The Real Story Behind Netflix's 'Woman of the Hour'

Netflix's new true-crime film "Woman of the Hour" tells a chilling story, but it barely scratches the surface of the real-life horror of serial killer Rodney Alcala. The movie, directed by Anna Kendrick, focuses on Cheryl Bradshaw, who appeared on "The Dating Game" in 1978. But the film doesn't show the full extent of Alcala's crimes. Before the show, he had already been arrested for murder and was on the FBI's most wanted list. The show's producers didn't know about his dark past because national crime databases didn't exist back then. Alcala's first attack happened in 1968, ten years before "The Dating Game." He lured a 16-year-old girl into his home and attacked her. Weeks later, he kidnapped and assaulted an 8-year-old girl. The movie doesn't mention these attacks. Alcala fled to New York after the warrant for his arrest and enrolled at NYU under a fake name. He even studied film under Roman Polanski. One of Alcala's victims, Cornelia Crilley, appears in the film, but with a different name. The movie shows her as Charlie, a flight attendant moving into a new apartment. In real life, authorities found her dead in her apartment, strangled with her own stockings. The case stayed cold for decades.

The movie also shows Alcala as a photographer, which he was. He posed as a fashion photographer and took explicit nude photos of people, including teenagers. But the film doesn't show that he was re-arrested for assaulting a 13-year-old girl just months after his release from prison. The real Cheryl Bradshaw isn't well-known. The movie shows her as a frustrated Juilliard graduate who needed rent money. During the show, she asks Alcala what he'd be called if he were food. He says, "I'm called the banana, and I look really good." The movie adds some drama, like an audience member who's a friend of one of Alcala's victims. But in real life, Bradshaw canceled her date with Alcala because she felt uncomfortable. Alcala's last known victim was Robin Samsoe, who he kidnapped and murdered in 1979. The film shows this, but it doesn't go into detail about his many trials and sentencing. Authorities think Alcala had over 130 victims, but he was only convicted of seven murders.

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