In her directorial debut, Anna Kendrick tackles the real life story of serial killer Rodney Alcala’s appearance on a 1978 episode of The Dating Game amidst his almost decade-long killing spree. Focussing largely on Cheryl Bradshaw, the bachelorette of the game played by director Kendrick, this main story is intercut with multiple scenes tracking Alcala’s years long rampage, portraying the murders of some of Alcala’s victims and giving viewers glimpses into the real life horrors these women experienced at the hands of the murderer and one time game-show contestant. In this take on the horrifying historical story, written by Ian MacAllister McDonald, the filmmakers take a risk, using Alcala’s odd appearance on this game show to bring to light other very mundane, socially acceptable forms of harassment against women, and how this breeds an environment that allows people like him to continue on their paths of hate and violence. Unfortunately, despite strong performances, this parallel seems to fall somewhat flat by the end of the film, but still excels in showing the dangers of fostering an environment that allows for such brutal sexism and misogyny.

The film opens in the desert, with viewers looking through the lens of a camera at a woman, as a man’s voice asks her about her life. What soon follows is the first of many brutal on screen murders, committed by serial killer and rapist Rodney Alcala, played by Daniel Zovatto. Brutal in their depiction and often times hard to watch, these scenes are intercut with the main plot of the film, following Anna Kendrick as Cheryl, an actress participating as the bachelorette in the episode of The Dating Show, a game where one woman asks “raunchy” questions to three male contestants in hopes of finding her next date, where one of the contestants is Rodney Alcala himself. Cheryl, like most women, feel the effects of the patriarchy and normalized sexism in her workplace, on backstage of the show, and even in her own home. As Cheryl’s story leads to a tense stand-off between her and Alcala, viewers are reminded of the events of the victims come before in the film, bracing for what may come next for Cheryl.

Kendrick’s direction in her debut is good, capturing quite stunning performances from Daniel Zovatto as serial killer and rapist Rodney Alcala and Autumn Best as the “runaway girl”, a one of Alcala’s targets years after the game show. Cheryl’s story and experience in Hollywood and on the show is to-the-point, and the horrific experiences of the women who become Alcala’s victim’s are often jarring, but captured in a manner that achieves the stomach-churning response from audiences they were clearly going for. Her style is present, and fresh in the sometimes over-saturated genre of true crime films. The pacing is slow, making this 94 minute film feel closer to a 2 hour run time by the end, due to jumping timelines that aren’t always handled in the best way. These vastly different timelines result in certain aspects of the narrative feel quite disjointed, and a film that seems to have tackled more narrative and aspects of the real-life stories than it had time to fully develop. Nonetheless, the performances from Kendrick, Zovatto, and Best keep the film moving forward, leading to devastating end title cards that hit that much closer to home because of the work these actors put in.

The film takes a few liberties in telling Cheryl Bradshaw’s story, in order to embellish the absurdity of the fact that the real life serial killer was allowed to be featured on a television show amidst his killing spree. In taking these liberties in Cheryl’s story, viewers are reminded of the casual sexism and misogyny that exists in the world today, in the workplace, at home, and even on national television. But by featuring these injustices like sexist comments and emotional manipulation alongside stories of real-life victims of Alcala’s hate and rage, a parallel fails to form once the circumstances surrounding Alcala’s arrest and the bravery it took one young woman in leading to this event is revealed at the end. This world that Cheryl lives in, one that reeks of sexism, subtly shows how a world filled with casual misogyny breeds environments that will, quite literally, applaud men like Alcala. This environment that leaves women vulnerable, so men like Alcala, who know exactly what to say, will be right there, unnoticed and largely ignored by the other men in the room, ready to prey on the defeated women. Unfortunately, with such a jam packed story, by the time the end title cards appear on screen, one can’t help but think about all the other stories forfeited in lieu of the story of The Dating Game, and wonder if a more focused story at the centre of the film would have worked better.

Casual sexism, misogyny, and the disbelief of accusations against violent men breed an environment that allows these rage-filled rampages to continue. Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut film, Woman of the Hour, explores our world filled with sexism and misogyny, and how it allowed a real life serial killer to continue his murdering spree for almost a decade, despite the fact that he appeared on the televised game show, The Dating Game, amidst his horrifying actions. Existing in the true crime genre, the film approaches the story from a different perspective, that of Cheryl Bradshaw, the bachelorette who wins a date with the killer on the game show. With her real-life survival documented, the film builds tension towards Cheryl and the killer’s date by intercutting her story with that of some of the many victims of the same killer throughout the 1970’s. Although there are some issues with pacing here, as well as an attempt that somewhat falls flat to show how a misogynistic environment can allow for these horrors to continue happening, the performances carry this film forward, and Kendrick’s direction leaves audiences excited to see what she will do in the future.

Woman of the Hour was originally screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Image Courtesy of TIFF.