Night Stalker

Joining the ranks of the very best true crime shows in recent memory is the four-part Netflix series “The Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer,” premiering Jan. 13 and almost certain to keep you in its grips from the opening sequences to the final images. We are very early in the 2021 viewing season, but it’s difficult to imagine any project in this genre having a more profound impact. This is great television.

Director Tiller Russell does a magnificent job of unraveling this tightly-knotted mystery and he does so by weaving together chilling first-person interviews with victims Ramirez allowed to live, as well as the family members of those he chose to ruthlessly kill. Russell also sprinkles in a recorded interview the Night Stalker gave from prison where he talks about his life and how he became a monster.