She told the story of the beginnings of profiling and fascinated fans of “true crime” – and the whole world: we named “Mindhunter”, the criminal, the chilling one, the very real one, unfortunately.
How can we anticipate murderous madness when we don’t know how the minds of those who commit the most abominable crimes work? In 1979, Agent Holden Ford was attached to the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit, headed by veteran agent Bill Tench. Together, they will investigate a new type of killer: one who kills regularly and for no apparent reason.
In the absence of a motive, it is difficult to determine and apprehend these criminals in question. The two FBI agents will then imagine revolutionary methods, interviewing incarcerated “serial killers” with the aim of building a database with their backgrounds, behaviors and motivations, thus developing profiling techniques to catch the next murderers. A true odyssey follows to obtain answers and change History alongside.
Adapted from the 1995 book, Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unitfrom former Special Agents John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, the series created by Joe Penhall caused a lot of buzz when it was released in October 2017. Just like the book before it, it goes behind the scenes of some of the most notorious criminal cases. media coverage from the United States that the duo had to deal with.
Starring, among others, Jonathan Groff (Glee, Hamilton), Holt McCallany (Fight Club, Iron Claw) and Anna Torv (Fringe, The Last Of Us), Mindhunter – literally “mind hunter” – indeed follows the creation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Behavioral Sciences Unit in the late 1970s and the beginning of criminal profiling.
Netflix
Gripping, fascinating, addictive: many people were quickly addicted to the “true crime” series produced, among others, by Charlize Theron and David Fincher. The director of Seven notably served as showrunner, directing most of the episodes, while supervising their script: suffice to say that in terms of directing and writing, we are therefore at the top. Therefore, when it was announced that the series would not have a season 3, fans mobilized by launching a petition to save it, in vain – for the moment? We can still hope…
You will therefore have understood, in Mindhunter, we get as close as possible to a terrible reality through the staging of very real investigations, crimes and criminals that send shivers down the spine. In two seasons, agents Ford and Tench have encountered many serial killers who unfortunately did exist: from Edmund Kemper, the CoEd Killer, to Charles Manson, including Dennis Rader, nicknamed BTK for “Bind, Torture and Kill” (“Tie, Torture and Kill” in French), Wayne Williams or even Paul Bateson – who for the record played in The Exorcist! –, they all hit the headlines and they will all haunt you. Discover the list of all the serial killers of the show and their stories here.
Netflix
Cameron Britton in “Mindhunter” (2017)
Rated 4.4 out of 5 by AlloCiné spectators and nominated for an Emmy for its photography and for the exceptional performance of actor Cameron Britton in the role of Edmund Kemper, Mindhunter transports you to the heart of a high-tension experience, both disturbing and hypnotizing, through a psychological thriller that is in line with Silence of the Lambs, Seven or even Zodiac. You will come away troubled, worried and captivated. Be ready.
Mindhuntercreated by Joe Penhall with Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv…
2 seasons to watch on Netflix.