The Alphabet Killer
by Rob Schmidt
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DVD details
Actor: Cary Elwes, Eliza Dushku, Michael Ironside, Timothy Hutton, Tom MalloyDirector: Rob Schmidt
Brand: STARZ/SPHE
Producer: Eliza Dushku
Writer: Tom Malloy
Producer: Aimee Schoof
Producer: Ashley Holloway
Producer: Brandon Baker
Producer: Daniel Sollinger
Producer: Greg Polisseni
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Surround
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-01-06
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Product features:
- 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 hallucination
DVD Reviews of The Alphabet Killer
DVD Review: HOW DO YOU SPELL MURDER?
Summary: 3 Stars
THE ALPHABET KILLER makes its way to DVD with a limited run elsewhere. After witnessing some of the things that DID make their way to the hallowed halls of the cineplex, it makes you wonder why they chose those movies over this one, a not too bad thriller.
I'm always wary of movies based on true stories such as this. There is no way to tell how much of it is true and how much of it is placed out for those of us to watch by someone using "creative license". Let's hope that most of it is true and that parts of it are WAY off.
Eliza Dushku plays detective Meagan Paige, a dedicated officer who strives to solve all crimes that come her way. When she gets involved in the murder of a young girl, she becomes obsessed with the case. So much so that she begins seeing the dead girl trying to communicate with her. Her involvement reaches such a state that she has a mental breakdown and is taken away.
Two years later, Megan has been released and is back on the job. Her ex-husband (Cary Elwes) who was her partner is now her boss. Given token assignments, Megan strives to live a normal life. But the murder of another young girl with clues similar to the one that tormented her brings her back full circle. She wants this case and she wants this killer.
As she begins to research the new case on her own, she begins to see the victims of both cases. They haunt her as she sifts through clues and interviews. All the while, she stays involved with a support group that deals with loss while slowly weaning herself off of the medications she is supposed to be taking.
Megan fills her every waking hour searching for the murderer. Clues take her and her new partner to several leads. But nothing concrete forms and her struggle keeps building. A solution is always just out of reach but as we view the movie we have to wonder, is what we are seeing real or the delusions in Megan's mind?
The killer is identified by the end of the film. So rest assured that there actually is one. At least I think he was actually there. Decide for yourself in this so so thriller that does a decent job of entertaining.
I've always enjoyed Dushku as an actress and feel she has been underused. But in this one her performance makes her abilities seem limited. I for one don't think that's the case but you couldn't tell that here. Then again perhaps it was the script, the direction, half a dozen other things. Only time will tell.
While it may seem that there is little to say here about the film, the fact is that there actually is little to say. It felt short but filled out, never matching other crime solving films made in the past. It offers very little in the way of something new with the exception of ghosts providing Megan clues, thus the part that makes you wonder how much is true.
All involved seem to do their best with the source material. And sure, the movie is better than watching some of the drek that is offered these days. But as for being a movie to run out and rent as soon as possible? Better to hold off for a rainy day.
Description of The Alphabet Killer
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 AwardŽ winner Timothy Hutton co-star in this chilling thriller directed by Rob Schmidt.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)
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