Alphabet Killer

I only basically wanted to see the location shots of my crap city, and surely did notice a few! The part that really drove me insane is the use of cell phones and laptops. I noticed the cars were pretty old looking but when the dad of Wanda hands over HER CELL PHONE to the cops for her contacts-- the movie was just dead to me after that. The kid was 12 year old and the year was 1972. Also I wasn't sure about the time frame because I think the killer struck again well before two years after the first girl's death.

I know it was only supposed to be "based on" these murders, but if they went to all the trouble of actually filming on location in Rochester, why didn't they go for a little more credibility? It was just meh, but again, fun for the location shots, and Eliza Deshku is always very good in everything.

Detective Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku) is tracking down a serial killer who finds girls with twin initials and dumps them in a city with the same beginning letter (such as Kelly Kapowski in Kingston). But when she gets too attached to the case, she suffers a mental breakdown. When the killings continue, can she overcome her problems to stop him from striking again?

I thought the film would be a pretty decent one... the concept was interesting, even if the movie strays quite a bit from the real events this was based on. And the cast is impressive. Dushku is pretty amazing, Cary Elwes is one of my all-time favorite actors, Timothy Hutton is here, Michael Ironside, and genre fave Bill Moseley. So you can't beat this ensemble cast.

But sadly, it just didn't add up for me. It was predictable (even the "twist" seemed obvious from early on) and not as engaging as one might think. It wasn't even as good as another recent murder / detective story I reviewed, "Anamorph" (which was itself not all that amazing). I've been a fan of Rob Schmidt's work, especially "Right to Die" and thought he'd be a good person to bring a dark angle to this story. Sadly, not so much... clichés such as a child-obsessed priest appear, and some (presumably imaginary) ghosts that don't really add to the film.

I wouldn't say not to watch this one, but it wasn't gripping. There isn't one thing I can pinpoint as making this film stand out -- not the music, the lighting, the effects... it was all pretty standard. It almost would have been more fitting for a Lifetime movie. As far as serial killers go, this one comes off as remarkably tame. If you want your psyche thrilled, look somewhere else.

Bland is the right word to describe this movie. Absolutely nothing interesting, nothing new and a cruelly stupid plot.

Eliza Dushku is pretty but that is all she is. In most parts of the movie she walks and talks like a zombie. Not sure if that is how delusional people would behave, but her performance looks comical. And since the whole movie circles around her, she single handedly manages to bring the entire movie down.

I really hope to see her cast in a better and more suitable role.

This is one such movie where everything looks bad, right from the acting, music, script, dialog, plot – everything.

I was shaking my head and hoping to see the movie end at some point.

Stay away from this one – unless you want to totally waste your time.

The Alphabet Killer is based very, very loosely on a real story. But screenwriter Tom Malloy pretty much made this story entirely his own. The basic facts of the case are that there once was a killer whose victims were young girls whose first and last names started with the same letter. And that killer dumped the bodies in towns with names beginning with that same letter. For example this film's first victim is Carla Castillo, found in Churchville. Where does this movie want to go from there? Well, it turns out not to really be about the killer but about the young detective investigating the crime, Megan Paige. Eliza Dushku plays the role and the movie was always going to sink or swim on her performance. Dushku just about manages to keep the film afloat.

The film veers toward the supernatural and/or psychological as Megan Paige begins to be haunted by visions. Is she really seeing things or just losing her mind? She ends up having a nervous breakdown and losing her position as a detective, demoted to a desk job. But when the bodies of more young girls turn up, following the alphabet pattern Megan had obsessed on, she's back on the case. Her new partner, played by screenwriter Malloy himself, is understandably wary. Eventually the two bond and make some progress in the case. But the killer remains elusive and Megan will not let the case go. Her frustrations manifest themselves in more of these visions or hallucinations or whatever they are. Megan is losing it again and it's a race against time to solve the case before she goes completely crazy. And of course before the killer strikes again.

All in all it is pretty familiar serial killer stuff like we've seen in so many other films. The focus on an investigator who happens to be losing her mind is a bit of a different angle. But ultimately things play out pretty much as you would expect from the genre. Dushku performs a challenging role reasonably well. The supporting cast, including some familiar faces such as Cary Elwes and Timothy Hutton, is fine as well. But the film never threatens to make the leap from being decent to being really good. The story starts with promise but once it settles into its rhythm there is the sense that initial promise is not being paid off. The story kind of lags, things are a little mundane. They try to spice things up a bit by throwing in those haunting, sometimes scary visions of Megan's. But that gets a little repetitive and loses its impact. You know the film is going to go for a big reveal at the end but when it does the effort falls somewhat flat. The ending is actually rather predictable, not nearly as thrilling as it needs to be for the film to really excite you. Ultimately The Alphabet Killer is a decent little movie but that is about the best that can be said. Not a terrible way to spend 100 minutes but far from spectacular.

I normally am not a fan of crime movies, especially those based on reality but stretched to the extreme, and the "Alphabet Killer" is no exception. Poor acting, horrible misrepresentation of reality, inaccuracy beyond belief, and camera work that my high school journalist could have topped takes this movie to the bottom. I do, however, enjoy movies that i don't know what's going to happen five minutes into it, and that is where this movie does succeed.

I watched "Alphabet Killer" twice; once confused and then once playing the "Alphabet Killer" drinking game. Neither was incredibly enjoyable but compared to most of the films these days it was not repulsive. If you are bored and happen to have a free redbox code its worth the 2 hours for sheer enjoyment of how truly worthless cops are.

I know this is one of my less useful reviews but i really don't have much to say about this movie; that's why i watched it twice. It really isn't that bad but at the same time it's not that good. I gave it the benefit of having funny cop hating to get the 6 instead of the 4.