Conversations With a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes Review: Returning with another true crime story, this Netflix series showcases the shocking crimes by prolific serial killer David Berkowitz and the cultural context in which they took place.
Creator & Director
The series has 3 episodes, each with a runtime of around 60 minutes.
Conversations With a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes Review
The Conversations With a Killer series is possibly one of the most popular ones on Netflix when it comes to true crime documentaries, having focused on Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer previously, and doing a fantastic job at it. Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated director Joe Berlinger is a fantastic candidate to bring these stories to light in the most memorable ways, giving us exactly what is required when it comes to all of these serial killers with their own despicable stories to tell.
The Son of Sam Tapes, thus, is an obvious watch for true crime lovers, following the “.44 Caliber Killer” or “The Son of Sam” through 1970s New York, which, by the way, turns out to be just as much a participant in this series as Berkowitz himself.
The thing about David Berkowitz is that he’s just so… normal. From the surface, he doesn’t seem like an insane person who murdered children from his childhood. But, maybe that’s the terrifying part about him; he was cruel enough to cause concern, but not enough to run for your life. His seemingly ordinary face and upbringing make him the most terrifying serial killer at the time because you would never suspect him of being one.
The series does a great job of bringing these nuances of his character to light using his own words, as we hear Berkowitz’s own story using his own recordings. Breaking down these early behaviours gives us a moment to understand his motivations, or maybe why he became the person he became in adulthood, and the conversation is absolutely fascinating to witness.
The other part of the documentary, as mentioned previously, is the cultural background of New York itself, which stands out as another entity in the series. Wracked with crime and problems, the series jumps from Berkowitz to the already existing and debilitating problems in New York City and will stand out to you with a vengeance. It adds context and makes for a really hopeless situation all around and Berlinger does a great job of merging these two seemingly different situations and showcasing how one fed off the other.
Final Thoughts
Conversations With a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes is insightful and impactful, and will leave you hooked to see where the story goes. Although this is a very well-known story, it’s the way that the series shows these different threads together that truly makes an impact, leaving you hooked till the end. Although I am not a big fan of the recreations, it’s not that big a deal for this show, I think. Overall, a great watch.
Also Read: Conversations of a Killer Reviews