Woman of the Hour OTT release date: When and where to watch Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut

The thriller that marked actress Anna Kendrick’s debut as filmmaker, Woman of the Hour, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival a year ago, is finally headed to OTT. Based on the true story of the Dating Game serial killer Rodney Alcala, Woman of the Hour follows the events of the game show, after Alcala won a date with bachelorette Cheryl Bradshaw.

Kendrick plays Bradshaw, while Daniel Zovatto stars as Alcala. The film does not get a theatrical outing and will now head to Netflix. According to a new trailer, Woman of the Hour will be available on the streamer from October 18. It is not clear if Netflix will release the film globally, as reports also state that the streamer, which held the rights to the film, sold them to other platforms in various regions, with Lionsgate said to have picked up the streaming rights for India and Sri Lanka.

Following its TIFF premiere, Woman of the Hour had received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with critics highlighting Kendrick’s “deft direction”. The film also stars Nicolette Robinson, Tony Hale, Kathryn Gallagher, Kelley Jakle, Autumn Best, Jessie Fraser, Taylor Hastings, Jedidiah Goodacre and Darcy Laurie, among others.

Serial killer Rodney Alcala was sentenced for the murder of 5 women between 1977 and 1979, although his real body count is said to be in three figures. At the time of his arrest, Alcala had in his possession, 1000 photographs of women and teenage girls in sexually explicit poses.

They are suspected to be his rape or murder victims, although only 2 were identified. He appeared on the Dating Game show in 1978, where he won a date with Bradshaw. However, during the course of their interactions, she found him ‘creepy’ and refused to entertain him further. This rejection is said to have pushed him to murdering three other victims subsequently.