The first trailer for “Woman of the Hour” – Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut – details the true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala’s appearance on “The Dating Show.”
The film is being billed as a dark dramedy and the trailer backs that up, as Kendrick – who also stars as real-life contestant Cheryl Bradshaw – meets Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) and goes on a date with him before things take a turn for the worse.
“We’re going to have a great time together Cheryl,” the not-so-eligible bachelor says to Kendrick’s character when he’s introduced in the trailer.
Watch the trailer below:
“No matter what words they use, the question beneath the question remains the same,” a woman working on the show’s production warns Kendrick before she takes the “Dating Show” stage. “Which one of you will hurt me?”
The film had a buzzy debut at the Toronto Film Festival last year. It was quickly snapped up by Netflix to stream on the service. TheWrap’s Steve Pond praised the film and Kendrick’s directing after seeing the film at TIFF 2023.
“‘Woman of the Hour,’ by contrast, is humorous sometimes and not funny at all at others,” Pond wrote. “It can be amusing when portraying kitschy ’70s pop culture shot through with casual sexism, but it is simply horrifying when sexism turns to rape and murder.”
He continued, “It’s the kind of tonal schizophrenia that would be a challenge for an experienced director to pull off, but first-timer Kendrick manages to make her film both weirdly entertaining and thoroughly disturbing.”
“Woman of the Hour” releases later this year. Watch the trailer above.
