‘Woman of The Hour’ review: A terrifying serial killer story

nypost.com:

a true-crime story about a serial killer, but a new movie directed by Anna Kendrick does a number on that familiar genre. Rather than being about the monster himself, or even one of his victims, the film is centered around a person he did not murder — someone who got away.Running time: 89 minutes.

Not yet rated. At the Toronto International Film Festival.“Woman of the Hour,” which premiered Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival, is based on the 1970s crimes of Rodney Alcala, better known as the Dating Game Killer.

Over a decade, he took the lives of at least eight women, but investigators believe the number could be as high as 130.Alcala’s most surreal chapter, however, was when he appeared as a bachelor on a 1978 episode of “The Dating Game” smack dab in the middle of committing these atrocities.

The question posed by Kendrick, making a strong directing debut, and writer Ian McDonald: Is the justice system so screwed up and society so unconcerned with women that a prolific murderer (who had already been arrested for assault) could easily wind up on a game show — and win?Kendrick does double duty, also playing “Dating Game” contestant Cheryl Bradshaw, who picked Alcala for a date at the end of the show.