4 episodes each between 46-48 minutes.
Insightful. Dark. Chilling.
Netflix has pushed the boat out in its new documentary ‘Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer”, a dark chilling recount of the investigation that lead to the arrest and trial of Richard Ramirez. the case is well known and has been depicted on the silver screen and in the popular television series American Horror Story. Straight away I feel I have to say if you don’t think you can cope with graphic crime scene photos, bloody reenactments, and heightened fear and suspense, that you might be better just reading the Wikipedia page about this case. Compared to many of Netflix’s other true-crime documentaries, this one is dark. It is also far more personal than many others and goes beyond the facts. Instead of it being a critique of the police investigation, such as in ‘The Ripper’ or a justice crusade like ‘Making a Murderer, or a question of 'did they really do it' like in ‘The Staircase’, ‘Night Stalker’ feels like an invitation to relive the investigation with the detectives. This doesn’t just involve the sense of accomplishment at the end, but the frustration, the fear, and the challenges, personally and professionally of the investigation. It also really pushes the ever-growing question of the role of the media, which seems to be getting more and more apparent in the true-crime genre.
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