The Sons of Sam: Ein Abstieg in die Dunkelheit

The Sons of Sam: New documentary series about The Son of Sam murders. It gives the background to the killings and the accepted story that David Berkowitz was the lone gunman. But it moves on to suggest the involvement of others and makes a decent case that two brothers may not just have assisted Berkowitz but actually carried out some of the slayings themselves. It then goes further to suggest involvement by The Process Church of the Final Judgement (and their Scientologist origins), Charles Manson and even the murder of a "Snuff" film producer. There certainly was evidence in the case which was ignored by police and a series of strange deaths but perhaps the net is cast too wide here to create an all encompassing conspiracy. Nevertheless it is an enthralling tale as it outlines the obsessions of one man, Maury Terry, who pursued alternate theories of what was really behind the murders. Written & Directed by Joshua Zeman. On Netflix. 8/10.

The title of this series does not represent the crimes of David Berkowitz, but Maury Terry's dogged pursuit of the various crimes of the Son of Sam. Many claim that Terry was a conspiracy theorist, but there are far too many coincidences that occurred for his views to be false.

The NYPD committed a series of mistakes in their investigation and they were desperate to find a perpetrator. I will not go into their mistakes, but Sons of Sam states what they are. Son of Sam would not exist if the NYPD had investigated further. It might have been something similar to how those reference Manson such as The Family.

Some of the information that is said in the series is questionable. Terry became consumed by the case until it became his life. He could never quite fit the puzzle pieces together and it devastated him. People's lack of interest, the lack of help from the NYPD and the fact that no one seemed to take him seriously negatively impacted his life. Sons of Sam shows that, most likely, there were multiple killers involved with these killings. This fact was corroborated by Terry's research.

Most of the information in the show needs to be taken with a grain of salt. However, there is one piece of information that I find very plausible: as many as five killers were involved in the Son of Sam killings. Others will view this docuseries and think different thoughts, but I was astounded that the NYPD refused to further investigate the crimes. New York was crime-ridden in the 70s, but this is still no excuse. Politics should never come in the way of justice.

I personally want to thank Maury Terry for all of his research and his numerous discoveries. His research gradually ruined his life, but the Son of Sam crimes will forever be seen differently. If you are a crime buff and unaware of certain events regarding the Son of Sam crimes, I highly suggest you watch the show.

I was a teenager living in Bellerose, Queens, NY (about a mile away from the site of the third shooting) at the time of the Sam of Sam killings. I've been a believer in the multiple shooter theory for many years. "The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness" does a nice job explaining what happened. I'm only gripe is that it should have been shorter. Maybe three parts instead of four. Many moons ago the TV show "Unsolved Mysteries" covered the same material in a half an hour. Just for the record: the case has never been closed in Queens. It's an open cold case.

If you think this documentary is about Berkowitz, then you will be disappointed. I suspect not all the negative reviews made it to the last episode where it really reframed the story.

The descent into darkness mentioned in the title is not about Berkowitz's descent into darkness, it's about the journalist who got too obsessed with the case.

There are some aspects of the storytelling that could be better, but we thought it was interesting enough.

It's worth watching but you must watch the entire series. All four episodes. Why? Because the fourth episode puts everything in context and does a nice wrap up that brings everything together to make sense.

The middle two episodes go down the rabbit holes of conspiracy theories pretty heavy. I think some of it was conspiracy, but my thinking is some of it was peer pressure. Some of it was copy cat and some of it crimes of opportunity, some of it was people getting their kicks by committing a heinous crime.

The series was entertaining and very informative. Everyone who watches the series will feel differently about it. It wasn't phenomenal but it was definitely worth watching.