21/45
Ed: This signals the end of our game
Chronology
Sheryl Bradshaw, a single woman looking for a suitor on a hit 1970s TV show, chooses the charming bachelor Rodney Alcala, unaware that behind the man’s kind facade he hides a deadly secret. Some of Sheryl’s bad experiences as an aspiring actress mirror those of Anna Kendrick. The comment about Sheryl’s breasts is “taken verbatim from something that happened to me when I was 19.” Near the end of the film, her name is spelled Cheryl in one of the voiceovers revealing what happened after the film. Her name is spelled Sheryl, which was correct in the cast list.
Well, Cheryl, it’s time to make a decision!
Referenced in CTV News at Six Toronto: Episode dated September 8, 2023 (2023). This film spoke to me for a few reasons. I was a college student at the time portrayed in this film, and I remember all too well how naive many young women were about how manipulative, conniving, and dangerous some men could be. I’m lucky that nothing happened to me, because I certainly took some risks in situations where I should have known better.
I thought Anna Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto played their roles extremely well
And so when something like a sex crime happened to a young woman, the police didn’t always take it seriously. They often thought the girl was asking for it because, for example, she was wearing a short skirt and walking alone at night. The pacing of this film is deliberate and intense, and it switches between time periods and victims. I found it a little unnerving at first, but it all made sense by the end.
Zovatto seemed pretty creepy
Some of it is fictionalized, of course, and I’m not sure how much. I’ve read a little about Rodney Alcala, and the way he was apprehended is essentially accurate. If you can handle the slow pace of this film, it’s worth watching. The final season of “What We Do in the Shadows” is one of the biggest TV and streaming premieres this month.
Leave a Reply