It’s not news to anyone nowadays that true crime is one of the biggest genres in the United States. Spanning across all types of media, there always seems to be true crime tables at every book store or a true crime podcast to be readily queued. Netflix is notorious for featuring the true crime genre and on Oct. 18 they released “Woman of the Hour,” a dramatized retelling of the crimes of Rodney Alcala, for streaming.
Alcala was a serial killer in the ‘70s who targeted women and has an exponential and uncertain victim count. In 1978, Alcala was featured as a bachelor on a blind dating show called “The Dating Game” during the height of his crimes when no one knew what horrors he committed.
In the film, Alcala is portrayed by Daniel Zovatto, but he isn’t the star of the show despite putting on a convincingly eerie performance. Rather, the star is director and actor Anna Kendrick playing Sheryl Bradshaw, a fictionalized character based on Cheryl Bradshaw, the 1978 bachelorette on “The Dating Game.”
The film follows Bradshaw, an aspiring actress in California, looking for her time in the limelight when her agent books her a one-time appearance on “The Dating Game” as a bachelorette looking for love. The game has Bradshaw blind to a selection of three men hidden behind a partition, asking them teasing questions about date nights and hypothetical rendezvous.
Zovatto’s Alcala nails all the questions, answering them in ways that had both Bradshaw and the audience swooning, displaying Alcala’s charm. At the end of the game show, Bradshaw chooses bachelor number three as the lucky winner and scores a date with none other than Alcala himself. From there, the film becomes tense, with Bradshaw agreeing to go out with Alcala that evening and realizing that maybe he isn’t as charming as she thought.
True crime is a tricky genre, especially when you’re dramatizing it and producing it for the big screen. It’s very easy to cross a lot of ethical lines; however, I think “Woman of the Hour” embraces the story of survivors in a way that most dramas don’t.
Dramas like “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” directed by Ryan Murphy are just some true crime Netflix shows that have been criticized for romanticizing crimes, spreading harmful misinformation and being disrespectful to victims and their families.
“Woman of the Hour” portrays this story sensitively from the very beginning where the opening scenes show us what Alcala is, leaving no room for empathy. The film goes on to focus on the experiences of the victims and survivors. I think the film took the story in a really impactful direction, empowering women by allowing them to trust their instincts on screen.
Throughout the film, we are shown multiple instances of Alcala assaulting people. One in particular, Amy (Autumn Best), is based on the real life survivor Monique Hoyt who helped get Alcala caught by manipulating her captor. Although this plot is very important to the story, it confused me as a watcher. This story was told parallel to the game show and it wasn’t clear whether or not it was past, present or future.
As with any film, there is fiction woven throughout it despite being based on real experiences. These changes were mainly made to Bradshaw’s story as, during her life, she distanced herself from these experiences in her personal life and in the media.
Additionally, changes were made to the game show conversations between Alcala and Bradshaw. This was done to make Alcala’s appeal apparent to a modern audience, screenwriter Ian McDonald told The Hollywood Reporter. I think these are important creative choices to make Bradshaw’s “The Dating Game” decision not seem naive, as Alcala’s real game show answers might raise more red flags today than they did in the ‘70s.
Do I think this is the perfect way to share these types of stories and learn about victims? Not necessarily. Serial killers have been public spectacles since the increase in media coverage during the ‘70s, and that phenomenon isn’t going away anytime soon. The popularity of the true crime genre is proof of that. However, I think “Women of the Hour” did a good job shifting the focus to the survivors and sending a clear message. It’s not the victims fault.
3/5 stars
jhammer@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @AnAntLife, X
