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The Alphabet Killer (2008) More at IMDbPro »

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19 comments in total

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28 out of 38 people found the following comment useful :-
Some good effort but not much of a story., 23 December 2008
Author: alven75

Eliza Dushku is the one who delivers in this fairly predictable serial killer story, reminiscent of such films as "Gothika" and "Jennifer Eight". There are also a lot of serial killer movie alumni populating the lesser roles of this film, like Bill Moseley, Timothy Hutton, Tom Noonan and Cary Elwes. They don't really matter though, because it's all about Dushku's character Megan Paige and her late onset schizophrenia which makes it very difficult for her to crack the case of the Alphabet killer, as well as keep the confidence of her fellow police officers.

Movies that focus on characters with mental disorders are often interesting and unpredictable, like Polanski's "Repulsion" or Fincher's "Fight Club" because it makes the audience unsure what's reality in the movie and what's just playing out inside the mind of the main character. Unfortunately this isn't one of those movies. Instead of trying to make the audience share in Megan's delusions, they are clearly separated and labeled to avoid any confusion, or excitement for that matter. Instead we are made to watch her from the outside and see her struggling to connect with her colleagues and convince them that she's completely sane despite her textbook "crazy person" behavior. Like I said, Dushku delivers a solid performance as a distraught, emotionally unstable and sometimes delusional police woman. It's just hard to get invested in her character because of the boring predictable story she slowly fights her way through.

There is not a single supporting character that comes off as more than some kind of one-dimensional stereotype. There's the honest cop, the crooked cop, the former lover, the one true friend, the calm doctor, the obvious suspect, the creepy priest and eventually, for a brief time at the end, the killer... non of them with any significant character development or depth. This movie isn't painful to watch and it's not poorly made, it just suffers from lack of imagination on the directors part and some sloppy writing. See it, don't see it... doesn't really matter.

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34 out of 56 people found the following comment useful :-
Painful, 29 December 2008

Author: bacon_bit19 from Canada

Saw the rating of 6/10 on here and decided to give this a try. Bad mistake!

I thought this was the worst serial killer movie I have ever seen. You know it's a bad sign when the serial killer seems more sane than the lead character.

The lead character was not very bright nor likable, and I spent most of the movie hoping for her demise.

Just because it's loosely based off a real life event does not mean it should become a movie.

I would NOT recommend this movie at all.

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Fairly creepy, with an interesting story, 6 February 2009

Author: VelvetTipper from United Kingdom

I like films about killers, especially those with an interesting little story or something that makes them a bit different. The Alphabet Killer doesn't disappoint in this respect.

I'll admit, the start was pretty poor, I felt it was quite disjointed and it seemed as though a lot of scenes that should have been there to develop the plot were on the cutting-room floor. However, once we get into the middle and latter stages of the film, we definitely see a marked improvement.

I think Eliza Dushku played her role well in this, and I felt the slant of Megan's mental illness playing such a large part in the story made her character more believable, and added interest to the film.

Overall, this was a nicely put together film. It had little gore or anything really adult-themed, so if that's what you're after this isn't for you. If you want a killer movie portrayed more through the eyes of the main detective than is usual, you might like this. Yeah, you'll probably suss it out, but that's half the fun.

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11 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Predictable, not Schmidt's Best Work, 11 January 2009

Author: Gavin Schmitt (gavin6942@yahoo.com) from Kaukauna, Wisconsin

Detective Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku) is tracking down a serial killer who finds girls with twin initials and dumps them in a city with the same beginning letter (such as Kelly Kapowski in Kingston). But when she gets too attached to the case, she suffers a mental breakdown. When the killings continue, can she overcome her problems to stop him from striking again?

I thought the film would be a pretty decent one... the concept was interesting, even if the movie strays quite a bit from the real events this was based on. And the cast is impressive. Dushku is pretty amazing, Cary Elwes is one of my all-time favorite actors, Timothy Hutton is here, Michael Ironside, and genre fave Bill Moseley. So you can't beat this ensemble cast.

But sadly, it just didn't add up for me. It was predictable (even the "twist" seemed obvious from early on) and not as engaging as one might think. It wasn't even as good as another recent murder / detective story I reviewed, "Anamorph" (which was itself not all that amazing). I've been a fan of Rob Schmidt's work, especially "Right to Die" and thought he'd be a good person to bring a dark angle to this story. Sadly, not so much... clichés such as a child-obsessed priest appear, and some (presumably imaginary) ghosts that don't really add to the film.

I wouldn't say not to watch this one, but it wasn't gripping. There isn't one thing I can pinpoint as making this film stand out -- not the music, the lighting, the effects... it was all pretty standard. It almost would have been more fitting for a Lifetime movie. As far as serial killers go, this one comes off as remarkably tame. If you want your psyche thrilled, look somewhere else.

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10 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
There's a Hole in Your Talent...Dear Eliza, Dear Eliza, 5 January 2009

Author: frankenbenz from Sydney, Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

http://eattheblinds.blogspot.com/

If you ever cross paths with Rob Schmidt or Tom Molloy, the director and screenwriter of The Alphabet Killer, then take the opportunity to insult their intelligence, the way they did yours for claiming their movie, The Alphabet Killer, is based on a true story. This movie is so loosely based on the real Alphabet Killings, it needs both a belt AND suspenders to keep it from falling down to its ankles. Artistic license is one thing, but these two go off on such amateurish tangents, you'd swear they were first year film students desperate to impress their teachers and peers with their cleverness. Problem is, there's nothing clever about AK and if these two had any talent, it should have been the ability recognize the source material didn't need embellishment. As it is, Schmidt and Molloy's treatment is so ridiculous, all it needed to complete its film student predictability was a scene with the protagonist lying naked on the floor, in the fetal position, after suffering a mental breakdown. Oh but wait, she slashes her wrists instead! What a novel substitute.

Eliza Dushku acts her little heart out and the harder she tries, the more embarrassed you feel for her and her complete and utter lack of talent. Dusku may be eye candy, but her inability to act natural is such a distraction it even seems the other actors are staring back at her with pity. And there actually are a few talented actors in this film, but they're working with such poorly written material and are horribly misguided by Schmidt's inept, blunt-force direction. Did Timothy Hutton burn every bridge known to actors to be left with no other option but to accept a job on this shameless piece of on-the-nose garbage?

Avoid at all costs. Shutoff time: 32:14.

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4 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Effective thriller with good performances, 30 January 2009

Author: (oshram@aol.com) from Cleveland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Sometimes this film plays like a by-the-numbers serial killer movie, and at times the pacing is a little slow. But 'Killer' is buoyed up by several good performances. Hutton is low key but very good, and a number of small, supporting roles are very well cast and acted as well. Elwes is almost unrecognizable due to some weight gain, and he doesn't come off as strongly as some of the others. As for Dushku, well, this is probably the finest performance she's ever attempted. It doesn't always work – she's not especially convincing when she has to descend into madness – but most of the time she's a cut and a half above her usual fare; it's as if she finally decided to take a role where her looks aren't a factor and actually act, and it was nice to see for the most part she could pull it off (hey, they aren't going to see her as an 'adult' actress in Hollywood as long as she plays cheerleaders and works for Joss Whedon). This is the type of role you would have associated with a younger Sandra Bullock or Angelina Jolie (i.e., pre-skeletal), and Dushku compares favorably.

It's not a particularly happy or comforting movie; it's not quite creepy enough to be unsettling, and the director undercuts Megan's madness by showing us what she is hallucinating (showing off, by the way, some really terrific make-up effects); so the viewer is never really sure if, like Haley Joel Osment, she really can see dead people or if she's just going bonkers, or possibly both, the latter caused by the former. But Dushku is interesting to watch here (and not for any of the usual reasons) and shows promise she never has before.

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4 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
One of those movies where you hope the ending is going to save it, 25 January 2009

Author: yaktam from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Starts out sorta creepy. Kids dying. Don't really want to see that anywhere, even in a movie. Yet as a parent, it really hits home. My wife who normally falls asleep even in the best of action movies stayed awake thru the entire flick. Mostly because we were both hoping for justice. We got WAY less than that. Not only was the ending a "What the hell?", but we COULD NOT understand or comprehend was the last printed lines in the movie:

"A fireman was exhumed in 2006 and cleared of the murders. Nobody has been convicted of the crimes to date."

What? There were no firemen in the movie! What happened to the psychiatrist gone bad? You can't expect people to pay money to rent your videos to give them cr@p like this. Never mind paying box office prices. And you wonder why bitemetorrent is as popular as it is.

You'll wind up getting a rep for pushing the "artistic license" window, and people will stay away. Far away. Especially producers.

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6 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
not horrible, but definitely not great, 27 January 2009

Author: ken-stambaugh from Austin, TX

I normally am not a fan of crime movies, especially those based on reality but stretched to the extreme, and the "Alphabet Killer" is no exception. Poor acting, horrible misrepresentation of reality, inaccuracy beyond belief, and camera work that my high school journalist could have topped takes this movie to the bottom. I do, however, enjoy movies that i don't know what's going to happen five minutes into it, and that is where this movie does succeed.

I watched "Alphabet Killer" twice; once confused and then once playing the "Alphabet Killer" drinking game. Neither was incredibly enjoyable but compared to most of the films these days it was not repulsive. If you are bored and happen to have a free redbox code its worth the 2 hours for sheer enjoyment of how truly worthless cops are.

I know this is one of my less useful reviews but i really don't have much to say about this movie; that's why i watched it twice. It really isn't that bad but at the same time it's not that good. I gave it the benefit of having funny cop hating to get the 6 instead of the 4.

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14 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Movie, 29 December 2008

Author: pc_server from Bulgaria

Brilliant film and excellent acting from Eliza Dushku! I liked her even before when I watched Tru Calling. :) She is not very famous but very charming. Her best roles are acting scary in my opinion. For the moment there are too many artificial movies full of tragedies and sci-fi... not like this one...great script...tragedy...fear...and of course Eliza Dushku. Irecommend you this film as one of the good ones...because it's original...not one of the same old FBI movies and investigations that you wish you never watched to the end. The original is always the best decision...

Great MOVIE!!! ENJOY watching it!!!

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5 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Good, 27 December 2008

Author: Sarah from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I have now seen this film after months of waiting... and, I have to say, it wasn't really worth the wait, I guess... some bits were cringe worthy, the beginning of the film was kind of boring, it really was rushed at the beginning too, like, about 20 minutes into the film Megan Paige was like in hospital already for trying to kill herself... was it just me or was that a little quick? But, don't get me wrong, this was a good film, it just had some bits that were kind of silly. In the beginning it was really rushed as I said, in the first 30 minutes, it was already 2 years later in the film, I thought that was strange considering it was still only the beginning of the film. I only really knew about this film as Eliza Dushku was in it, and, that just made me want to see it, she's a great actress and she did a really great job in this film. The story was rushed (well that's what it was like for me) but it was a good story. The last 30 minutes of the film is when it really got interesting as lot's of action happened and it was so fun to watch! What Eliza says at the end of the film as well, was just amazing, I loved it! It was really sad, but cool! But, then something horrible and really unexpected happened.. Eliza Dushku was topless!! There was really no real need to show that, seriously. And I thought she said she didn't do scenes like that? Well, apart from a few parts, it was a good film and worth watching if you're a fan of Eliza.

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