Woman of the Hour is the scariest movie I've seen in 2024 so far and it's not even a horror

Anna Kendrick sits in front of a spotlight on the set of The Dating Game while a suited figure looms behind her

(Image credit: Netflix)

As soon as I found out about Woman of the Hour, I was immediately intrigued. In my trailer reaction back in September, I noted that it was one of my favorite announcements to come out of Netflix Geeked Week. While in some areas I felt disappointed, by the lack of Stranger Things updates, I was thrilled to see Anna Kendrick taking on a much darker project. We've seen her at the helm of things like Pitch Perfect and Trolls, and while her opposite Blake Lively in A Simple Favor was more thriller-like in nature, what she does in Woman of the Hour is so creepy, so horrifyingly real, that it became the scariest movie I've watched this year.

I've watched a lot of horrible (and I mean that in a positive way!) stuff this year. During TechRadar's Halloween Week, I raved about The Substance and I told everyone how I Saw the TV Glow remains my favorite horror of the year. I still stand by that, but nothing quite got under my skin quite like Kendrick's directorial debut.

Her new movie, which is now on Netflix, follows The Dating Game contestant Sheryl Bradshaw who ended up winning a date with serial killer Rodney Alcala, who made an appearance on the show during his murder spree. Of course, no one knew that, which is why it's so eerie. The worst thing of all, Alcala is the only nice man on the mystery panel, answering with all the things someone would want to hear. But he harbors this horrifying secret, and that is exactly why this movie is so scary.

A real life horror show

Cheryl looks anxious as Rodney puts his arm around her on The Dating Game. The Dating Game host Ed also stands next to them. — (Image credit: Leah Gallo/Netflix)

I loved how raw and honest Woman of the Hour is. It really showed that some of the most horrifying things can be hidden in plain sight. Some of the biggest monsters are in fact human, and that's why this trumps all of the horror movies I've seen this year in terms of fear factor. I can't even imagine being in a situation like Sheryl, and the fact it is based on a very real story makes it even more stomach churning. During the course of the movie, Sheryl encounters lots of unpleasant figures within the entertainment industry she's trying to thrive in, which is why she ends up falling into Alcala's grasp. You simply cannot blame her, he was charming, seemingly polite, and respectful until he wasn't.

By far the most chilling and impactful scene is where we see the two going for drinks. It starts off normally, they laugh and joke, and then suddenly a switch seems to flip. Sheryl teases him and he becomes threatening, and at that point, you realise he is not the person he claimed to be. Hiding in plain sight was this killer, who eventually went on to die in prison, but before he was apprehended he was able to lure women into this trap. I thought the movie dealt with this sensitively with a lot of focus on the victims themselves, especially Sheryl.

She is the focus of the movie, namely how she manages to escape him. True crime can often be sensationalised, but I really liked how Sheryl was portrayed. She was smart, she rejected all the behaviors expected of her, and it really makes you challenge these things. It's an uncomfortable experience, but also a very necessary one. Even fleeting lines like "I probably passed you on the subway" made my blood run cold, because people like Alcala just look like everyday people. But when Sheryl shook her head at a waitress when Alcala asked for another round, and she took the signal and lied saying they were closing up, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief.

I think this one is going to stay with me for a very long time, and rightly so. Movies like this should be seen by everyone, and we should all be talking about them.

Lucy is a long-time movie and television lover who is an approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes. She has written several reviews in her time, starting with a small self-ran blog called Lucy Goes to Hollywood before moving onto bigger websites such as What's on TV and What to Watch, with TechRadar being her most recent venture. Her interests primarily lie within horror and thriller, loving nothing more than a chilling story that keeps her thinking moments after the credits have rolled. Many of these creepy tales can be found on the streaming services she covers regularly.

When she’s not scaring herself half to death with the various shows and movies she watches, she likes to unwind by playing video games on Easy Mode and has no shame in admitting she’s terrible at them. She also quotes The Simpsons religiously and has a Blinky the Fish tattoo, solidifying her position as a complete nerd.