MINDHUNTER SEASON 1 – Review

I’ve really missed David Fincher. One of my all time favorite filmmakers. Creating some of my favorite movies like THE SOCIAL NETWORK, ZODIAC and FIGHT CLUB. And it’s been 3 years since the release of GONE GIRL, so I’ve really been craving for some more Fincher. This time it comes in the form of a NETFLIX original series. MINDHUNTER is a psychological thriller that takes a deep dive into the minds of some of the most famous serial killers in America like Edmund Kemper, Jerry Brudos and Richard Speck. It takes place in an interesting time in American history when studying criminal minds hadn’t become the norm and a new kind of criminals had just began appearing. People who had not ulterior motive for their murders. The early days of criminal psychology and criminal profiling. This is what the show focuses on. Studying mass murderers which leads to the origin of the name “serial killer”.

We follow two FBI agents, Holden Ford and Bill Tench, played by Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany. One thing I’ll say about the cast is that they were mostly unfamiliar to me, yet they did such a fantastic job giving some of the best performances. Jonathan Groff was excellent as the FBI agent intrigued by psychotic criminal minds which leads him to setting up interviews with them. Holt McCallany was also excellent as older rougher cop who partners up with Ford. And it’s kinda like a buddy cop film from here as they go on to question some of the most violent and insane criminals. They are later joined by actress Anna Torv who plays Wendy, which switches things up with the show for the better. Most of the actors and actresses are great, especially the actors playing the imprisoned psychopaths. 

The scenes where it’s just them talking to the inmates are undoubtedly the best scenes in the whole show. The dialogue is so good and the conversations are so interesting and it does a great job at actually diving into some of these insane minds and making you understand why they did what they did. It’s well written and it always keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s dark, twisted, but it also has a sense of humor. We spend some time with the characters and their personal lives and we see how their work affects that. It’s honestly now one of my favorite shows from NETFLIX. Just a refreshing take on the typical cop show by David Fincher.