this crime thriller center on a detective name megan ( eliza dushku ) who investigate a series of child murder in upstate new york . but megan suffers from a mental illness and the symptom of which get bad a she delve deep into the killing . she hear strange voice and see vision relate to the victim . with low light level and mute color and combine with creepy background music and the film first half create an effective thriller atmosphere . we see the outline of the killer and but never the face . will megan solve the murder and overcome her illness and or will the inept police supersede and to botch the case . a viewer and we root for megan to succeed . although the script idea originate from a real life murder case and refer to generally a the double initial serial killing and which terrorize upstate new york in the early 1970s and the film overall plot and main character be fictional . the story setting be the present and not the 1970s . the scriptwriter create the megan character out of thin air . and the story outcome deviate considerably from the outcome of the real life case . the film writer write a fictional plot and base on a real life premise . the film second half fail to convince and largely because of it clichéd plot contrivance . visuals consist of an annoy widescreen projection and some hokey cgi effect and in the form of ghost . but the low lighting contributes tension and a do some clever low angle camera shot . and the director rely mostly on a hand hold camera and which enhance realism . overall casting and act be fine . the alphabet killer get off to a great start . but it falter in the second half and owe to fictional plot point that dilute the underlying real life premise . i would have prefer a narrative that follow the true story and though i understand that the reason for not do so be budget constraint . by lower one expectation and the viewer may find the film worthwhile and either a a fictional thriller or a a character study of a woman fight her own demon .