Behind haunting Woman of the Hour final scene based on Rodney Alcala victim

Netflix film Woman of the Hour includes a character named Amy who represents one of real life serial killer Rodney Alcala's victims

*Please note this article contains spoilers for Woman of the Hour*

The star and director of recently released Netflix film Woman of the Hour, Anna Kendrick, has shared fresh insights into a poignant moment of the movie, shedding light on one character who represents an actual victim of murderer Rodney Alcala.

Amy, portrayed by Autumn Best, appears fairly early in the storyline, with her timeline of events culminating as a focal point of the whole film.

Initially depicted as homeless and resorting to stealing small change at a laundromat, Amy's path soon crosses with Daniel Zovatto's Rodney. While named Amy in the film, her character draws from the real-life experiences of Monique Hoyt, an adolescent hitchhiker who endured violent assaults at the hands of Alcala before her courageous escape.

A profoundly chilling moment is reserved for Amy's last appearance when she inhales abruptly, indicating she has survived Alcala's attack, reports the Mirror.

In conversation with Tudum, Anna Kendrick, who plays the bachelorette who picks Alcala for a date on a gameshow in the film, disclosed that this segment took its cue from Stephen Sondheim, celebrated for penning classics such as West Side Story and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

She commented: "As incongruous as it is, that's Sondheim. That's the chord resolving at the end of Into the Woods, and then one last 'I wish' ringing out."

"Because there isn't a perfect resolution: That character has survived, but it's not as simple as 'She's going to be fine now.' It's meant to evoke dissonance at the very least."

The concluding scenes of the film unfold in a scenic setting, mirroring the opening shots, a purposeful decision by director Kendrick to honour the memory of Alcala's victims with a powerful visual statement.

Kendrick explained: "It felt important to me to connect these women to nature for several reasons, but one of which was, I kind of wanted to put them in places that spoke to the vastness of their life beyond this moment.

"It's a 90-minute movie. There's only so much screen time that everybody can have. And I wanted - in spite of the way that we're meeting them - I wanted their environment to reflect the beauty and the fullness of their whole life before that and what they should have had after."

Woman of the Hour is available to stream now on Netflix