DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Rob Schmidt
Starring Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton, Michael Ironside
Release date Out now

Megan Paige (Dushku) is an obsessive detective who’s diagnosed with schizophrenia. After a period in a psychiatric ward she rejoins the force. But the case of the child-murdering ‘Alphabet Killer’ threatens to send her over the edge…

The cover’s claim that this is ‘based on a true story’ is partly true. The plot is inspired by the case of three girls who were raped and murdered in Rochester, New York in the 1970s; the perpetrator, who was never caught, was dubbed the 'Alphabet Killer’ due to the fact that each victim had double initials and was dumped in a village with the same letter. However, director Rob ‘Wrong Turn’ Schmidt and writer/producer Tom Malloy decide to set events in the present day and make their film less about the case and more about an obsessive, hallucinating detective.

In this respect the movie recalls David Fincher’s exemplary Zodiac, which was based around another unsolved serial killer case. Of course, The Alphabet Killer is a much more modest affair: Schmidt doesn’t have Fincher’s eye for intricacies of character and police procedure, and the film’s budget is far tinier.

The film’s central misstep is the decision to incorporate a vaguely supernatural element: Megan is encouraged to solve the case by visions of the murdered girls, which rather jars with the realistic tone elsewhere. And Schmidt and Malloy cop out of leaving the case unresolved, instead shoehorning in an idiotic last act reveal that is far too reliant on coincidence.

Despite the sometimes confusing nature of her character, Dushku gives one of her best performances to date, bringing a sense of intensity and purpose to Megan and never overdoing the manic tics. The grey, chilly locations and stark cinematography also suit the bleak subject matter. But like its central character, this is a schizophrenic film that can’t quite decide whether it’s a detailed character study or a cheap thriller.

The DVD includes a couple of extras: an adequate commentary by Schmidt and Malloy which throws up a few interesting facts (the movie was apparently shot entirely handheld, but with an instruction not to make that fact obvious), and a fairly pointless ‘making of’ that just strings together a few interview-free behind-the-scenes shots. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 4/10
Despite Dushku’s best efforts, this killer thriller is as jumbled as alphabet spaghetti.