Before text rolls across the screen explaining what happened to Rodney Alcala after the events of Woman of the Hour, the final moment of the movie shows Amy, the woman who called the police and got the killer arrested, gasping. It’s a jarring and unsatisfying way to end the film. However, that’s the point, as director Anna Kendrick explained while discussing the end of her film on Netflix’s 2024 release schedule.
Woman of the Hour is easily the scariest movie I’ve seen this year, in part because of its ending. While Rodney was arrested, the final instance is a gasp before it’s revealed that he actually didn’t go to prison until a while after that. While the woman he took was safe, this story wasn’t finished or happy. Anna Kendrick addressed that creative choice of ending with a gasp and its significance with Tudum, saying:
As incongruous as it is, that’s [Stephen] Sondheim. That’s the chord resolving at the end of Into the Woods, and then one last ‘I wish’ ringing out. Because there isn’t a perfect resolution: That character has survived, but it’s not as simple as ‘She’s going to be fine now.’ It’s meant to evoke dissonance at the very least.
In Into The Woods, the finale song – “Finale: Children Will Listen” – is all about the characters reflecting on what they’ve been through and how they move forward after tragic events. While it seems like the song will end with the lyric "and happy ever after," the final line of the track and the show is actually Cinderella singing “I wish.” To me, that choice encourages the audience to reflect on the good and bad that came with everything these characters wanted. It also puts an exclamation point on the notion that while the show is over, the story is not.
Notably, Anna Kendrick was part of the Into the Woods movie cast, and she played Cinderella. Therefore, she’s very familiar with this line and its significance. So, I love that she used it as a way to end her film as well, because it’s incredibly effective.
I find it terrifying and brilliant that Woman of the Hour ended on this note, especially considering what happened to this serial killer after the runaway teenager escaped him.
After hearing the runaway Amy gasp, text rolls across the screen noting what happened to all the people after the events of the film. It includes the fact that “a teenage runaway escaped Rodney Alcala by asking him to keep the encounter a secret,” which is what Amy did in the film. However, then it reveals the following information about what happened to the serial killer after he was arrested:
While awaiting trial, he was released on bail. Once freed, he murdered a 21 year old woman and a 12 year old girl. Alcala was rearrested in 1979. Only then did authorities begin to uncover the scope of his crimes. For over a decade Alcala had been reported to law enforcement by survivors and other private citizens without consequence. He was eventually convicted of the murders of seven women and girls. Some authorities estimate the true number of victims to be as high as 130.
After that, the credits explain that the runaway appeared in court 31 years after Alcala went to prison to testify against him. As Kendrick said, she was safe in the final scene of the film, but her story didn't end there -- as she testified so many years later -- and the trauma didn't go away.
Woman of the Hour is critically acclaimed because of Kendrick’s vision and the way she handles this chilling, terrifying and vulnerable story. While making this movie about a killer who harmed so many women, she also made the film a fantastic commentary on the fear women feel on a daily basis and the terror and mistreatment that comes with institutionalized misogyny and sexism.
While Rodney’s victims' stories go on beyond this film, hence the final gasp, the greater issues and themes presented in it do too. That’s a big reason why Woman of the Hour has haunted me for weeks now; I also think it’s why it is so brilliant.
To go back and see this final moment Kendrick was talking about, you can watch Woman of the Hour with a Netflix subscription.
