Do you spin it as a thriller, a true-crime drama, a horror film, a sick pop-culture joke? Actress Anna Kendrick, making her debut as a director, does something fascinating. She juggles all four and then adds a fifth layer undergirding the others: the unceasing dread that comes from being a woman who knows men like Rodney Alcala are out there.

Anna Kendrick's directorial debut dramatizes the story of Rodney Alcala, who appeared on 'The Dating Game' in the midst of a killing spree.