thriller

nna Kendrick makes her impressive directorial debut with Woman of the Hour, a dark comedic drama, loosely based on a bizarre true-life pop culture incident that occurred on daytime television on September 13, 1978.

Anna Kendrick deftly juggles timeline and tonal shifts to create a subversive crime thriller with expected scares and unexpected empathy and humanity. The second half of the film is a strange trip into the surreal but impeccably designed Dating Game set, with Tony Hale as the sexist and smarmy host (a Jim Lange stand in, presumably for legal reasons). Bradshaw manages, with advice from the jaded and clearly ignored women on the set, to push past sexist pre-written questions, grab the spotlight and shine.

Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut taps into every female’s greatest fears. Woman Of The Hour tells the true story of Cheryl Bradshaw as she appeared opposite a serial killer on The Dating Game. Struggling actress Cheryl accepts a reluctant gig on the famous 1970s game show. Sick and tired of the typical dumbed-down fare, Cheryl takes control of the episode with rewritten, quick-witted questions. But someone in the audience recognizes contestant Number Three for all the wrong reasons. Alongside Cheryl’s journey, the film includes vignettes of Rodney Alcala’s other victims through the years. Each encounter is slightly different, but the consequences are equally horrific. Alcala’s methods are slick and sadistic. Reeling women into the desert with his promises of photography and flattering words, he is a perfect predator. Rejection serves as his trigger.