The Alphabet Killer (2008)

• Year: 2008
• Released: 10 Dec 2009
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 1 nomination
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818165/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_alphabet_killer
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
• Runtime: 98 min
• Writer: Tom Malloy
• Director: Rob Schmidt
• Cast: Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton
• Keywords: based on true story,

5.2/10

The Alphabet Killer Storyline

In Rochester, a pre-teen girl is abducted, raped, and murdered. Detective Megan Paige investigates: she works long hours obsessively, and soon she’s seeing visions of the dead girl. The FBI profiles the killer as a spontaneous drifter, lucky not to get caught; Megan thinks he’s local and a methodical planner. She notes that the victim’s first and last names and the place the body was left start with “C.” When a second murder follows the same pattern, Megan is vindicated, but her obsessions get the best of her, and her mental state impedes her work. With the help of medication, therapy, and a friend, can she regain her equilibrium and catch the alphabet killer?—

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The Alphabet Killer Movie Reviews

Average at best.

This viewer is not surprised to learn that this rather pedestrian murder mystery / thriller is based *very* loosely on a real life string of unsolved killings in the Rochester, NY area. Too many of the characters are rather standard issue for this sort of thing, and the story (credited to co-star Tom Malloy, who plays cop Steven Harper) doesn’t exactly go out of its way to be credible. While it’s somewhat commendable to have a main character who’s struggling mightily with their own mental illness, it’s too hard to root for her most of the time. She blatantly goes ahead and does things that she’s been ordered not to do, although of course we in the audience know that the crimes won’t be solved unless she indulges in this behaviour. There’s an over abundance of lazy cops here that are happy with pat answers.

Eliza Dushku, who’d acted for director Rob Schmidt in the horror feature “Wrong Turn”, is front and centre as Megan Paige, a young detective who’s had some success due to the way she obsesses over cases. However, a bout with schizophrenia does her no favours as she attempts to solve a series of murders. The monster responsible has come up with this gimmick of slaughtering little girls with double initials (W.W., as in Wendy Walsh, for example) and dumping their bodies in towns with the same initial (Webster, in this case). Her colleague and former lover, Kenneth Shine (Cary Elwes) reluctantly lets her return to the case even after she’s made a suicide attempt.

There’s a number of solid and familiar performers here – Timothy Hutton, Michael Ironside, Bill Moseley, Carl Lumbly, Larry Hankin, Jack McGee, Melissa Leo, Tom Noonan, Martin Donovan – and some of these people get an A for effort. But there’s not that much they can do with basically third rate material. Dushku is a lovely woman, but not an overly talented actress. Still, she deserves some credit: she tries as hard as she can. The filmmaking is basically adequate, and there’s a rather drab look to “The Alphabet Killer”, with not that much in the way of strong colours. The ending offers up the kind of twist that, if you didn’t predict it early on, you’ll likely scold yourself (as this viewer did) for not seeing it coming.

Six out of 10. (The supporting cast raises the rating a notch.)

Predictable, not Schmidt’s Best Work

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.

Premise Based On A Real-Life Case

This crime thriller centers on a detective named Megan (Eliza Dushku) who investigates a series of child murders in upstate New York. But Megan suffers from a mental illness, the symptoms of which get worse as she delves deeper into the killings. She hears strange voices and sees “visions” related to the victims.

With low light levels and muted colors, combined with creepy background music, the film’s first half creates an effective thriller atmosphere. We see the outline of the killer, but never the face. Will Megan solve the murders and overcome her illness, or will the inept police supersede, to botch the case? As viewers, we root for Megan to succeed.

Although the script idea originates from a real-life murder case, referred to generally as the “double initial” serial killings, which terrorized upstate New York in the early 1970s, the film’s overall plot and main characters are fictional. The story setting is the present, not the 1970s. The scriptwriter created the Megan character out of thin air. And the story’s outcome deviates considerably from the outcome of the real-life case. The film’s writer wrote a fictional plot, based on a real-life premise. The film’s second half fails to convince, largely because of its clichéd plot contrivances.

Visuals consist of an annoying widescreen projection and some hokey CGI effects, in the form of “ghosts”. But the low lighting contributes tension, as does some clever low-angle camera shots. And the director relies mostly on a hand-held camera, which enhances realism. Overall casting and acting are fine.

“The Alphabet Killer” gets off to a great start. But it falters in the second half, owing to fictional plot points that dilute the underlying real-life premise. I would have preferred a narrative that followed the true story, though I understand that the reason for not doing so was budget constraints. By lowering one’s expectations, the viewer may find the film worthwhile, either as a fictional thriller or as a character study of a woman fighting her own demons.