Netflix's 'Woman of the Hour' tells the story of Rodney Alcala, the 'Dating Game Killer' who killed OC girl – Orange County Register

By JAKE COYLE

Inside Anna Kendrick “Woman of the Hour” is a drama based on a chilling true story about the time a serial killer appeared in an episode of “The Dating Game” in the 1970s. One of the most telling images isn’t a grisly murder scene (although they are). This is Pete Holmes’ face.

Kendrick, making her directorial debut, plays an aspiring actress named Cheryl Bradshaw, who ends up appearing as a contestant in that “Dating Game” episode. Early in the film, he confides his audition frustrations to a neighbor (Holmes) over drinks. After making an awkward pass, the woman retreats and the man sits heavily, staring ahead in disappointment.

The tension of these encounters and how the women are forced to suffer and cope with the men’s bruised egos, “Woman of the Hour” It’s a sometimes clumsily plotted but consistently insightful thriller about the anxiety of the female experience and the constant game of weighing the threat of potential danger in men. Film Starts broadcasting on Friday on Netflix.

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In this image released by Netflix, from left, Tony Hale, Anna Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto are seen in a scene from the movie “Woman of the Hour”. (Leah Gallo/Netflix via AP)

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Kendrick, who wrote a screenplay by Ian McDonald, opens “The Woman of the Hour” with a scene in the remote foothills of Wyoming. There, Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) playfully takes a photo of a young woman (Kelley Jakle), but soon his hands are around her throat.

Although the film then shifts to Cheryl taping “The Dating Game,” “The Woman of the Hour” is interspersed with similarly terrifying encounters between Alcala and the women. They follow a similar pattern. He is charming and even sensitive, but turns violent at the first sign of rejection.

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Self-represented serial murder suspect Rodney Alcala speaks during his opening statement on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, in Santa Ana, California. (Michael Goulding/Orange County Register)

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“The Woman of the Hour” is not your standard true crime dramatization. The perspective of Alcala, who was convicted of murdering seven women and girls in 1980: Including 12-year-old Robin Christine Samsoe of Orange County – and died on death row in 2021, that’s not what matters here. It was women he targeted.

Kendrick’s movie might have been a better, more intriguing film if it had stayed with a single timeline and brought out all the drama in the “Dating Game” taping. But with Alcala unmasked from the start, “Woman of the Day” is more about the horror of a killer who thrives in the open, even on national television. We watch with horror how easily he fits in with single one and single two, and even seems to be the most attractive of the group.

When Cheryl is dragged into the showbiz vortex of “The Dating Game,” all the sexist remarks and misogynistic underpinnings of the show only seem worse, given Alcala’s presence. The host, a fictionalized Jim Lange named Ed Burke, is played as an expert and arrogant jerk. Tony Hale. As Kendrick holds the camera up to Cheryl’s face in the makeup chair, Ed tells her not to be too smart just before showtime. “I just need you to laugh and smile over and over again,” he says.

Much more sexism is added to the show. (One of Cheryl’s cue cards reads: “My favorite hobby is kissing.”) The juxtaposition of a serial killer of women with Hollywood misogyny adds a powerful layer. (Kendrick said earlier in the film that an audition exchange for on-camera nudity was taken verbatim from her own experience as a young actress.) This is especially true of Laura, an audience member. (Nicolette Robinson), He recognizes Alcala as the man who killed his friend. Attempts to warn the producers are predictably met.

While Zovatto’s performance is convincingly disturbing, if not over-the-top, Alcala’s dark, disturbed nature is too much to factor into “The Woman of the Hour.” This was a murderer with heinous acts of violence, including the rape and near-murder of an 8-year-old girl and the murder of a 12-year-old boy who was cycling home from ballet class. The years of police and judicial failure that allowed Alcala to escape prison for so long are only hinted at here.

“The Woman of Time” is sure to cause many people to check out this stranger-than-fiction story. But Kendrick’s success lies in capturing, from a woman’s perspective, how difficult it can be to cast a serial killer among an all-male cast.

“Woman’s Woman,” a Netflix release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language, violent content, some drug use and sexual references. Running time: 94 minutes. Three stars out of four.