The Dating Game Killer(2024) - Stella Sands

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The Dating Game Killer : The True Story of a TV Dating Show, a Violent Sociopath, and a Series of Brutal Murders (St. Martin's True Crime Classics) (2024) - Stella Sands

로드니 알칼라 (Rodney Alcala)

Stella Sands

The true crime story of the California serial killer who won a date on the 1970s TV show The Dating Game during his killing spree.

The real story behind the Anna Kendrick Netflix film Woman of the Hour

In 1978, Rodney Alcala was a contestant on The Dating Game, one of America’s most popular television shows at the time. Handsome, successful, and romantic, he was embraced by the audience—and chosen as the winner by the beautiful bachelorette. To viewers across the country, Rodney seemed like the answer to every woman’s dreams. Until they learned the truth about his once and future crimes...

Ten years before his TV appearance, Rodney was charged with the sexual assault and attempted murder of an eight-year-old girl. In the decades that followed, he would be accused of seven murders—and, as new DNA evidence continues to be uncovered, the list may grow. The case is so disturbing that it’s been documented in several news outlets, from People magazine and USA Today to 48 Hours Mystery and Dr. Phil. The Dating Game Killer is the shocking true story about the dark and twisted man.

“Ms. Sands presents the crimes and evidence with professional skill and objectivity…. A must read!”—Steve Hodel, New York Times bestselling true-crime author, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, Detective Supervisor, LAPD Hollywood Homicide Division

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Chapter One
Nineteen sixty-eight was one hell of a year.

Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Nearly seventeen thousand U.S. armed forces died fighting in the Vietnam War.

In the face of such real-life violence, dark currents began to flow through American culture. The horror movie Rosemary’s Baby, directed by Roman Polanski, was a surprise success in Hollywood—both with critics and at the box office. It was about a group of Satanists who trick a young newlywed into carrying and giving birth to the devil’s spawn. (In a disturbing real-life twist the following year, the sociopathic cult leader Charles Manson ordered the brutal slaying of Polanski’s pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, and four others in the Los Angeles hills. Charles “Tex” Watson, who was the Manson Family disciple in charge of committing the murders, told one of the victims, “I’m the devil, and I’m here to do the devil’s business.”)

As images of carpet bombings and body bags from Vietnam dominated the airwaves, young Americans increasingly began to challenge authority and “the Man.” As cars cruised up and down Hollywood Boulevard and the Sunset Strip, radios blared edgier, angrier rock and roll: “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan, “What’s Going On?” by Marvin Gaye,
“Eve of Destruction,” by Barry McGuire. Musicians from bands like the Doors, the Byrds, Cream, and the Animals played the Whiskey-a-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip—and partied with abandon at the Chateau Marmont Hotel up the street. Los Angeles became a mecca for the most hedonistic aspects of this emerging counterculture: psychedelic drug use, sexual freedom and experimentation, smoking grass.

Amidst all this turmoil and social upheaval in 1968, an event occurred that is not well documented by the era’s historians: “Tali S.,” age eight, was abducted on her way to school

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In media

In 2010, the true crime series 48 Hours Mystery broadcast on CBS did an episode about Alcala called Rodney Alcala: The Killing Game.[76] In 2017, the true crime series Murder Made Me Famous broadcast on Reelz did an episode about Alcala called The Dating Game Killer.[77] In 2021, the series 20/20 broadcast on ABC did an episode about Alcala called The Dating Game Killer.[78][79][80]

In 2017, a biographical film about Alcala's life titled The Dating Game Killer was directed by Peter Medak and broadcast on the American television network Investigation Discovery.[81][82]

In 2022, a three-part television documentary series about Alcala was released called Dating Death.[83]

In 2024, Netflix released a biographical film, titled Woman of the Hour, directed by and starring Anna Kendrick. The film depicts several of Alcala's murders as well as his appearance on The Dating Game in the midst of his killing spree.[84]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Alcala

Rodney Alcala - Wikipedia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yj3neknp9o

Anna Kendrick's Woman of the Hour: Who was serial killer Rodney Alcala and what was The Dating Game?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWVEyDXqS00&ab_channel=60MinutesAustralia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dating_Game_Killer_(film)

Dating Game Killer (film) - Wikipedia

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-10-21/netflix-woman-of-the-hour-anna-kendrick-dating-game-killer-fact-fiction

What's fact vs. fiction in Netflix's 'Dating Game' killer film 'Woman of the Hour'

https://www.tiktok.com/discover/the-dating-game-book-review

TikTok - Make Your Day