David Fincher’s series Mindhunter, that released on Netflix a couple of weeks ago, is an atmospheric period piece on a subject that is very popular on American TV and film – serial killers, and the people who hunt them – the FBI profilers.

Set in the 1970’s that works at two levels; the first is the overarching story of how behavioural sciences and profiling began becoming important at the FBI; and the second is how the agents use what they learn from profiling to solve crimes on a weekly basis. At a very basic level, it is a police procedural, but it is far more than that. The series is based on the book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas,  one of the first criminal profilers in the FBI. The fictionalised version of the book, has Holden Ford a young FBI agent, playing a character modelled on Douglas, and Bill Tench – the older FBI agent who spends his time training the local police force. It is when the two get together and begin training, that they realise that there is more to some killers than just the killing. It is trying to understand killers, and what drives them to kill serially that is at the core of this show.

Both Holden and Tench are finely etched characters. Holden is the idealist who believes that he needs to make a difference to the world. Tench is more world weary, and sees what he is doing as being enough to change the world. And, the interplay between the two men while understanding mass murderers, and traversing the country, holds the show together. They joke, eat, have cola, threaten and cajole some of the most dangerous men with a litany of murders behind them. What stops the show form becoming a buddy show is the introduction Dr Wendy Carr,  an expert in psychology, and who brings in a certain method to the madness that is being driven by Holden. “How do we get ahead of crazy if we don’t know how crazy thinks?” asks Tench of his boss who have grave doubts about the excercise that gets to know killers and what motivates them, better. Remember this is the 1970’s, and getting under the skin of a killer was not really looked upon very favourably in the FBI. 

I read up on some of the killers featured in show, and they are positively scary. The scariest of the lot was Ed Kemper – a 6 feet 9 inches giant – who killed a bunch of people, (wiki says 6, the show says 30+). Holden and Kemper begin a friendship of sorts. Their conversations are eerily normal. There is a conversation where Kemper talks about killing his mother, and if that does not tell you about true evil, am not quite sure what will. And, as Holden digs more into the psyche of the killers, it is like they begin rubbing off on him. While Tench has empathy for the victims of the crime, Holden becomes obsessed with the killer, down to mirroring their words towards the victim (usually women) . 

The movie – you can actually think of it as a 10 hour film – is shot in shades of grey and bleak. There are patches of colour, but the visuals have the dreariness of autumn in a concrete jungle. There is a lot of conversation. Conversations in jails, in bars, in bed, in hotel rooms, in conference rooms – people talk and expound on what makes people tick.

And, it is worth watching. If you like police procedural, if you like watching shows on serial killers, if you like good cinema (or good tv), this is a good watch