I’m a huge true crime fan. So, I was interested to check out Night Stalker, a four episode documentary which recently dropped on Netflix. Richard Ramirez and his reign of terror over LA in the mid-eighties – it’s a bit of a blind spot, and I wanted to add him to my catalogue of casual “serial killer” knowledge.
And boy did I regret it. This isn’t a typical straightforward doc. Lately, documentaries detailing horrific crime sprees are becoming more and more cinematic in their approach. And this one tipped the scales.
From director/producer Tiller Russell comes this unnerving depiction, a detailed dive into a moment in LA’s history, one that is hard to shake. What it does best is examine the humanity of those affected by Ramirez’s crimes, specifically detectives Gil Carrillo and Frank Salerno, who were instrumental in bringing Ramirez to justice.
Fresh off the heels of his involvement identifying the Hillside Strangler(s), Salerno recruits Carrillo to aid in finding the culprit related to a string of current murders taking place in LA. The only problem: the patterns and clues at each site are only consistent in their inconsistency.
Frustrating to both men, the one common clue they have to go on are the footprints of an Avia brand shoe appearing at the crime sites. It is what little they have. Yet, the bond that forms between these two is what makes up the most interesting and central part of this story – the connective tissue of the documentary, so to speak.
At the same time, the harder part to digest, is the crimes themselves. Caustic. Animal. Brutal. Actual crime scene photos are incorporated into the footage. And if that weren’t enough, they are bookended with quiet, sinister “recreations”. This is something viewers are accustomed to in documentaries, yet Russell takes his time using slow, dark, silent footage of home interiors, leaving the viewer to wonder what might be lurking in corners.
The journey leading to the capture of Ramirez is a chaotic one, especially when his spree takes him all the way to San Francisco and back, therefore jumping districts and involving more and more detectives and police.
And when we meet a captured Ramirez himself at the end, it is hard to find the humanity. This is a murderer in American history who one might agree was guided by evil forces beyond our awareness. His dark gaze, his fascination with Satanism, and his haunting gaunt face all coalesce to reveal a monster, not a man.
Having finished the series, I can undeniably state that it affected me. And I am the most jaded of horror and true crime connoisseurs. Yet, after Night Stalker, I recheck locks at night and stir at the slightest noise. And that is saying something.
Night Stalker is currently streaming on Netflix.
