Based on a series of true events, fans are itching to know the real-life connection between Monique Hoyt and the latest Netflix thriller, Woman of the Hour.
Directed by Anna Kendrick (who fans may know for her performances in hits such as Pitch Perfect and Scott Pilgrim vs.The World, as well as part of the voice acting cast for the Trolls movies), Woman of the Hour sets itself around a string of real-life killings committed by the infamous Dating Game Killer (aka Rodney Alcala).
While the movie mostly focuses on one of Alcala's victims, whom he met on an appearance on the iconic 1970s competition series, The Dating Game, it also depicts some vital details from throughout his reign of terror, including the abduction of a 15-year-old girl named Monique Hoyt.
Monique Hoyt's Woman of the Hour Connection Explained
Monique Hoyt's story plays a key part in Netflix's recently released Woman of the Hour despite her not properly appearing in the film.
Hoyt's story was written into the record in the late 1970s as it ultimately helped arrest Dating Game killer Rodney Alcala.
Being 15 at the time, Hoyt was a hitchhiker Alacla picked up a year after his infamous appearance on The Dating Game and the ensuing murder of fellow contestant Cheryl Bradshaw (played by Anna Kendrick in the film).
Hoyt was kidnapped by Alcala and abused in his isolated home in the American Rockies. She eventually managed to escape her captor sometime later while he filled up at a local gas station by calling the police, leading to his eventual arrest.
Hoyt's stand-in in the movie is a character played by Autumn Best named Amy (read more about Autumn Best here). The events happen similarly to Amy, but not quite the same as they did to Hoyt.
Amy's character is introduced about two-thirds of the way through the character as yet another young girl that Alcala hopes to make one of his victims. Her introduction mimics an earlier sequence that starts the film, where Alcala picks up a woman based on another of his victims, Christine Thornton, and brutally murders her.
Different from what transpired in real life, Alcala convinces Hoyt's stand-in Amy that he wants to photograph her before driving her out to a desolate location to (eventually) kill her.
Audiences watch as, just as Hoyt was, Amy is assaulted both physically and sexually by her captor. However, the movie ends with Amy escaping like Hoyt and calling the police while stopped at a gas station.
The movie does show Alcala getting arrested due to Amy's call, but it does so in a much quicker and swift manner than what likely happened to Hoyt and her kidnapper in real life.
In actuality, Alcala would go on to kill at least two more times after Hoyt's call to the police in the months following her escape.
The Dating Game Killer was eventually apprehended and arrested, but (just like it says in a title card at the end of the movie), his time in prison would not last long—his mother posted Alcala's bail and let him walk free.
Woman of the Hour is streaming on Netflix.
Read more about other Netflix thrillers:
Netflix's Newest Dark R-Rated Mystery Thriller Delivers a Family's Worst Nightmare
