Conversations With A Killer: The Son Of Sam Tapes is a three-part docuseries, directed by Joe Berlinger, that examines the killings David Berkowitz perpetrated in Queens and the Bronx in 1976 and 1977, frightening the young people that were his targets and flummoxing the NYPD. Eventually, he would tease the cops with letters that were signed “Son of Sam,” which is how he got his serial killer nickname. The docuseries centers around a series of interviews Berkowitz did with journalist Jack Jones from Attica in 1980.
Opening Shot: A shot of Attica Correctional Facility. Then we hear from Jack Jones and see his circa-1980 press badge.
The Gist: In the docuseries, director Joe Berlinger talks to Jack Jones, as well as friends and families of Berkowitz’s victims, and a few of the people who survived his shootings. As the series goes through the shootings, often happening late at night at random to pairs of young people sitting in cars or talking on stops, Berlinger also speaks to NYPD detectives who were on the case at the time, all of whom emphasize the fact that there was little to no coordination between precincts in the various boroughs at that time, and it took until about the fourth shooting, and the presence of a massive .44-caliber slug at each, to connect the cases.
Meanwhile, we keep going back to the interview with a very honest and disarming Berkowitz as he details to Jones how finding out he was adopted when he was a kid set his world spinning. He acted out all the time, setting small fires and doing other things that got him in trouble. After his mother died when he was 14, he became even more adrift, and his dating life was so bad that he started to hate women to the point he was scared of them. The first time he shot someone certainly wasn’t the first time he thought of killing, but it was the first time he was able to actually to do it, and it gave him a sense of power he never had before.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? This is the fourth in Berlinger’s Conversations With A Killer series, with Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer being the subjects of the first three seasons. There have also been a number of documentaries about the Son of Sam case, including Son of Sam: The Hunt for a Killer and The Sons Of Sam: Descent Into Darkness. Spike Lee also used this real-life story as inspiration for his electric 1999 film Summer Of Sam, which starred John Leguizamo and Adrien Brody.
Our Take: The Son of Sam case is one of the most famous serial killer cases in U.S. history, and given the fact that it took place in New York, the country’s largest media market, there was no shortage of coverage of the story back then. It’s been examined by filmmakers and true crime docuseries producers for decades. We’ve even heard a lot from Berkowitz as he’s repeatedly ben eligible for — and denied — parole; of late, he’s found religion and is philosophical and regretful of his actions.
All of this is to say that we’re wondering what more can be revealed by this 45-year-old interview with Berkowitz. The details of the case are well-known, as is the state of New York and the NYPD at the time; the city was in the dumps, close to bankrupt, and crime was rampant all over. The NYPD was straining under the weight of a massive workload, and they just did not have the time, technology or wherewithal to coordinate between precincts at the time. We know that Berkowitz teased them with unhinged letters about the voices that he heard ordering him to kill, and how he called himself “Son of Sam.”
It almost feels like Jones’ interviews with Berkowitz should have been presented without needing to go over the details of the case for what seems like the umpteenth time. We would even tolerate Berlinger’s extensive use of reenactments if they were purely in service of illustrating the interview instead of showing Berkowitz committing each of his shootings.
Given that those interviews are 45 years old, and Berkowitz is the only one of the serial killers featured in this series who is still alive, it would be interesting to hear what he said in 1980 compares to what he’s said in more recent interviews. Not sure if we’re going to get that, though.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: “The only way we stop him is if we get him,” says one of the detectives about how little they knew about Berkowitz as he kept terrorizing the city.
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Francois Immelman, who plays Berkowitz in the reenactments. He looks nothing like Berkowitz, except for maybe the same pudgy build Berkowitz had at the time. But he’s still creepily menacing, despite the fact that he has no dialogue.
Most Pilot-y Line: There’s an interesting lack of journalists in the first episode. One journalist who was interviewed, Mary Murphy, was actually a teenager at the time, and she talks more from the perspective of someone who was scared out of her wits because she was a potential target.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Watching Conversations With A Killer: The Son Of Sam Tapes is a bit of a frustrating experience because you just want to hear from Berkowitz, not get a rehash of a case that has been in media and pop culture for close to a half-century. But the interview with Berkowitz is fascinating enough to keep us watching despite the frustration.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.