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Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton, Tom Malloy, Michael Ironside ... see more see more... , Bill Moseley , Larry Hankin , Tom Noonan , Brian Scannell , Carl Lumbly , Melissa Leo , Jack McGee

Wrong Turn director Rob Schmidt takes the helm for this thriller inspired by the grim true-life exploits of an alphabet-obsessed New York serial killer and starring Timothy Hutton, Cary Elwes, Eliza D... read more read more...ushku, and Michael Ironside. When Rochester, NY-based police investigator Megan Paige (Dushku) discovers that ten year old Carla Castillo was brutally raped and murdered in nearby Churchville, she becomes convinced that the department is dealing with a serial killer. Paige is a driven detective whose devotion to her job often crosses the border into obsession. Her fiancé, Kenneth Shine (Elwes), is a lieutenant with the Rochester Police Department, and as both jockey for the same promotion, the cracks in their relationship begin to show. Later, when Megan becomes haunted by visions of Carla and fails to solve the case, a concerned Captain Gullikson (Tom Noonan) takes her off of the case. Suffering a nervous breakdown shortly thereafter, Megan is diagnosed with adult onset of paranoid schizophrenia and placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she promptly breaks off her engagement to Kenneth.Two years later, Megan has returned to the precinct as a records clerk, and Kenneth is now the head of the department. Over time, Megan begins developing a friendship with wheelchair-bound Richard Ledge (Hutton). When a local girl named Wendy Walsh is abducted, raped, and murdered in Webster, Megan convinces Kenneth to let her ride along with Detective Steven Harper (Tom Malloy) as an advisor to the case. But the gruesome nature of the case once again prompts strange visions for Megan. Now she is haunted by two murder victims, and to make matters worse, she's beginning to develop embarrassing involuntary ticks and stops taking her medication. As the hallucinations get worse and the case starts to run cold, Megan struggles to find the one piece of evidence that will lead them to the killer before her dark side takes over once again. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

27% liked it

7,039 ratings

Critics

14% liked it

7 critics

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Rob Schmidt

Release Date: February 7, 2008

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DVD Release Date: January 6, 2009

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Stats: 452 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (452)

  • theunknownhobo
    September 9, 2011
    theunknownhobo
    Predictable and boring, this movie was stuck somewhere between a horror film and a crime thriller. Even though it may have been loosely based around true life events, as always I think Schmidt's poetic authority as director fabricated the more silly elements of what could have be... read moreen a really good story. I knew who the killer was the second time I saw him and without the risk of spoiling a plot that a toddler could unravel, the attempts made at hiding the killer are mediocre. Disappointing.
  • blkbomb
    July 31, 2011
    blkbomb
    Megan Paige: Mostly the job is to ask questions. The frustrating part, the part that drives you crazy, is that the people you really want to talk to are dead. 

    This is how bad this movie is. No when I'm about to go to the bathroom I say, "I'm going to go take an Alphabet Killer.... read more" This movie is horrible. I couldn't believe some of the stuff I was watching. I've seen some really bad serial killer movies, but this is probably the worst. It takes itself seriously and shows these horrible hallucinations of ghosts that is so cheap and bad looking. The lead character is horribly written and isn't believable at all. 

    The lead character is Megan Paige played by Eliza Dushku. She gives a horrible, horrible performance and is laughable in everything she does. Everything from how she stares at the pictures of the crimes, cries, talks and tries to get the audience to take her seriously. She's a pretty horrible casting decision. Now I know this is a direct to DVD movie and it isn't going to be great, but come on. If you can't even make a movie that can't even just be considered bad; don't make a movie. The movie is deplorable and should not be viewed by anyone. It's one of the very few movies I've seen that I see as a complete waste of my time. Most movies, be it good or bad, I can take something that I liked away from it. This movie has nothing good about it. There's nothing you can take away from it, except for how bad it is.

    If you want to watch a movie that will completely stun you, watch this. It's stunningly bad. Synonymous with Shit.
  • romy861
    April 18, 2010
    romy861
    Quite dull and long feeling. I walked in and out of the room a few times while it was on and had still picked the killer halfway through, (or think I had, it is kind of confusing at the end).
    This looks like a tv movie, (not sure if it actually is), and the acting is nothing to ... read morerave over either. Eliza Dushku is not an actress I usually mind, (I have liked a lot of her tv series), but she is very flat here. Maybe just a bad script, I don't know, but anyhow, could not recommend anyone waste their time with this. Really it is not even worth the rental, (and usually I can see redeeming features where something is worth watching in a B grade movie, but not this time).
  • bbcfloridabound
    January 9, 2009
    bbcfloridabound
    Pretty good film, about a killer in Rochester New York, It was well planned, and at the end they said in credits they never caught the killer, which confused me because of last 15 minutes of the movie, but it left this movie open for a sequel, not sure that I would go out and buy... read more it, but I would rent it. Its not a horror flick by any means, but more suspense. First film I gave more then four stars that I wouldn't go buy, hummm am I getting to tough.
  • Tss807
    September 6, 2010
    Tss807
    Way too dull for a movie about a serial killer.
  • xxdebxx
    February 6, 2010
    xxdebxx
    The mystery itself, allegedly based on a true story, surrounding a serial-killing spree that plagued Rochester New York in the early 1970s.Detective Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku) is tracking down a serial killer who murdered and raped a young girl. Throughout the investigation, she ... read morehas visions of the ghost of the murdered girl and realizes that the first letters of the girl's first and last name are the same as the first letter of the town where she was murdered. Dushku delivers a solid performance as a distraught, emotionally unstable and sometimes delusional police woman whose mental illness made her character more believable, and added interest to the film. Can former Megan Paige retain her sanity long enough to find the killer? See the movie to find out.
  • trisarahtops22
    September 25, 2011
    trisarahtops22
    This felt like a made for tv movie. It lacked anything interesting including good performances.
  • DrStrangeblog
    February 23, 2010
    DrStrangeblog
    Based on the real crimes near Rochester, NY in the early 1970s also known by the clunkier Double-Letter Murders. The criminal was never caught, but this movie takes an interesting tangential direction by supposing that one detective came close. Eliza Dushku is a cop in a precar... read moreious mental state: her obsession with the first murder led to hallucinations and a mental breakdown. Two years later and back on the force, she knows more about the details than anyone so her boss & ex-fiancee reluctantly puts her back on the case when the killer strikes again.

    Good performances with some atypically sympathetic police officers (don't worry, there is a major a-hole among them) and Dushku's deteriorating condition give this serial killer story some fresh surroundings. Unfortunately the events become rapidly farfetched towards the end, with a very unsatisfying revelation of the killer's identity.
  • Chosen718
    December 31, 2009
    Chosen718
    Decent suspense flick, good performances by Dushku and Hutton. I need to give it a second more-attentive viewing though.
  • irisheyes686
    October 6, 2009
    irisheyes686
    It kept me guessing throughout. Dushku did a good job in her role.

View All The Alphabet Killer Reviews

Critic Reviews

Gary Goldstein
November 14, 2008
Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

It's too bad there was no way around the story's inherent deficit since this effectively unsettling film, directed by Rob Schmidt, chugs along quite well for a while. Full Review

Luke Y. Thompson
November 13, 2008
Luke Y. Thompson, Village Voice

The Alphabet Killer may well make enough money to justify a Part II. Full Review

Pablo Villaca
April 10, 2009
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

Chega a impressionar que, em meio a tantos elementos desastrosos, a atuação de Eliza Dushku (que também co-produziu o longa) seja inegavelmente a pior coisa do filme.

Avi Offer
January 31, 2009
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

The Alphabet Killer suffers from the same symptoms as Passengers: both have an unintentionally feeble-minded character who lazily investigates a mystery while the plot itself seems dull and poorly dev... Full Review

Rossiter Drake
January 13, 2009
Rossiter Drake, San Francisco Examiner

Although Schmidt and Malloy have devoted meticulous attention to Megan's manhunt, which is engrossing and briskly paced for the better part of 85 minutes, their final act seems less like a canny trick...

Joshua Rothkopf
December 10, 2008
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

[Eliza Dushku's] commitment to the material is worthier than the cheesy ghost effects of decomposing children that the filmmakers felt the need to add. Full Review

Andy Klein
November 17, 2008
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat

...a big problem is the preposterousness of the mystery's solution...

December 18, 2008
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

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