
Later this week, Anna Kendrick’s directoral debut is hitting Netflix. Woman of the Hour is a true story based around an aspiring actress who gets matched with a serial killer on The Dating Show game show. Based on a real serial killer, Rodney Alcala who was operating in California in the 1970’s. The movie tells both the stories of Sheryl Bradshaw (portrayed by Kendrick) as she finds herself competing on the show, and Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), the charismatic potential date that she chooses in the show. While Sheryl tries to find her footing in Hollywood and land a role that would make her famous, she is instead cast on The Dating Show where she gets to choose her likely suitor would be.

In true 1970s fashion, the winning couple wont go on a date, but an all expense paid trip to a far off destination, with a stranger. By today’s standards that alone would be enough to keep women or even some men from participating. But when the show is seen as a stepping stone for casting agents, and the contestants aren’t vetted, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Woman of the Hour isn’t 100% true to what happened on the stage of the episode the two were on, you can actually find the footage on Youtube if you want to see the clips. But, there is always some creative licensing that has to happen in writing a script. But overall, the movie does a good job showing a moment in history and a scary reality of a prolific killer in the 70s.
The movie show just easily Rodney was able to convince women and other people of his innocence and that he didn’t have other darker intentions all along. That is until you see the switch flip and his true colors are revealed. The charisma and confidence he exudes may be one of the most dangerous parts. And without the over saturation of social media and news we have today, it’s easy to see how he went undedected for so long.

Woman of the Hour only has a run time of around 90 minutes, which really seems to be the sweet spot for movies right now. But that doesn’t mean that the movie doesn’t seem to drag at some points. While it makes sense that the movie shows the other victims and the interactions with the other women, the story of Sheryl and her interactions with Rodney seem almost lost in the overall arch of the movie.
But at the heart of it, the women in the movie are showed using their intuition or ignoring it as society often conditions them to do. And the unease that Rodney makes Sheryl and other women feel is palpable. It may even trigger moments in your past where you felt that unease and couldn’t quite place it. And make you question just how close to a similar situation you may have been in in the past.
With the topic being about a serial killer, there of course a lot of violence portrayed on the screen. The victims that are shown in the movie are showed in varied levels of being attacked and some of these scenes aren’t easy to watch. So go into the movie knowing there are real death being portrayed, or at least some of the victims of Alcala.
Woman of the Hour will be on Netflix on October 18th.
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About Woman of the Hour
The stranger-than-fiction story of an aspiring actress in 1970s Los Angeles and a serial killer in the midst of a yearslong murder spree, whose lives intersect when they’re cast on an episode of The Dating Game