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The Alphabet Killer (2008)
Years back I was very surprised after leaving the theater after seeing the film "Wrong Turn" as I enjoyed the film immensely. This would be my introduction to director Rob Schmidt's work and I was pretty impressed with it. Then Schmidt would turn up again during the second season of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series with the episode "Right to Die" which was a decent enough show. So I was excited when I heard a few years back that Rob was attached to direct a film about the true story of the Alphabet Killer. I remember him speaking about the case and how it was one of if not his favorite true crime story and he couldn't wait to make a movie about it. As a fan of true crime myself I was excited to see what he would do with the story. So after a few years of waiting and hearing details here and there we finally have "The Alphabet Killer" on DVD from Anchor Bay.
"The Alphabet Killer" is about Megan Paige a highly respected investigator who is driven mad by the case of the Alphabet Killer. After finding victims of the killer and managing to come up dry every time, she starts having visions that the victims are following her around and trying to tell her something. Upon seeing these dead girls Megan understandably has a mental breakdown. After getting treatment she starts to get involved with the investigation as a consultant and the visions start occurring again. What do they have to do with the murders? Will they ultimately drive her mad before she can apprehend the killer? Find out in this flick that's based on a true story (although loosely).
After I had the DVD in my hand I was very surprised by the strong cast that the film had. Eliza Dushku is a solid genre actress and plays the lead of Megan. Unfortunately the role is way to complex for her to play and she's simply not believable in the role at all. The role calls for a great deal of emotion and it's just not there as she shows up vacant eyed more than anything. Timothy Hutton who is one of my favorite actors shows up in what is easily one of the most underwhelming roles I've ever seen him in. His character is instrumental to the story of the film, but it just doesn't balance out with how little he shows up on screen. It's a shame to see such a good actor completely wasted in this one as well.
The story of the film is ultimately pointless and had very little direction to it and ends up being the downfall of the entire film. Tom Malloy wrote the script and I honestly have no idea what kind of movie he was trying to write here. The movie is basically about Megan and her mental breakdown which I honestly didn't feel should have been the focus in a movie about a true life case. Anyone that checks this one out due to the true to life nature is going to be extremely disappointed as this movie is trying to involve a supernatural element that just simply doesn't make any sense and isn't explained in the least. Overall it's a giant waste of time and doesn't have one hint of originality at all.
Overall this one could have been something great (very similar to what David Fincher's 2007 film "Zodiac" ended up being, but instead we get a directionless movie with a ton of great actors that are completely wasted in their roles. I was annoyed originally when this one was dumped on DVD instead of giving it a theatrical release, but after watching it I completely understand why it was released that way. AVOID.
Rating - *1/2
-Ed Demko
