致命约会2024

This is one of the best crime thrillers in recent years, with Anna Kendrick demonstrating a strong set of storytelling skills and a keen eye for period-piece visuals in her directorial debut, while also turning in one of her career-best performances as the “bachelorette” who unknowingly chooses Alcala as her “dream date.”

This wasn’t a bad take on a story based on true events, it’s just that when all this “behind the scenes” stuff is shown as a reenactment, there’s just so much that’s dramatized for the sake of making a film that it loses some credibility somewhere along the line. That being said, it was pretty cool how they captured the visual vibe of the era.

How do you make a movie about this story? Do you spin it as a thriller, a true-crime drama, a horror film, a sick pop-culture joke? Actress Anna Kendrick, making her debut as a director, does something fascinating. She juggles all four and then adds a fifth layer undergirding the others: the unceasing dread that comes from being a woman who knows men like Rodney Alcala are out there.