Murder, Crime and Fear

Newly Released Limited Series “The Night Stalker” Hits Netflix

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Netflix per their Twiter

A limited series called “The Night Stalker” released on Jan. 13 on the streaming service Netflix. The series digs into a string of murders and attacks during the mid-80s in Los Angeles, California.

Brooke DiCicco, Staff Writer

Bridgewater, Va.- Netflix has released multiple limited series about various topics such as murders or investigations. A recent release of 2021 is called “The Night Stalker.”

This limited series is about the beginning and end of an investigation into a string of murders and attacks during the mid-80s in Los Angeles, California. The series focuses on the two main investigators of the cases — Gil Carrillo and Frank Salerno.

The short series takes the viewer along on a dark, difficult investigation with little clues to find the killer. It gives a feeling to the audience that they are directly there and finding out things as the investigators did. There is not any hesitation and the investigators jump right into the case.

However, the popularity of making these serial killer crimes into films has made these films almost redundant and repetitive. They usually have similar scenes of reenactments and interviews.

Decider stated that “At this point, it feels like Netflix and other cable and streaming outlets have mined infamous 1970s and ’80s serial killer cases for all they’re worth. The pattern tends to be the same: re-enactments, interviews with people who investigated and reported the crimes, mixed with archival footage and newspaper clippings.”

Variety states that though there is almost a glamourizing of gruesome events, that the series does tell the truth of certain events by trying to state the wrong in certain situations. “A sequence about Dianne Feinstein, then the mayor of San Francisco, giving away details of the investigation on television and thus scotching much of the detectives’ progress, makes a suggestive case for the power of TV news to warp perspective even at the highest levels.” 

If you enjoy a true story that gives you tons of suspense throughout it, this may be something to watch. Though, if you do not like scenes with blood, some images containing deceased bodies, evil motives, dark intent or gruesome stories that go into detail, you may want to hold back on watching.