Anna Kendrick blessed our screens with the cult-favourite college acapella group franchise, Pitch Perfect, but in recent years, has slipped slightly out of the limelight. Luckily, in October, she marked her debut as a director, with the macabre retelling of a real-life serial killer who went on a killing spree during the 70s. Her new film, Woman of the Hour, follows the multiple victims of serial killer Rodney Alcala, and his infamous appearance on the 70s show, The Dating Game.
And while Kendrick’s world-weary, aspiring Hollywood star appears as the main protagonist on advertising promos and posters, in actual fact, none of the characters really take centre stage. The film focuses on a select few of Alcala’s victims. The structure is a little strange; the ending is somewhat abrupt, and the narrative feels a little loose in places. But the film’s focus on the victims, rather than the serial killer himself, was refreshing. In a world obsessed with the macabre workings of the psychopathic mind, Alcala’s own inner narrative was onlyvbriefly alluded to. While the murders are never shown on screen, the thrashing of a girl held down by Alcala is seen through a dirty skylight, or seen from afar across the desolate plains, so that the details are lost to the viewer. Woman of the Hour’s most chilling attribute is its pinpoint focus on the before, and the after. One scene follows Bradshaw as she walks back to her car alone after an uncomfortable date, shadowed closely by a calm and collected Alcala, who seemingly thrives on the fear that’s drawn across Bradshaw’s face, knowing that she is defenceless. It is this fear that is most unsettling to the viewer, as it is a fear all women will be able to understand. The violence in this film is understated, but disturbing all the same.
It has also since been revealed that Kendrick will donate all of her pay to RAINN and the National Center for Victims of Violent Crime —could this finally be the end of the glorification of serial killers?
“Anna Kendrick” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.