, but how it would have looked as just a viewer from at home seeing the episode. Hopefully down the road we’ll see Kendrick step behind the camera again. She has potential. As long as she can get her hands on a good script, she’s someone to keep an eye on.
Woman of the Hour is streaming now exclusively on Netflix
