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Joe Berlinger’s hit Netflix “Crime Scene” franchise has expanded to Germany. “Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer” marks the first international local market produced version of the true crime doc series, which is being released globally on April 3.

“Nightlife Killer” is a German language docuseries that was produced in Berlin and managed by Netflix Germany. Berlinger served as an executive producer on the three-part series that reconstructs the case of several mysterious murders in Berlin’s nightlife that became nationally known as the “Coma Killer” in 2012. Like the three previous U.S. versions of the franchise, “Night Life Killer” explores not just a story of crime but how the geography and social values of the crime scene location contributed to the crime itself.

“We were looking for a crime story in a location whose history and social values contributed to the crime,” Berlinger says, who is in year four of a multi-year deal with Netflix.

Every composer who scores a true crime series is dealing with ghosts. Their challenge is to help make a show riveting, dramatic — even entertaining — while trying not to exploit a real tragedy with real victims.

For Danielle Furst and Khari Mateen, the composers behind “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal,” an added challenge was writing music knowing that the families and friends of victims would likely be watching.

“Every time we were working on it, I was thinking about the parents,” says Furst, “listening to what was behind their testimonies and their story and wanting them to feel good about it.”

At the heart of “Murdaugh” is the death of Mallory Beach, a teenager whose death in a boating accident instigates a series of other calamities and murders.

“It was a big responsibility,” Furst says.

Then there are all the usual scoring considerations of tempo, orchestration and mood. Furst found a hurdy-gurdy,...

Very few types of genre stories are doing as well right now as true-crime retellings, as evidenced by popular shows like "Mindhunter" in recent years and a spate of projects such as Netflix's "Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer" and the upcoming HBO Max series "The Staircase." Now, it's FX on Hulu and actor Andrew Garfield's turn to take a swing at some dark, disturbing, and strangely compelling material. Specifically, the true story of a brutal double homicide involving a devout Mormon (played by star Daisy Edgar-Jones) set in Utah during the early 1980s. Based on author Jon Krakauer's 2003 nonfiction book of the same title, "Under...

The post Under the Banner of Heaven Teaser: Andrew Garfield Investigates a Murder appeared first on /Film.

The fourth season of Cobra Kai kicked its way into Netflix’s weekly top ten list.

The Karate Kid spinoff, which was originally a YouTube original before moving to Netflix with season three, launched its fourth season on December 31 and clocked up over 120M hours watched during its first week. It also helped the first season score another 13.5M hours on the streamer.

To put the numbers into context, the second season of The Witcher was watched for 142M hours in its first week, Lost in Space grabbed 47M hours on its return and True Story recorded 48.9M hours on its launch.

In second place last week, The Witcher continued its roll with 94M hours watched of its second season, while the first season of the fantasy drama series grabbed another 42.9M hours of viewing.

Emily in Paris’ second season was watched for 92M hours, adding to the 107M hours...