Right now, perhaps more than ever, we feel the need to be connected and involved. So when Netflix tells you that a new documentary is the top trending show in your country, of course this piques your interest. Yes, it’s about a serial killer. Yes, there are some issues around this. But we can rarely ignore our morbid curiosity.
The phenomenon of rubbernecking, for instance, adds precious minutes to car journeys because it’s human nature to slow down and look at the scene of an accident. Perhaps it’s fitting then that the events documented in Night Stalker take place in Los Angeles - a city known for wealth, poverty and traffic.
The series follows retired detectives Frank Salerno and Gil Carrillo as they prowl around LA at night and shoot brooding looks from a vehicle fit for a 70s cop show. Meanwhile, their talking heads testimonies highlight how difficult it was for Carrillo to persuade his peers that various violent crimes were connected and how troubling this case became for both of them.
Paired with renowned detective Salerno, Carrillo was a relative rookie and one of very few Latinos working as a homicide detective at the time. Further interviews with survivors, witnesses and the killer himself shed unforgiving light on the sheer brutality of the crimes committed.
Perpetrated in 1984 and 1985, the murders tended to rely on the trusting nature of the victims - whose doors were often left unlocked. The rap sheet of the killer included the kidnap, rape and murder of victims so disparate in age, race and gender that any kind of motive was impossible to find. The media began to use the phrase “Walk-In Killer” but eventually settled on the moniker of “Night Stalker”.
Little did anyone know this would eventually provide a website with a catchy title for their docuseries but also stand as perhaps the greatest example of dangerously insensitive journalism in recent American history.
Media ethics guidelines warn against including sirens, flashing lights, police tape or images of suspects in TV news reports on subjects like mass shootings, terrorism or serial killers. Even if the individual has died, doing so feeds into the problem by posthumously providing perpetrators with the notoriety they may have craved. The media circus then serves to inspire the next heinous act and the concerned politician’s words about how this sadly won’t be the last time become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
However, on top of all these lapses in judgement, the “Night Stalker” was also given a name which could have come straight from a comic book. A disturbed, dysfunctional and drug-addled individual committed a series of shameful crimes due to his personality disorder - and the media turned him into an antihero.
Nearly 40 years later, not much has changed though we can now see the gory crime scenes faithfully recreated in 3D. In fact, Netflix have come under fire for how graphic their depictions are. “Watching the new Netflix Night Stalker series,” states Twitter user @danvoss. “No need for them to include the victim crime scene photos, and slo-mo blood splatter shots, it's not necessary.”
“Honestly I’m a huge fan of true crime docs but Night Stalker is too much,” states @adamdrivere. “No documentary should be sharing actual crime scene photos, people shouldn't have to see the murders of their loved ones shared for entertainment and ratings on Netflix.”
Meanwhile, ratings also continue to drive the tone of US media outlets and, sadly, sensationalism still sells. Just across the border into Canada, TV news has an entirely different tone and is far more balanced and informative. However, one could argue that any mention of a serial killer in any form of media is to be avoided - as it fans the flames with the oxygen of publicity.
Here lies a problem which was half addressed at the end of another recent true-crime series, Don’t F*ck With Cats. The perpetrator in this documentary truly sees himself as the protagonist in a narrative of his own meticulous making. Narcissistic in the extreme, one can’t help but assume that a shiny documentary all about him and his crimes would make him extremely happy. So at the end of the last episode, through the primary interviewee and storyteller, Netflix acknowledge that the documentary is problematic and briefly point the finger of blame at themselves before breaking the fourth wall and pointing it at the audience.
Admittedly, Night Stalker focuses more on the detectives and the investigation that the perpetrator. “I decided to tell this story from Gil's perspective because he had this amazing story, and he's not typically who you think of as an ordinary hero,” Director Tiller Russell explained to Entertainment Weekly.
“He's a guy from the streets who had a dream to be the first person in his family to go to college. He never imagined he'd one day work for the sheriff's department, much less that he'd join the legendary homicide department known as the Bulldogs. He was the youngest guy to make it that far and then he got assigned the case of a lifetime. And he did it all for his dad, his family, and the neighbourhood.” Tiller added: “That's the hero’s arc that fascinated me, and I really loved him as a character.”
However, the show also depicts the crime scenes and the bloody violence. Furthermore, withholding the identity of the killer until the end is a vehicle for suspense and intrigue rather than a moral decision. Once revealed, the floodgates are opened. His unusually good looks are discussed and, for what feels like an eternity, we are shown a photo so posed it looks like it could be from a photoshoot. We see the provocative images sent to him by scores of besotted women and clips of his female fans in the courtroom as he shoots nonchalant smiles over his shoulder.
This is an individual whose formative years were so horrific he often chose to sleep in a graveyard. He was so badly abused as a child he suffered lasting physical and mental damage then committed unforgivable acts as an adult. However, instead, we see a depiction of an angular, long-haired rebel wearing sunglasses and being belligerent. The tone is soon so light it’s as if his only crimes are following Satan and being a rock star.
These scenes feel like they’ve missed the mark completely. In fact, the inclusion of two reporters who come off so badly one must wonder why they took part is perhaps the only hint of hidden self-awareness from the show’s creators. But as the fetishisation of serial killers continues to trend, it seems that Netflix will happily supply whatever is in demand.
Ultimately, serial killers are the homegrown antiheroes immortalised in western culture in a way that terrorists could only dream of. Change needs to happen and we can actively make good decisions by averting our focus from cries of attention. But we can rarely ignore our morbid curiosity.
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