Review of The Alphabet Killer (2008) by Jennifer H — 05 Dec 2008

When most people think of serial murders in Rochester, they think of Arthur Shawcross who, in the late '80s murdered prostitutes. This film is, instead, based on a series of three murders that happened in the early 1970s and that are, to this day, unsolved.

If not for the fact that the writer set it in modern times and added Eliza Dushku's character going through schizophrenia, the story wouldn't be as compelling for the audience. Through her the we are able to witness a deeply personal and, at times, disturbing struggle for sanity.

For Dushku's character, the symptoms of her disease had always served as a benefit of sorts since it drove her to make the connections necessary to solve her cases, but this particular case is the one that puts her over the edge.

I must give credit to both the writer and the director for choosing such a chilling manner in which to portray the ghosts of the victims as they appear to Dushku in hallucinations subject her to maddening guilt for not finding their killer.

In the end, though, perhaps it's the writer's greatest strength that he didn't try to cheapen the movie by having the killer brought to justice and Dushku's character validated, instead offering up a possible answer with the killer still remaining unidentified to the authorities.

It may not be what the average movie-goer wants to see, but the artistic vision remains intact.