Conversations with a Serial Killer

The first episode is about Ted Bundy. I was expecting to see or hear interview footage that I never saw before. What I actually saw was another bogus paranormal investigation show. Couldn't get the name right, Robert Theodore Bundy. LOL The trunk of a VW bug is in the front. Another LOL. Pictures of dust particles that are all identical looking is not evidence of orbs nor are EVP's that are recorded in a busy bar. Basically boils down to you will see and hear whatever you want to if that's what you want to see and hear. Total bs just like any other paranormal investigation show. If you want facts, don't watch this show. I would give it 0 if I could.

This is actually an excellent show. The narration has a sometimes difficult to understand cockney accent, so put on the subtitles. There are some really great visual color shots of places one would want to visit if you're a historian or ghost hunter. There are even some excellent photos and a few re-created historical scenes. The channeling and seances are a fun touch, talented and accurate. My only complaint is the film and production. There are so many difficult-to-see, over-lighted black and white shots of the reportedly haunted locations which are nearly impossible to see. Makes you feel like you're watching Ghost Hunters back in 2005 and it's hard to watch and hard to look at. Those close-up black and white reverse shots of the woman's nose and eyeballs made me feel like I was looking at the negatives of a badly processed 8 MM reel. It got to the point where my friend said, "If I see one more upshot of that woman's nose, we're turning this off." It really WAS badly put together regarding all those black and white shots. Those really took away from the ability to watch the show at all and see what we wanted to see. Had they left it all color, absent of nose upshots and useless facial and eyeball close-ups I think this might have been a perfect ten stars. The ex-cop / medium was interesting and pretty talented but that journalist, while very pretty, way too many distracting close-ups and difficult to understand. Had to re-watch a few episodes to ensure I understood all the details. Overall though, if you're choosing a ghost hunting show and like serial killer history this is definitely an excellent choice.

First, the journalist has a very annoying cockney accent and is difficult to understand, and they tend to mispronounce and also misrepresent an awful lot of really well-known information. Ted Bundy's name was the first thing they get wrong but it doesn't end there. While they do visit some interesting locations, said interesting locations are shot in black and white using an unsteady handy cam making it nearly impossible to watch. It's sort of pieced together and there's all these DISGUSTING UPSHOTS OF THAT WOMAN'S NOSE AND EYEBALLS in every single episode. Every 5 minutes, I find myself with a screen full of sepia tone negative rolling eyeball for absolutely way under zero reason. I'd LOVE to know the propensity for that to happen in the first place. All the fun places I'd want to visit which I watched this series to see ended up being filmed in "impossible to see unsteady hand cam Go Pro" kind of filming with weird, random closeups of the journalist's nose and eyeballs. WHO FILMED THAT MESS, ANYWAY? And I'd also like to know WHY those eyeball and nose shots didn't end up on the cutting room floor? I mean, really bad filming. You do get to see some interesting people, some interesting places (when you can actually view them) and it's good for background noise. The ex-cop medium was a nice touch and reasonably talented. If you like serial killers and can handle weird eyeball close ups and nasal upshots via Go Pro, then you might enjoy this.

Just started watching the series on Tubi, and right off the bat they're get basic, easily verifiable things wrong. The first episode is on Ted Bundy. They say Bundy died at 43, but he was actually 42. They also refer to him as "Robert Theodore Bundy," when is legal name was Theodore Robert Bundy. If they can make these mistakes in the first 3 minutes, I don't have much hope for this show.

Perhaps it's the growing culture of anti-intellectualism sweeping through our society, perhaps it's the abandonment of empirical science & rational thought, or perhaps it's just media sensationalism. Whatever the reason, there seems to be an upsurge in the number of drivel-spewing paranormal TV series pandering to the lowest common denominator of our society, and "Conversations with a Serial Killer" is the latest one.

Following the tradition of "Ghost Hunters," "Paranormal State," "UFO Hunters," and "MonsterQuest," this self-professed paranormal "documentary" series has joined the ranks of the superstitious/pseudoscientific quackery inundating popular TV networks. True to form, the show is hosted by a painfully insipid "journalist" and a delusional, and likely brain dead, ex-cop "psychic medium," who together try to make contact with deceased serial killers from beyond the grave.

They do a well enough job to suppress most of the supernatural mumbo-jumbo through the first half of the show. This part is at least watchable as it's just the two hosts interviewing different law enforcement professionals, criminal psychologists, etc. who've dealt with the serial killer's case. Although, the questions asked by the male co-host are expectedly inane, and the hokey, melodramatic narrative by the female "journalist" is more sensationalized commentary than it is informative reporting.

The excessive use of over-stylized video filters and dramatic sound effects just adds to the cheap, played up feel of the show. And the segments where the two hosts actually visit "haunted" locations in order to contact ghosts are just plain insulting to the audience's intelligence. Since ghosts exist only in the minds of the naive, gullible or mentally disturbed, these segments inevitably show the two self-deluded hosts bumbling around in the dark under the cliché green glow of infrared cameras, freaking themselves out over the slightest noise or the movement of their own shadows.

In short, this show is absolutely pitiful and a complete disgrace to true documentary TV shows, such as those shown on the BBC or National Geographic Channel. If you want to watch a _real_ documentary on serial killers, I think the A&E Biography Channel has some good exposés on famous serial killers.