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List Price: $26.97 | | Label: Starz / Anchor Bay
Salesrank: 4967
Released: January 6, 2009 |
| Our Price: $5.99 |
| Used Price: $1.01 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A ten year old girl is found brutally murdered outside the small blue-collar city of Rochester, New York, and obsessed police detective Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and DOLLHOUSE) suffers a mental breakdown while trying to solve the crime. But when the child-killings resume two years later, Megan’s return to the investigation also brings back her own horrific hallucinations. Even if she can prove a ‘double initial’ connection to the slayings, will she hang onto her sanity long enough to catch a psychopath? Cary Elwes (SAW), Michael Ironside (STARSHIP TROOPERS), Bill Moseley (THE DEVIL’S REJECTS), Carl Lumbly (ALIAS) and Academy Award® winner Timothy Hutton co-star in this chilling thriller directed by Rob Schmidt.
Description of The Alphabet Killer:
In the spirit of suspense films and television shows that focus on the sleuth’s attempt to make something out of senseless violence, Alphabet Killer is less about the murders it details than about the detective, Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku of Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who suffers mentally for studying brutality. Though opening scenes show young girls slayed at various wooded Rochester, New York crime scenes, the film quickly digresses into Megan’s stressed relationship with her co-detective lover, Kenneth Shine (Cary Elwes), who watches her obsession with the case spiral out of control. As murders continue, Megan gets psychic leads and is haunted by the ghosts of the wrongly deceased, but cannot solve the case. Megan’s diagnosis as a schizophrenic complicates matters greatly, and elevates the film into deeper story, especially when one senses, through subtle filmic clues, the creepiness of Megan’s therapist, Richard Ledge (Timothy Hutton). Some silly, dramatized enactments of mental illness on Dushku’s part do not help convince the viewer through fine acting, though one may be willing to look past this in hopes for pending potential spookiness. And the conundrum posed by Megan in her therapy group is engaging: manic people do often excel due to intuition, yet it is their ability to experience the world differently that gets them into trouble. Although the ghosts hallucinations are unconvincing, and Dushku probably could have used more research before she took the role, Alphabet Killer captivates because it shows how convoluted layers of reality can confuse even the sharpest detective. The disturbing thing about Alphabet Killer is not the film itself but the idea behind it: that the majority of what we know and trust is illusory, and that truth is discovered best through madness. --Trinie Dalton
Stills from The Alphabet Killer (Click for larger image)
The Alphabet Killer Reviews:
AVERAGE FILM WITH INTRIGUING PLOT 
2009-09-26 - This film is well acted and based on a real case from the 1970s. The film has an interesting theme - is being mentally sound a handicap in catching criminal deviants?
Eliza Dushku plays an Upstate NY detective with adult onset of schizophrenia. It brought Nietzsche to mind: when you look into the abyss (or monster), the abyss looks back at you. Did her overwhelming drive to capture mentally unbalanced criminals bring on the mental disorder? Or, did the disorder help her with her job and this particular failure, push her off the deep end? Interesting concepts however you look at it. The killing of young girls and their voiced pleas for help to the detective were creepy and the right note for a thriller. The whodunit aspect had the usual red herring and plot twist ending although predictable enough if you were paying attention.
Overall, the detective's struggle was overdone and lead to implausible scenarios that mucked this film into the sea of mediocrity.
So-so
2009-09-24 - The Alphabet Killer tracks an investigator (played by Dushku) who has the unique ability to become obsessed with cases until they are solved. When a young girl is murdered, she is convinced she can solve it. She quickly slides into a manic/maniac state: talking to herself, not sleeping, and obsessively studying the case. When time elapses without a break, she has what appears to be a nervous breakdown. She is diagnosed with schizophrenia and losses everything. A couple of years later, slowly recovering, she gets involved in another series of murders. Will she unravel this time?
Strained acting and some slow parts make this film less than great. That coupled with a plot line that is pretty easy to predict made this your typical suspense/mystery/thriller. The transformation into schizophrenia was pretty quick, but I thought it was done well. The scenery, wintery Richmond NY, was compelling, and really added to the story; this part was well done, too. Without the "ghosts," the red herrings, and with a better ending, this would have been a better film. I definitely think that if you are interested, this would be a good film to rent.
*Note: I have realized that the words "based on" or "inspired by" are legal words that films must use, even if they use just a fraction of a detail of a story that resembles something else. The idea of a killer targeting 3 girls with matching initials is really the only link to the original 70s murders this film eludes to when it says "based on." Just so you know....
...Now I Know My ABC's
2009-09-09 - The Alphabet Killer was surprisingly a good thriller. The production values were high, the cinematography was adequate though spotty and the actual "visions" of the dead children were bone-chilling. Instead of just being a straight up crime thriller where sanity draws the line between "good guys" and "bad guys,", we get a healthy dose of insanity from both killer and detective, which was a breath of fresh air and an interesting angle.
Naturally, it's always a pleasure to see The Dush, I've never really been a huge fan of her films but I'm always a fan of a nice ass! Seriously though, Eliza's turn as a schizophrenic cop haunted by visions and voices was impressive, she definitely went the extra mile and her descent into mental illness was visually impressive. Cary Elwes on the other hand never really hit the spot for me, when he isn't doing comedy he just seems to phone his roles in.
As a whole, the film works and Rob Schmidt actually makes it work well. You'll be guessing right up until the very end! The one thing I really loved about this film was the slow decay of the visions, each time Megan sees the dead children they're grosser and grosser! Wonderfully scary stuff! The Alphabet Killer wasn't half bad and it's well worth checking out.
eh....it was okay
2009-07-31 - Well, it's hard for me to give a movie more than three stars if I can figure out the ending (right down to the smallest detail) mid way through. This movie wanted to be good, it really did. It wanted to hang with the likes of se7en and Silence of the Lambs (given that's a really big "want"), but in the end this movie will dwindle into renter's obscurity.
The director, Rob Schmidt, does manage a few intriguing moments coupled with a touch of suspense, but if you really pay attention you'll solve this riddle with ease.
On a side note, I still can't take Cary Elwes seriously. He was great in movies like "Robinhood: Men in Tights" and the classic "The Princess Bride", but movies like Saw left me laughing hysterically when I should have been cringing with fear and angst (the desperate reaching for the phone scene still makes me laugh). Albeit his performance here was much better than Saw, I still struggle with him in serious roles. As for Timothy Hutton and Eliza Dushku, both are strong actors and did the best they could with what they were given.
In the end I'm rating this film 3 stars (would have been 2.5 had it not followed an even worse film--HORSEMAN staring Dennis Quaid. More to follow on that travesty!)
Great movie 
2009-06-12 - I live in Rochester, New York, so this was particularly interesting to me. I went to see it because of the tie to Rochester and I know one of the extras in the movie. It was based on a true story from the 1970s. I thought they did a great job on this movie and getting it close to the true story. Very entertaining and suspenseful.
