In Russian theaters, the directorial debut of actress Anna Kendrick about one of the most famous serial killers in history. About what the film 'Woman of the Hour' excels at and where it could have been much better—in our review.

1978. Los Angeles. Cheryl (Anna Kendrick) is a struggling actress barely able to pay her rent. Her financial troubles stem from a lack of roles. Regularly attending auditions, she faces rejection time and again. One day, her agent manages to secure her a spot on the TV show 'The Dating Game'.

The premise of the show is as follows: a girl must alternately ask questions to three bachelors hidden behind a screen, and then, based on their answers, choose one of them. An important condition is that she cannot ask about the age, name, or profession of her chosen one. One of the participants behind the partition is serial killer Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), whose crimes, of course, have not yet been uncovered.

'Woman of the Hour' is a clear example of how not to write thrillers. The main action is repeatedly interrupted by short inserts of Rodney's crimes that occurred before and, importantly, after the events of the romantic show. Thus, the main intrigue of the film (for everyone except die-hard true crime podcast fans) concerns the fate of the protagonist—whether she will escape the trap set for her or become the maniac's new victim.

On one hand, this is an original technique designed to keep the viewer in suspense. On the other hand, there is too much of it, and a good portion of these fragments carry no meaning for the story. In theory, this should reinforce the suspense in the main storyline, but in practice, it only distracts attention and, oddly enough, lowers the tension.

In fact, the film could have done with just one external novella about another victim of Rodney—the one that returns in the finale. What is shown there happens exactly a year after his participation in the TV show. This would have been much more effective in maintaining the intrigue.

Interestingly, the crimes themselves remain off-screen—the director, for obvious reasons, does not want to dwell on violence and abuse against girls (this is not !). So the viewer can only guess what the maniac did to his poor victims.

Nikita Margaev

Clown Art and the Portal to Hell: Review of the Film 'Terrifier 3'

On October 10, simultaneously with the rest of the world, a new chapter of the slasher franchise 'Terrifier' will be released in domestic theaters. About how the film shocks, pleasantly surprises, and disappoints

Open material

However, the main storyline with the show also breaks into separate plot branches. One of the viewers in the audience is a girl named Laura (Nicolette Robinson), who saw Rodney on the night her best friend was raped and murdered. She has a panic attack. Then she runs out of the hall and heads to the show's producer (interesting why not straight to the police). Her function in the story is the 'sword of Damocles' hanging over the antagonist's head. From the moment Laura appears on screen, a faint hope arises that the villain will be exposed before he manages to charm Cheryl with his charisma.

The protagonist herself is one of the strongest components of the film. Before the show starts, the host advises her to be less clever and smile more (and as we remember from , pretty girls should always smile!). But Cheryl decides to play by her own rules and soon takes the initiative. She replaces banal questions with sexual undertones with her own, containing a catch and unique to each participant.

Anya Kulakova

You Can't Run from Yourself: Review of the Film 'The Substance'

'The Substance', which won the award for Best Screenplay at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, was released in Russian theaters on September 19. In our article, we will discuss the nature of fear in this film

Open material

Anna Kendrick's character seems too smart to fall under Alcala's spell, but when the viewer begins to realize that this is exactly where things are heading, it becomes extremely unsettling. Particularly successful in terms of building suspense are the dinner scene at the restaurant and the subsequent conversation in the parking lot.

Of course, one wants to praise the film for its emotional climax, but at the same time, it should be noted that the effect would have been much stronger if the story had been a monolith without the extraneous episodes. If the viewer had not seen how Rodney operates until the finale, how he instantly transitions from a charming smile to frightening seriousness, then the mentioned scenes would have been scarier, since such a change in character would have had an element of surprise.

For comparison, one can recall 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile' with Zac Efron as Ted Bundy. The latter's name seems familiar to everyone, not just true crime content fans. Nevertheless, the dramaturgy in that film is structured in such a way that one can inadvertently believe in the innocence of the famous maniac. There, the final dialogue between the characters during a prison visit and the flashback with the hacksaw truly evoked strong emotions in the viewer; before that, Efron's character seemed charming, and in the escape scenes, even comical.

Nevertheless, credit must be given to the film—Daniel Zovatto delivers a memorable cinematic maniac. In fact, the film goes into considerable detail about his biography. It does so precisely in those inserts. From one of them, the viewer learns that he worked as a photojournalist for the Los Angeles Times. In other fragments, trying to gain the trust of his victims, the maniac inadvertently mentions some of his achievements. For example, that he studied at film school under Roman Polanski. And the most paradoxical thing is that everything he says is true. Alcala may lie only about his name, and even then not always.

'Woman of the Hour' evokes mixed feelings after viewing. It is a decent debut with notable acting performances. But its flawed dramaturgy and not very well-maintained suspense spoil the overall impression. Anna Kendrick's film would have looked much more advantageous if it did not have distracting murder episodes, and its events took place entirely on the set, as in the recent film by the Kern brothers .

Anya Kulakova

'Late Night with the Devil', or Happy Halloween on the Pre-Election Week of 1977

The format of a late-night show is not popular in Russia: the only major example was 'Evening Urgant', unfortunately, whose fate is currently unclear. 'Late Night with the Devil' is rather

Open material

Trailer: