DVD Reviews

Alphabet Killer

*SPOILER ALERT*  Eliza Dushku is topless for a couple seconds.  Ok so that’s not really a spoiler but it may very well be the best part of the film.  Though this movie is filled with many seasoned actors such as Michael Ironside, Cary Elwes, Bill Moseley and Timothy Hutton, I can’t say the acting was anything spectacular.  The film changes things up from your standard supernatural thriller by concentrating on the  descent into madness of the mentally unstable and obsessed detective played by Eliza Dushku but the descent happens much too quickly and as such, doesn’t make much sense.  Is she seeing dead kids because she’s crazy or are they really ghosts? These are questions that are never really answered.

A ten year old girl is found brutally murdered outside the small blue-collar city of Rochester, New York, and obsessed police detective Megan Paige suffers a mental breakdown while trying to solve the crime. But when the child-killings resume two years later. Megan’s return to the investigation also brings back her own horrific hallucinations. Even if she can prove a ‘double initial’ connection to the slayings, will she hang onto her sanity long enough to catch a psychopath?

The audio is presented in DD 5.1 but you’d hardly know it.  Surrounds are ok enough and used mostly to create a spooky atmosphere but outside of that, the audio is very front centric.  The low end doesn’t pack much weight either.  In fact, this could have easily been presented as a 2.0 track without any major difference.  There are no alternate language tracks available and subtitles are only available in English SDH.

Video is pretty run of the mill for this sort of release.  Detail is decent and the picture is crisp with nice dark black levels. The colours are de-saturated  and gritty but this is done on purpose as a stylistic effect.  There is edge enhancement apparent throughout but it isn’t too distracting. There is also some grain in the picture but I didn’t notice any print damage.  This is a solid presentation but nothing to show off your system with. 

This DVD release, surprisingly, has a few bits of supplemental material.  The DVD opens with a trailer for Jack Brooks Monster Slayer. This trailer is not accessible any other way.  The first extras of note are commentaries by Producer Isen Robbins and Director Rob Schmidt and one with Writer/Producer/Actor Tom Malloy. The first commentary starts off slow and Director Rob Schmidt often finds himself watching the film rather than commenting on it.  This is true until Isen Robbins shows up.  Apparently he wasn’t there when the commentary started.  Luckily, his appearance kicks the commentary up a notch.  You get to learn a few interesting pieces of information from these two including them pointing out cameos from a couple of people involved in the real-life investigation into the Alphabet Killer.  The commentary from Malloy is much better as he is absolutely ecstatic about the film. You learn about the screenplay, the characters and all sorts of little tidbits all in a very enthusiastic manner. The next extra is “A to Z: The Making of The Alphabet Killer” which runs about 6 minutes in length. It is comprised almost entirely of behind-the-scenes footage. There are no interviews, commentary, FX shots or any of the usual “Making Of” elements. Though it is nice to see some on set footage of scenes being shot, there isn’t any real information divulged.  The final extra is called “First Victim.”  It is labeled as an alternate scene but is essentially a different take on Dushku and Elwes at the crime scene of the first victim. The only other item of note is the packaging.  As is the case with many Anchor Bay releases lately, there is a slip case over this package.  The gimmick here is that the slip case is embossed and glossy metallic.

The Alphabet Killer doesn’t bring anything new to the genre (whichever genre it truly is) and though it is based on a true story, I’m not sure how much of the film is real and how much comes from the mind of Tom Malloy. Fans of Dushku and those that want to see her nakedness will probably pick this release up regardless of anything I say but I can’t even recommend this one for rental.  The DVD is alright but the film itself just doesn’t live up to expectations.

Review By Rob Harding