The Night Stalker

Richard Ramirez, the Satan worshiping "Night Stalker", was someone whose crimes and life I was required to study years ago, one of other serial killers for a criminal justice class. He stood out at one of the more understandable, among the many I researched both from personal and academic interest, because of his background: traumatized in several ways from an early age. Ultimately, however, his crimes were horrendous, extreme and effectively should end any sympathetic tendencies towards him as a convicted criminal who confessed to many of his crimes.

Engrossing, chilling and brilliantly acted by Phillips, Ramirez was "Brought to life" with all his cold intelligence and vulnerabilities in place. The subtle expressions, or at times lack thereof, the shift of eyes, the sudden violence. I felt his performance wasn't quite matched by Bellamy Young, but she was entirely believable. She played the lawyer Katherine "Kit", trying to get a confession from him about a crime another was wrongly accused of. The film revolves around the conflict between the two, as she seeks to gain his trust to draw more details of his crimes, which he astutely ascertained, and he to gain something from her he was denied in prison: a female victim he could exploit for his own needs. He sensed vulnerabilities beneath her cool self-assured facade, and sought them out, whether from simple curiosity or true malignancy is for the viewer to decide.

Ramirez' history, his background and the traumas and events directly influencing what he became were shown through flashbacks, a wise choice considering Phillips age, and since he was portraying the killer shortly before his death. The young Ramirez' performance was okay, and the vaguely seen crimes and his eventual capture were understated but at the same time dramatic.

Though many details were left out about the crimes, and the most atmospheric part of the events: the intensity of the hot weather when most occurred was mostly absent, just references or dialogue. I felt that should have played more of a factor in filming, but overall "The Night Stalker" was well done. Rewatchable at least once, to catch nuances one may miss, a quick scene or glance from the characters eyes, I feel most viewers may be left with the truth of the matter. That it was a tragedy all around, absolutely for the victims, but also for Ramirez as a child and young teen. Sympathy for the terrorizing adult, a cruel rapist and murderer? No way.

The guy(s) who play Ramirez, both young and old, are pretty damn good. They don't quite glorify the man. The actor portrays a melodramatic vainglorious narcissist who is full of his own self-importance, intelligent but not the genius he imagines himself to be. That pretty much seems like the real Ramirez you see in interviews. The back-story is pretty accurate in terms of what happened in Ramirez's life. This isn't enough though to save it.

It was the chapter parts with the female lawyer that were kind of irritating. Found myself asking repeatedly "what does this have to do with Ramirez? She is in the park playing on the swing with her boyfriend - why!?!? And, um, she slept all night with her hand restrained in a leather cuff? Really. I get they are trying to give her character complexity and depth, ie "she has a dark side too!" but who cares, the movie is not called "Sexually Confused Female Lawyer", it is called "The Night Stalker".

The interview parts were like an attempt at a poor man's "Clarice vs Hannibal Lecter", not sure the point - the scenes were not as compelling or intelligent or insightful as the script writers or directors intended them to be. Boring stuff. Kept thinking "get on with it already".

I'm getting more convinced with time that there'll never be a better serial killer than (the original) Henry: portrait of a serial killer. They did that on a shoestring budget too.

The "Born to Kill" documentary on Ramirez is far more chilling (and insightful) than this film, but I hope it can serve as a break for Lou Diamond Phillips, he is a talent.

Lou Diamond Phillips gives a Brilliant and mesmerizing performance as Ramirez "The Night Stalker". It's a wonderfully sustained characterization, and deserves probably more attention that it will get. In truth it's an award winning performance and should be remembered at the time Emmy's are distributed. Unfortunately the female role is nowhere near as interesting. Whether this is a fault of the writer, director or the actress, she just seems so much less interesting than Phillips.

But Phillip's performance is so good, h never stoops to the obvious and makes no effort to ingratiate himself or the part he's playing. I have never been a particular fan of his, but no I will pay more attention.

It's like someone wrote a fanfiction based on Silence of the Lambs using Richard Ramirez as the bad guy. Clarise has demons in her past which affect her adult life; same with Kit in this movie. Kit's demons are somehow tied up with Ramirez's brutal murder spree. Like the fictional Hannibal Lechter, this fictional Ramirez senses that. I doubt the real Ramirez would have cared enough. That said, Lou Diamond Phillips was incredible in the role and the movie was mildly entertaining when it didn't make me roll my eyes. I wasn't surprised the movie was associated with Lifetime, though. Rating - 6/10.

It's 2013. Kit (Bellamy Young) needs to get a confession from imprisoned killer Richard Ramirez (Lou Diamond Phillips) in San Quentin to exonerate her client scheduled to be executed in Texas in four days. Ramirez is a Satanist with fans, one of them being his adoring wife. There are flashbacks to teen Kit during the Night Stalker paranoia in the 1985 Los Angeles area as well as Ramirez's troubled life.

LDP has a good scraggly serial killer vibe but the interviews lack the scary horror intensity. The flashback structure doesn't allow for greater tension. Kit's journey does have a nice reveal but it may work better if the journey starts with a closer relationship to her client. The movie is simply missing something.