WOMAN OF THE HOUR. In the “real,” nightmare world of late 20th century America, when serial killers seemed to lurk inside every tricked-out van and basement apartment in America, there was a television show predicated on the importance of the male gaze and horrifically distorted sexual dynamics and expectations (really, it was only one of many). That show, The Dating Game, shrouded three eligible bachelors in obscurity while a female counterpart lobbed questions insulting to her own intelligence at them, with the final prize being an all-expenses paid date for the star and the consort of her choice — most likely the least of three evils. One noteworthy episode of the show (and the centerpiece of this dramatization) featured Sheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick), a Pennsylvanian with quickly evaporating dreams of an acting career. All but broke, misguidedly seeking the solace of companionship with a neighbor (Pete Holmes, creepy without perhaps meaning to be) and beyond frustrated with the process of auditioning for cretins, Sheryl takes the gig on a lark. Unexpectedly and for disturbing reasons elsewhere to be revealed, Sheryl’s appearance affords her the opportunity to do some unsanctioned rewrites and a little improvisational acting. The high she experiences is dispelled both by mistreatment by the powers that be and a visceral, undeniable reaction to the bachelor with whom she is intended to vacation with in Carmel. It’s no spoiler (and one of many intentional but questionable structural decisions made by screenwriter Ian McDonald) that Bachelor No. 3 Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) is, in fact, a brazen and insatiable killer of women, hiding in plain sight. By the time Sheryl hits the stage, we’ve already seen Alcala commit murder in multiple states, each time enacting some unspeakably motivated revenge on a young woman. In fact, Woman of the Hour opens with one of his crimes — a discordant note against which the title plays. But that seems to be the challenging push-pull of Kendrick’s directorial debut: This is a story about the minimization and commodification of women, specifically by a killer whose inner life remains unexplored but also by a culture and an industry that slaveringly sexualize girls and women, rendering them as victims or villains, even within their own stories. The exploration of that terrible cultural dynamic and the inestimable damage it has wrought should and will be the stuff of more and more art and criticism in years…