What's driving these men? Is it the shift in culture? The aftermath of the Vietnam War? The aftermath of Watergate? There's been a seismic shift in the country, and the world seems to no longer make sense. Berkowitz may be the latest multiple murderer caught, but he's definitely not the first. He wants to start trying to understand what could create the type of killer like Son of Sam. Murderers like Berkowitz seem to be driven by compulsion. The bureau is used to dealing with murderers who kill in fits of jealous rage, or for profit. It's the dawn of a new breed of killer a killer whose motives aren't entirely understood by the FBI. It's 1977, and David Berkowitz, AKA the Son of Sam, has just been apprehended. No hostages die, but the situation leaves Holden rattled, feeling as if the work he's doing as a hostage negotiator is useless. It doesn't go well – the hostage taker blows his own head off. When we first meet Holden, he's trying to disarm a hostage situation using the time-honored techniques the FBI has taught him. The character of FBI agent Jack Crawford, played most prominently by Scott Glenn in The Silence of the Lambs and Laurence Fishburne on the TV series Hannibal, was based directly on Douglas. His work has served as the inspiration for a steady stream of movies and TV shows.
From Douglas sprang the very concept of criminal profiling. You may not be familiar with the name John Douglas, but I guarantee you are familiar with his work. Yes, people have committed multiple murderers throughout history, but no one began to really classify, or even begin to try to understand, these types of violent crimes until the the 1970s. The term "serial killer" is a relatively new invention. "The evil that men do lives after them the good is oft interred with their bones." -William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
In this entry: Netflix's new serial killer drama Mindhunter. (In our Spoiler Reviews, we take a deep dive into a new release and get to the heart of what makes it tick.and every story point is up for discussion.