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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Rob Schmidt
Eliza Dushku (Wrong Turn)
Cary Elwes (SAW)
Bill Moseley (The Devil's Rejects)
Timothy Hutton (The Dark Half)
Supplied By : Anchor Bay Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : January 9, 2009
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| PLOT 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 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? |
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| THE REVIEW In THE ALPHABET KILLER, Megan Paige is a Female investigator who has been hard at work on a case. The case she is handling is that of a killer Dubbed The Alphabet killer because the nature of his crimes. His fist victim's first and last names both started with a C and the park in which the body was found, also began with C, clearly just a coincidence with the other officers on the case. But not with Megan, she is convinced that the killings have a deeper meaning, and slaves day and night over case files and evidence. When all of her hard work comes up short, she loses her mental stability when she begins to see the ghost of the victim. Thinking that her condition is unfit, her Fiancé and fellow officers, as well as the rest of the force and expel her from duties, as well as the case she's basically given her life to. From then she spends a 2 year period in a mental facility. away from the stress of the case and the force - but when the killer appears on the prowl again, once again killing a girl with matching initials, Megan feels compelled to get back into the game. The force agrees to put her back out there, but only in a much lesser role and forbids her to participate in any murder cases. But as more and more murders occur, the more determined she gets to bring down the killer on her own, once and for all. As more clues and links arise, so do her previous mental instabilities making her ever-so prone to her own danger. Rob Schmidt's THE ALPHABET KILLER say it's based on the true story of what happened in Rochester, New York, in the late 1980's, a case dubbed the double initial killings", but from the way this film is handle, you have to call it loosely based. The reason for this is that there are supernatural happenings, such as ghosts, implemented in an otherwise true crime story. What I expected to get with this film, was a film in the vein of other Serial Killer films such as ZODIAC and such. But as it turns out, THE ALPHABET KILLER is only half the story I expected, while the other half is like something influenced by an Asian film, such as THE GRUDGE The character of Megan is determined to hunt down a killer, but she sees things....ghosts, the ghost of the children who have been killed. This ghosts before long are more or less, Megan's spiritual advisers, as they follow her virtually every step along the way in her discoveries. The angle in the story involving the ghosts, I believe was added to further cement Megan's mental imbalance, which was a good thing I suppose. But in my opinion, after a while, the CGI aided ghosts become a little silly and begin to take a level of the seriousness out of the film. This film is based on a true story, or so it says...so why have a bunch of CGI ghosts running around to further explain someone's illness? After all, Schizophrenia is real, so why not display it through the Actress' performance only? By the looks of it, Elia Dushku, could've pulled of the believability on her own, as she does a pretty good job here in the main role. Speaking of the acting, it is Dushku's acting that drives this film, as her character, Megan Paige seems to be the center of attention at all times. While others like Cary Elwes(SAW) and Bill Moseley(THE DEVIL'S REJECTS), have lesser roles, it's Dushku, who makes this film interesting and worth it. While her performance is a little on uneven at times, there are moments where she truly shows improvement as an Actress, and although she is hot, acting is what it's all about. The production value of the film is great, and the Autumn scenery serves as a good setting for the supernatural crime Thriller, the golden hued leaves on the ground were a perfect natural set piece, especially when Megan has her delusional episodes. As for the film, it's a decent effort. But as for it being a true story, or even a loosely based one, a good majority does indeed feel more fictitious and made up, and at time even fantasy like. |
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| GORE METER 1/10 Just some morbid ghosts, and a few bloodless gunshot wounds. |
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| MUSICAL SCORE 2/10 Truthfully, I hardly noticed it, it was really bland. |
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| OVERALL IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Overall, this film was an ok effort, it at least, does it's job and keeps you interested with it's story as you uncover a mystery, but at times it seems like just another film with a light Asian influence. To me, the whole shaky ghost thing is getting old and tired, but fortunately for THE ALPHABET KILLER, this element isn't a main focal point. THE ALPHABET KILLER is worth a look, just don't expect an overly clever investigative as I did, and you should be fine...it has it's moments |
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