'Woman on the Run' Review: Is the Killer Bachelor #1?

What it's about Anna Kendrick makes her directorial debut with “Woman of the Hour,” a thriller based on the true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala, who appeared on the 1978 TV show “The Dating Game.”

Kendrick also stars in the film as Cheryl Bradshaw, the aspiring actress who appeared as the Bachelorette in the Alcala episode. Spanning several time periods throughout the 1970s, the film shows the extent of the monstrous crimes committed by Alcala, as well as the inability or unwillingness of the law enforcement apparatus to take the tips about him seriously.

Co-stars include Tony Hale as the show's host, Nicolette Robinson (“The Affair”) as a woman who survives an encounter with Alcala, and Daniel Zovatto (“Station Eleven”) as a murderer.

MY SAY There was an obvious way to tell the story of Alcala's appearance in “The Dating Game,” a real-life event that is both completely unimaginable and strangely plausible given how surreal things tend to be in Hollywood.

This is what we might call the Ryan Murphy approach, exemplified by the TV impresario's mini-empire, including recent double shows about the Menendez brothers and former NFL player Aaron Hernandez. That would mean emphasizing the lurid qualities, increasing the true crime drama, and doubling down on the commentary on the darker side of American iconography.

Kendrick proves herself to be a thoughtful and promising filmmaker by rejecting this easy way out. She's not here to imitate anyone else and she has a completely different perspective on this story.

Her vision has far less to do with Alcala himself and more to do with what he represents: the predatory realities that women face every day and in all sorts of circumstances in a society dominated by insidious and pervasive forms of toxic masculinity.

Alcala exemplifies this at its worst, and Kendrick never shies away from his ruthless manipulations. But “Woman of the Hour” is also filled with more routine examples.

We first meet Cheryl during a humiliating and harrowing casting call. Robinson's Laura pours her heart out to her boyfriend about her traumatic history with Alcala and he promptly gaslights her. Nobody else listens to their warnings. The Dating Game's depiction of Cheryl being encouraged to smile and laugh and downplay her intelligence shows the extent to which even innocuous forms of entertainment can actually be something much more sinister by upholding patriarchal standards.

Kendrick, working from a screenplay by Ian McDonald, understands the most important principle of genre filmmaking, which is that the films that stand out do so because they are about something of meaning and value that goes beyond mere entertainment. That she also proves to be a deft director of tense moments, able to photograph them from the character's perspective and weave them into a larger portrait of palpable, sustained unease, suggests that the star's future behind the camera is bright .

CONCLUSION This is a successful directorial debut, a film made with wisdom and vision.