Category Archives: Profiler

Modus (2015)

From IMDB;

During a snowy Christmas season in Sweden, psychologist and profiler Inger Johanne Vik and her autistic daughter both get drawn into the investigation of a number of disturbing deaths.

From PBS Masterpiece Streaming you can stream  the 8 episodes of this Swedish mystery series. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Just because the villain intends to kill multiple victims does not, as I understand the term, make the villain a serial killer. Rather in this well-done series his motive has a homicidal rationality.  But I will leave it up to you to guess for yourself that motive before the profiler Inger Vik realizes what is happening.

Many well-presented characters interact.  Throw a romance into the pot and the result is successful suspense.

DO NOT MISS!

 

 

Blinded: Those Who Kill (2021)

From Amazon Prime:

Five years ago, a serial killer murdered three young men but was never found. Now, criminal profiler Louise Bergstein is asked by the terminally ill mother of a victim to help solve the case. Teaming up with the police, Louise discovers a distinct pattern to the killings-and the hunt only intensifies as the murderer strikes again in this Danish thriller. CONTAINS VIOLENCE AND GRAPHIC SCENES.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 8 episodes of this well-done Danish serial-killer series.  Each episode lasts about 45 minutes. English subtitles.

From the very beginning you know who the killer is: Peter is a father with son Johannes . Peter’s marriage has failed and his wife has moved to Singapore.  Louise and Karina are two of the detectives working to solve the case. Louise is a profiler who, in an original plot twist , completely fails to recognize as killer the handsome man whom she meets quite by accident, after which the plot thickens a bit.

Poor Johannes is baffled by the strange behavior of his father. Johannes sorely misses his mother but is prevented by his father Peter from seeing her.

Because Peter kidnaps and tortures his victims,  the crime photographs can be quite gory.  But because the series is done so well, if you can get past the ugliness, DO NOT MISS!

An Officer and a Murderer (2012)

From NetFlix Streaming:

The true story of Royal Canadian Air Force officer Russell Williams’ progress from respected military commander to deranged murderer.

This film can be streamed from NetFlix, but there is no DVD available.

Were it not for the fact that this chilling story is true, nothing makes this film special. Consider the film an enacted documentary. All the acting is good, but Gary Cole as the serial killer is particularly creepy because of his lack of affect, especially on occasions when extreme affect would be appropriate. Moreover, I don’t consider this bad acting because, in fact, some sociopaths don’t share our normal empathetic feelings.

Possibly a dry police procedural, nonetheless I was drawn to watching the hard detailed detective work finally pay off. Imagine accusing a commander of a base of 3000 Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of being a serial killer who starts off just stealing (and wearing) ladies underwear and little by little escalates into murder.

Give this story a B+.

An Amish Murder (2013)

From NetFlix:

Years after a series of murders tore apart her Amish hometown when she was a girl, a woman returns home to be the police chief as the killings resume.

Except for the Amish flavor, this so-so TV movie about a serial killer is nothing special. In fact the Amish culture is interesting in itself and does play into the plot.

Note briefly that the star Neve Campbell (who plays Kate Burkholder) and Christian Campbell (who plays Kate’s bother Christian) are in fact brother and sister.

Ignore unlikely situations and there might be enough suspense to keep you interested.