The Alphabet Killer (2008)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Megan Paige	Eliza Dushku
Kenneth Shine	Cary Elwes
Richard Ledge	Timothy Hutton	½
Steven Harper	Tom Malloy
Nathan Norcoss	Michael Ironside	½
Dr. Ellis Parks	Carl Lumbly
Carl Tanner	Bill Moseley
Captain Gullikson	Tom Noonan
Kathy Walsh	Melissa Leo
Jim Walsh	Martin Donovan

Review

Actor/producer Eliza Dushku impresses with a very human performance as a talented homicide detective with her own inner demons, but as a whole, this overly genre-bound psycho-killer film is marred by some very lacklustre writing and an unattractive grainy look. The fact that the plot is easily predictable is not half as annoying as the fact that it for some reason seems completely enigmatic to the police force. I suppose that this was the level screenwriter Tom Malloy had to place them on in order for the heroine to come off as clever enough. The only really interesting aspect of The Alphabet Killer is the Dushkus character's mental illness, which is portrayed and handled sensibly. Unfortunately, director Rob Schmidt (Wrong Turn) isn't able to complement this by giving the narrative any sort of drive or nerve. Timothy Hutton phones in his stupid part, and adds some overacting towards the end for good measure.