Dating Game Killer

This is just horrible! I mean how do you go from True Blood to this? They couldn't afford a snack table I bet! ID Network bad show

This movie could have been a hell of a lot better if it had better actors and more money put into it- this movie was made for tv i know, but the movie is just amateurish and shoddy and i hope the main actor- the cop doesnt think he put in an oscar winning performance for this , he acts like hes not going to get paid for been in the movie or something, but to be fair all the actors in this were poor , especially jack black who plays 😜 serial killer rodney alcala! Im not an actor im a baker! You better believe it lol

The acting and writing are terrible in this one.

I feel like this is how a robot would write a movie script if its creator let it watch 7-10 B mystery movies, then gave it a typewriter and said "Do your best!"

If they'd just earned a nickel everytime the actors rattled off a terrible cliché or exposition, the production probably could have at least hired a better wig artist to outfit the guy who plays Alcala.

Speaking of which, they made the killer a weird mix between Chris Farley and Meatloaf. He looks like your dad dressed up like the drummer from an 80s cover band, then showed up at your school to embarrass you in front of your friends.

It's too bad because this is such a fascinating story that I wanted to learn more about.

2 stars though because - while terrible - it delivers a few good (albeit unintentional) laughs as it wanders into the abyss of awfulness.

Favorite scene is the mom, showering in the dark, crying into and sniffing her daughter's new lemon shampoo bottle after she goes missing. Bizarre.

Finally, a true-crime dramatization that actually respects the facts. The Dating Game Killer (2017) may not be perfect, but compared to the absolute fabricated nonsense of Woman of the Hour (2023), it's a breath of fresh air. Where the latter rewrote history with made-up events and "Hollywood-ized" filler, The Dating Game Killer stuck close to the real case, showing the disturbing reality of Rodney Alcala without insulting the audience's intelligence.

Guillermo Díaz might not be a dead ringer for Alcala physically, but that hardly matters-he nailed the essence of Alcala's unnerving charm and manipulative personality. That unsettling mix of charisma and menace came through loud and clear. On top of that, Robert Knepper brought real grit and weight to his role as Detective Jim Hamell, grounding the story with sharp conviction and a sense of dogged persistence that gave the film heart as well as horror.

This isn't a flashy movie, and that's exactly why it works. It respects the victims, it respects the truth, and it gives viewers an honest, chilling look at one of America's most twisted serial killers-without turning it into cheap fiction. If you're looking for the real story, skip the pretentious garbage of Woman of the Hour and watch The Dating Game Killer instead.

The events span a long period of time from the 60s to 2010. The makers of the TV movie for some strange reason decided to tell the tale in a fragmented manner jumping around a lot in time. It's clear when they do it - unfortunately it leaves some unanswered questions and bewilders the viewer unnecessarily and breaks up the tension of the movie.

Guillermo Diaz of Scandal is good as the crazy killer who slipped through the cracks of the system so many times. The tale is tragic because of the failures of the system that a convicted rapist could have been out to commit so many more crimes. The failure of the system and the unresolved nature of some of his crimes makes this story less neat than Bundy and Gacy. Probably that explains why Rodney Alcala isn't that much of a household name despite having a larger possible victim count. It's frustrating but realistic how hard it was to prove crimes he was suspected of and the unreliability of witnesses. Carrie Preston of the Good Wife is effective in her few scenes as mother of one of the victims.