The Alphabet Killer
Encyclopedia
The Alphabet Killer is a 2008 thriller-horror film, loosely based on the Alphabet murders
that took place in Rochester, New York
between 1971 and 1973. Eliza Dushku
stars as the main character, alongside Cary Elwes
, Michael Ironside
, Bill Moseley
and Timothy Hutton
. The film is directed by Rob Schmidt
, director of Wrong Turn
, and written by Tom Malloy
, who also acted in a supporting role.
) is an investigator for the Rochester Police Department investigating the murder of a young girl named Carla Castillo. Her body was found in the nearby village of Churchville, New York
with white cat hair on it. Against opposition of her colleagues and partner/boyfriend Kenneth Shine (Cary Elwes
), Megan insists that the murder is a work of a serial killer
. Despite Megan’s considerable efforts she fails to catch the killer. Stress and obsession of the investigation causes Megan to hallucinate the victim's image. She ultimately has a nervous breakdown
after being kicked off the case and tries to commit suicide
.
Following two years of medical treatment and attending a support group
headed by a wheelchair user named Richard Ledge (Timothy Hutton
), Megan rejoins the police department in an office job. Following a similar murder of another young girl, Wendy Walsh, whose body is found in Webster
with some white cat hair on it. Megan successfully lobbies to join the investigation. Partnered with Steven Harper (Tom Malloy
), they try to find links between the girls. Then another girl, Melissa Maestro, is killed. They find a number of commonalities between Wendy and Melissa, but fail to connect these to the first victim. Webster police department, who have jurisdiction over the latest murder but are uncooperative, receive a call from 19-year-old Elizabeth Eckers who is being held hostage in a house. Megan is convinced the suspect is not the Alphabet Killer and breaks procedure to preempt a police raid. Megan defuses the situation, but an officer shoots the suspect through a window and kills him. Webster police declare that the Alphabet Killer is dead and announce the discovery of white cat hair in the house. Megan spirals into another nervous breakdown.
Certain that the Webster police planted the evidence in order to justify killing an innocent, Megan continues the investigation on her own. Megan discovers that all three girls attended the St. Michael's Church in Rochester. Still suffering hallucination of victims, Megan visits the church and tries to question the pastor, but suffers another breakdown and is hospitalized. Megan flees from the hospital and takes refuge in Ledge's home. There she finds that he used to work as the math teacher for the St. Michael's Church and is the killer. Before she can act he leaps from his wheelchair - having only pretended to be disabled - and attacks her. Ledge knocks her unconscious and drives off to a remote spot near the Genesee River
to kill her. Before Ledge can inject her with a sedative and dump her in the river, Megan breaks free and shoots him with his own gun. Ledge falls into the river just past a large waterfall - though it's unclear if he is dead. Unsure whether Ledge is dead and confused by her surroundings, Megan suffers another, longer breakdown.
Megan is hospitalized and kept under intensive psychiatric care. The final scenes of the film show Megan heavily sedated and strapped to a bed in a psychiatric ward. There is no one else in the room, but in her state she envisions the spirits of the victims waiting for her to return and seek justice for them.
The final scenes of Megan are intercut with scenes of Ledge who, having survived Megan's attempts to kill him, has altered his appearance. He is shown in Church, receiving communion
and exchanging glances with a potential victim. It is unclear if these scenes of Ledge are actually occurring or are part of Megan's psychosis.
A title card announces: "In 2006, police exhumed a fireman's body and posthumously cleared him as a suspect. To date, the Alphabet Killer has not been found."
were brutally rape
d and strangled, their bodies dumped in neighboring villages. The girls' first and last name started with the same letter, as did the first letter of the respective village they were dumped in. The film deviates significantly from established facts. (See Cheri Farnsworth's book, "Alphabet Killer: The True Story of the Double Initial Murders" for a detailed look at the real Alphabet murders
.) . In the movie, the filmmakers chose to focus on the personal aspect of their story and its impact on the lead character instead of the police procedure and investigation. Writer Tom Malloy developed the script with the help of a homicide investigator who had worked on the original case. The writer noted that he saw the film as a cross between A Beautiful Mind
and Zodiac
.
Dushku was an immediate choice for the lead role. The filmmakers also deliberately chose certain actors who had earlier played the role of a killer in other films. The film was shot in and around Rochester. The climactic
scene was shot near the High Falls of Genesee River
.
. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on Friday, November 7, 2008 when it was released in 2 theaters, only in New York. As of December 14, 2008 the film's domestic earnings are $29,784 while it grossed $4,191 in the foreign markets for a worldwide total of $33,975.
. Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times
commended the actors' performances but thought the end was very unsatisfactory. LA Weekly
s Luke Thompson said the plot was quite predictable, but said that the presence of multiple supporting characters keeps viewers guessing, which made the film very interesting. Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times
praised Dushku's skills and Schmidt's interest in "facts than in frights". Andy Klein of Los Angeles CityBeat
bemoaned the "preposterousness of the mystery's solution".
Alphabet murders
The so-called "Alphabet murders" took place in the early 1970s in the Rochester, New York area; three young girls were raped and strangled...
that took place in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
between 1971 and 1973. Eliza Dushku
Eliza Dushku
Eliza Patricia Dushku is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse...
stars as the main character, alongside Cary Elwes
Cary Elwes
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
, Michael Ironside
Michael Ironside
Michael Ironside is a Canadian-born actor. He has also worked as a voice actor, producer, film director, and screenwriter in movie and television series in various Canadian and American productions. He is best known for playing villains and "tough guy" heroes, though he has also portrayed...
, Bill Moseley
Bill Moseley
William "Bill" Moseley is an American film actor and musician who has starred in a number of cult classic horror films, including House of 1000 Corpses, Repo! The Genetic Opera and The Devil's Rejects. His first big role was in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 as Chop Top...
and Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
. The film is directed by Rob Schmidt
Rob Schmidt
Rob Schmidt is an American film director and writer. His film credits include Wrong Turn and Crime and Punishment in Suburbia. He also created a pilot called American Town for Twentieth Century Fox...
, director of Wrong Turn
Wrong Turn
Wrong Turn is a 2003 American slasher horror film, directed by Rob Schmidt, and written by Alan B. McElroy. The film was shot in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and stars Desmond Harrington and Eliza Dushku...
, and written by Tom Malloy
Tom Malloy
Thomas John "Tom" Malloy is an American actor and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California.Tom wrote, produced and acted in The Alphabet Killer, a psychological thriller directed by Rob Schmidt and starring Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton and Michael Ironside; and The Attic, a thriller...
, who also acted in a supporting role.
Plot
Megan Paige (Eliza DushkuEliza Dushku
Eliza Patricia Dushku is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse...
) is an investigator for the Rochester Police Department investigating the murder of a young girl named Carla Castillo. Her body was found in the nearby village of Churchville, New York
Churchville, New York
Churchville is a village in Monroe County, New York, United States. According to the 2000 census, the population is 1,887. The village is named after Samuel Church, an early settler....
with white cat hair on it. Against opposition of her colleagues and partner/boyfriend Kenneth Shine (Cary Elwes
Cary Elwes
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
), Megan insists that the murder is a work of a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. Despite Megan’s considerable efforts she fails to catch the killer. Stress and obsession of the investigation causes Megan to hallucinate the victim's image. She ultimately has a nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
after being kicked off the case and tries to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Following two years of medical treatment and attending a support group
Support group
In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic...
headed by a wheelchair user named Richard Ledge (Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
), Megan rejoins the police department in an office job. Following a similar murder of another young girl, Wendy Walsh, whose body is found in Webster
Webster (town), New York
Webster is a town in the northeast corner of Monroe County, New York, United States. The town is named after orator and statesman Daniel Webster. The population was 42,641 at the 2010 census....
with some white cat hair on it. Megan successfully lobbies to join the investigation. Partnered with Steven Harper (Tom Malloy
Tom Malloy
Thomas John "Tom" Malloy is an American actor and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California.Tom wrote, produced and acted in The Alphabet Killer, a psychological thriller directed by Rob Schmidt and starring Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton and Michael Ironside; and The Attic, a thriller...
), they try to find links between the girls. Then another girl, Melissa Maestro, is killed. They find a number of commonalities between Wendy and Melissa, but fail to connect these to the first victim. Webster police department, who have jurisdiction over the latest murder but are uncooperative, receive a call from 19-year-old Elizabeth Eckers who is being held hostage in a house. Megan is convinced the suspect is not the Alphabet Killer and breaks procedure to preempt a police raid. Megan defuses the situation, but an officer shoots the suspect through a window and kills him. Webster police declare that the Alphabet Killer is dead and announce the discovery of white cat hair in the house. Megan spirals into another nervous breakdown.
Certain that the Webster police planted the evidence in order to justify killing an innocent, Megan continues the investigation on her own. Megan discovers that all three girls attended the St. Michael's Church in Rochester. Still suffering hallucination of victims, Megan visits the church and tries to question the pastor, but suffers another breakdown and is hospitalized. Megan flees from the hospital and takes refuge in Ledge's home. There she finds that he used to work as the math teacher for the St. Michael's Church and is the killer. Before she can act he leaps from his wheelchair - having only pretended to be disabled - and attacks her. Ledge knocks her unconscious and drives off to a remote spot near the Genesee River
Genesee River
The Genesee River is a North American river flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester....
to kill her. Before Ledge can inject her with a sedative and dump her in the river, Megan breaks free and shoots him with his own gun. Ledge falls into the river just past a large waterfall - though it's unclear if he is dead. Unsure whether Ledge is dead and confused by her surroundings, Megan suffers another, longer breakdown.
Megan is hospitalized and kept under intensive psychiatric care. The final scenes of the film show Megan heavily sedated and strapped to a bed in a psychiatric ward. There is no one else in the room, but in her state she envisions the spirits of the victims waiting for her to return and seek justice for them.
The final scenes of Megan are intercut with scenes of Ledge who, having survived Megan's attempts to kill him, has altered his appearance. He is shown in Church, receiving communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
and exchanging glances with a potential victim. It is unclear if these scenes of Ledge are actually occurring or are part of Megan's psychosis.
A title card announces: "In 2006, police exhumed a fireman's body and posthumously cleared him as a suspect. To date, the Alphabet Killer has not been found."
Cast
- Eliza DushkuEliza DushkuEliza Patricia Dushku is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse...
as Megan Paige - Cary ElwesCary ElwesIvan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
as Kenneth Shine - Timothy HuttonTimothy HuttonTimothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
as Richard Ledge - Tom MalloyTom MalloyThomas John "Tom" Malloy is an American actor and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California.Tom wrote, produced and acted in The Alphabet Killer, a psychological thriller directed by Rob Schmidt and starring Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton and Michael Ironside; and The Attic, a thriller...
as Steven Harper - Michael IronsideMichael IronsideMichael Ironside is a Canadian-born actor. He has also worked as a voice actor, producer, film director, and screenwriter in movie and television series in various Canadian and American productions. He is best known for playing villains and "tough guy" heroes, though he has also portrayed...
as Nathan Norcoss - Carl Lumbly as Dr. Ellis Parks
- Bill MoseleyBill MoseleyWilliam "Bill" Moseley is an American film actor and musician who has starred in a number of cult classic horror films, including House of 1000 Corpses, Repo! The Genetic Opera and The Devil's Rejects. His first big role was in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 as Chop Top...
as Carl Tanner - Tom NoonanTom NoonanTom Noonan is an American actor and film writer-director.-Early life:Noonan was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the son of Rosaleen and Tom Noonan, who worked as a dentist and jazz musician respectively...
as Captain Gullikson - Melissa LeoMelissa LeoMelissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
as Kathy Walsh - Martin DonovanMartin DonovanMartin Donovan is an American stage and film actor. He has had a long collaboration with the director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, including Trust , Surviving Desire , Simple Men , Flirt , Amateur , and The Book of Life...
as Jim Walsh - Andrew FiscellaAndrew FiscellaAndrew "Andy" Fiscella is an American actor most notably known for his roles in the film Quarantine and The Final Destination. He also appeared in Ice Cube's music video "Why We Thugs".- Filmography :- Television :...
as Len Schafer
Production
From 1970 to 1973, three girls in and around Rochester, New YorkRochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
were brutally rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d and strangled, their bodies dumped in neighboring villages. The girls' first and last name started with the same letter, as did the first letter of the respective village they were dumped in. The film deviates significantly from established facts. (See Cheri Farnsworth's book, "Alphabet Killer: The True Story of the Double Initial Murders" for a detailed look at the real Alphabet murders
Alphabet murders
The so-called "Alphabet murders" took place in the early 1970s in the Rochester, New York area; three young girls were raped and strangled...
.) . In the movie, the filmmakers chose to focus on the personal aspect of their story and its impact on the lead character instead of the police procedure and investigation. Writer Tom Malloy developed the script with the help of a homicide investigator who had worked on the original case. The writer noted that he saw the film as a cross between A Beautiful Mind
A Beautiful Mind (film)
A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 American drama film based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The film was directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman. It was inspired by a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar...
and Zodiac
Zodiac (film)
Zodiac is a 2007 American mystery-thriller film directed by David Fincher and based on Robert Graysmith's non-fiction book of the same name. The Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros...
.
Dushku was an immediate choice for the lead role. The filmmakers also deliberately chose certain actors who had earlier played the role of a killer in other films. The film was shot in and around Rochester. The climactic
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
scene was shot near the High Falls of Genesee River
Genesee River
The Genesee River is a North American river flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester....
.
Release
The film was screened at multiple film festivals, including European Film Market and Screamfest Horror Film FestivalScreamfest Horror Film Festival
Screamfest Horror Film Festival is the largest horror film festival in the United States. Some of the largest horror online publications have called it the "Sundance of Horror". Previously held at Loews Universal Studios Cinemas, Universal CityWalk, the festival is now held annually at the...
. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on Friday, November 7, 2008 when it was released in 2 theaters, only in New York. As of December 14, 2008 the film's domestic earnings are $29,784 while it grossed $4,191 in the foreign markets for a worldwide total of $33,975.
Critical response
The film received negative reviews from critics, earning a 14% "Rotten" rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
commended the actors' performances but thought the end was very unsatisfactory. LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
s Luke Thompson said the plot was quite predictable, but said that the presence of multiple supporting characters keeps viewers guessing, which made the film very interesting. Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
praised Dushku's skills and Schmidt's interest in "facts than in frights". Andy Klein of Los Angeles CityBeat
Los Angeles CityBeat
Los Angeles CityBeat was an alternative weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, debuting June 12, 2003. The publication ceased production with the March 26, 2009 issue. LA CityBeat was available every Thursday at more than 1,500 distribution locations throughout the Los Angeles area, with an...
bemoaned the "preposterousness of the mystery's solution".