Alphabet Killer ( 2009 )

From 1970 to 1973, three girls in and around Rochester, New York were brutally raped and strangled, their bodies dumped in neighbouring villages. The girls' first and last name started with the same letter, as did the first letter of the respective villages they were dumped in. But having only committed three murders, this whole thing, rather than being yet another serial killer, could just as easily been one big coincidence.

The Alphabet Killer is one of those based on a true-story flicks that shouldn’t have been based on a true story because the actual outcome neutered the entire story. And in fact, by including psychics, fictional characters, and Cary Elwes in it, you might as well have just said "this film is filmed in bollock-o-vision" instead. Writer Tom Malloy developed the script with the help of a homicide investigator who had worked on the original case. The writer noted that he saw the film as a cross between A Beautiful Mind and Zodiac. He would've had to have noted this, as it is certainly not a comparison anyone who actually watched the film would've made.

Detective Megan Paige (Eliza Dusku) finds herself obsessed when a child-rape murder occurs. Her obsession turns into full-blown schizophrenia, and she’s taken off the case, and demoted to a desk-job. When another murder turns up two years later, she is put back on the case and she hopes this time to catch the murderer and finally put her inner demons to rest ( I understand that its some sort of deal now that if you catch a serial killer, you get a schizophrenia get out of hospital free card ).

But perhaps I am making this film sound like a solid detective/serial killer/murder mystery, but Eliza Dushku is no Clarice Starling, and the convoluted story tries too hard to create drama and tension from an unsolved true-event. Like the original investigation, the film meanders, is confused, and lacks any urgency. It also lacks much of any gore or violence, and rises only above a PG-13 rating with a fleeting inclusion of Eliza Dushku's usually well-hidden breasts. The 1 second topless scene in this film ( included here, so you don't have to sit through this thing like I did ), like much of this film, is completely pointless... Likely it was just added because the film is so bloody awful, they were in desperate need to give ANYONE a reason to check them... er... it out.

Overall I could not recommend this film on any level. They say many serial killers continue to commit crimes in order to draw your attention, to be on tv, in the papers... to be noticed. Do yourself a favour and don't fall into the same trap with this film. Look the other way, and forget it ever existed.