Netflix True Crime Serial Killer Series Will Chill You To The Bone
With a collection of critically acclaimed titles like Alien 3, Fight Club, Seven, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo under his belt, David Fincher never needed to crossover into television but we’re glad he did. And sure, the episodes of House of Cards that Fincher helmed are classics but if you haven’t checked out Netflix’s scripted true crime series, Mindhunter, you’re missing Fincher at his best. Putting real-life monsters on the small screen and following the story of how the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit was founded, the show is a must-watch for those who idolize Fincher or those who have an obsession with some of the most notorious serial killers of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and early ‘80s.
Mindhunter
Fincher helped push Mindhunter forward at Netflix, as the title’s primary director, showrunner, and executive producer. Pulling stories from the pages of history, the series was based on the 1995 book, Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker.
Together, Douglas and Olshaker led the charge on criminal profiling in the late ‘70s, interviewing names like Charles Manson and Ed Kemper to better understand the psyche of someone driven to commit heinous crimes.
An Amazing Cast
Starring Jonathan Groff (Frozen), Holt McCallany (The Iron Claw), and Anna Torv (The Last of Us), Mindhunter follows three main characters, each of whom is attached to the new groundbreaking studies of the FBI in one way or another.
For Groff’s Special Agent Holden Ford and McCallany’s Special Agent Bill Tench, this means getting up close and personal with the perpetrators of some of the most brutal killings to befall the decade while Torv’s Wendy Carr holds things down back at the office as a psychology professor and the true brains of the operation.
Hunting For BTK
Over a two-season run, audiences learned more about the development of the FBI’s new unit as Agents Ford and Tench went to visit infamous names like Charles Manson (Damon Herriman), Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. (Robert Aramayo), David Berkowitz aka The Son of Sam (Oliver Cooper), Richard Speck (Jack Erdie), Paul Bateson (Morgan Kelly), and Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton).
As the agents gather information from their captured killers and both seasons one and two of Mindhunter, another serial murderer, presumed to be Dennis Rader aka BTK, is prowling the streets looking for his next victim.
Switching Gears
By Season 2, the agents had shifted their attention to the city of Atlanta, Georgia where children were being snatched off the streets and murdered. The case is a doozy as Wayne Williams, the man that many believed was behind the slayings, was never connected to the deaths of the kids and was only behind bars for the murders of two adult men.
For this, Mindhunter does a great job of tracking down the facts of the case and investigating how race and socioeconomic standings played into how law enforcement poorly handled the tragic killings.
Stream It Now
GFR SCORE
Much to the chagrin of those of us who fell in love with the dramatized retelling of one of the most important stories to come from the vaults of true crime history, Mindhunter ended after its second season.
David Fincher has since teased a possible return to the project but seemingly put the kibosh on it fully back in 2023. With its attention to detail, commitment to the truth, and top-tier performances, I’d call Mindhunter a must-have in your Netflix queue.
