‘Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes’ Netflix Series Review - Frightening Presentation of David Berkowitz’s Case

Murder mystery lovers, all gather. Because this documentary is just the right watch for you, if you are a true lover of this genre, then you will know who Son of Sam is. And if you don’t, read on to find out more about him. This documentary begins with the voice of Jack Jones, who was a prison reporter. He had interviewed many killers, but when he got a letter from David Berkowitz, he knew it was time to reveal the most sensational story of the time. David was a murderer who was known for targeting women. He killed countless of them. When Jones interviewed him, we got to see a lot about his psyche and why he did what he did. Berkowitz was given up for adoption as an infant and was adopted by a Jewish couple who raised him. He was known to be very attached to his adoptive mother, who sadly passed away from breast cancer when he was 14. He continued living with his father. But that’s where we see how things got weird for him. He started targeting women who looked like his mother. Having many shallow and failed relationships, he thought women were always against him and didn’t care about his feelings. This was one of the reasons for his growing hatred towards them. And thus began the murders in 1976.

His first victims were two girls- Donna Lauria and Jody Valente.  They were sitting in their cars when David came and shot them, killing Donna. These girls were crucial, as Jody, who survived, was able to give a brief picture of how he looked.  But sadly, Donna’s former boyfriend Vinny, whom we also get to see, becomes a suspect because one cannot be so sure about David.  It was indeed established that New York City was becoming dangerous. David also had issues with young unmarried couples, as he didn’t want them to have kids who would end up like him. So he started targeting them.  In this documentary, we are shown a representative video of his killings. Even interviews with families of the victims are taken to show us the gravity of the issues. For example, we meet the brother of Joanne Lomino, Charles. Charles tells us in depth what happened to his sister and what the implications were of the same. At 18 years old and a very amicable girl, Joanne was left paralyzed. She later died from the complications of her health. Remarkably, most of the women he killed had short hair, about shoulder length.  With this, we get to see the story of all of his victims.

This documentary is a good watch. With just three episodes spanning an hour or so, the entire plot about David Berkowitz is told to us. It is spine-chilling and scary. We get to see the pictures of all the women he killed. The young, beautiful women who had hopes and aspirations, all gone because of one man. Obviously, through the interview given to Jones, he was trying to make his image right, but that cannot happen after what he did. It is so impactful with all the representative visuals that the documentary actually scares you. The real clippings of the era, along with interviews, only add to the suspense and information the makers are providing to us about David Berkowitz. Yes, it can be graphic and very disturbing to watch, but that is only because of the nature of the case. So if you cannot watch blood and murders, I strictly warn you not to watch it. However, as mentioned before, if this is your genre, this docuseries is one of the best and finest ones you will see in terms of research and media presentations.

Final Score- [8/10]
Reviewed by - Neerja Choudhuri
Follow @NeerjaCH on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times