Anna Kendrick directs and stars in a true story about a woman meeting a serial killer on a dating show. Here’s our Woman Of The Hour review.
The story of Woman Of The Hour is almost too weird and unbelievable. A woman going on The Dating Game and choosing a bachelor who is actually a serial killer? Oh, please, that can’t be real.
Except it’s very real.
In 1978, Sheryl (played by Anna Kendrick) is an struggling actress, whose agent books her as a contestant on The Dating Game, a game show where one single gal gets to choose a man to go on a date with. For Sheryl, this is a last resort; she’s fed up with Hollywood and ready to accept acting just isn’t for her.
What Sheryl doesn’t know is that one of the bachelors is actually Rodney Alcala, a serial killer who has been murdering women up and down the country for the past few years. You can guess who she chooses to go on a date with.
Sheryl’s story is juxtaposed with multiple women who have encountered Alcala as well as an audience member who recognises him and tries her best to alert someone to the fact that there is a potential serial killer on stage right now. Kenrick, making her directorial debut here, smartly doesn’t linger on the horrific murders Alcala commits, but she doesn’t shy away from them either.
Woman Of The Hour is released on Netflix only weeks after Ryan Murphy’s latest true crime series has launched. Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story, like its predecessor Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, has gathered its fair share of criticism for its depiction of real life murders. Woman Of The Hour walks that thin line between glorifying or depicting something. There’s no attempt to make Sheryl’s story into sensationalist entertainment, but to shine a light on the women who died at the hands of Alcala. History rarely remembers their names, but Kendrick gives them lives and personalities, reminding us that these were real women, not just victims.
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Daniel Zovatto plays Alcala with an exciting, but chilling unpredictability. He’s almost too nice to the women he targets. He’s gentle, kind, funny, not a red flag in sight. The film begins with the most brutal murder scene. Set in 1977, Alcala murdered a woman during a photoshoot, only to revive her and kill her again. Prosecutors later estimated that Alcala might have done this several times to his victims.
In the hands of another filmmaker, Woman Of The Hour would be a horror film. Don’t get me wrong, the film is thoroughly terrifying, tapping into a fear every woman in the world is familiar with. It’s the same fear we feel when we walk home alone at night or when someone looks at us a little too long. But Kendrick isn’t interested in just scaring us, but encourages us to trust our instincts.
Not everything in the film gels perfectly. Woman Of The Hour can’t quite find its focus and the constant time jumps and changes in perspective are jarring. Kendrick also can’t resist focusing on Alcala when the focus should be on the women he murdered. The film is trying to tell a larger story than it has the capacity to tell in 90 minutes, but the ambition here is impressive.
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Woman Of The Hour streams on Netflix from 18th October.
