Night Stalker: Netflix users accuse true crime series of going too far – ‘I had to turn it off’

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Netflix users think the streaming service might have gone too far with its latest true crime doc.

Those settling down to watch Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer were tempted to switch off following scenes that have been described as “too graphic”.

The series tells the story of Richard Ramirez, a serial killer and rapist who was imprisoned for crimes he committed in the 1980s.

However, viewers were left feeling uneasy by the inclusion of disturbing crime scene images as well as CGI recreations of Ramirez’s murders, which included “slow-mo blood spatter shots”.

One viewer, who said they “don’t scare easily”, described the series as “hard going”, adding: “I really wouldn’t watch unless you have a very thick skin for true crime.”

They added: “It’s so graphic I had to turn it off after two episodes.”

“No need for them to include the victim crime scene photos,” another viewer complained. “It’s not necessary.”

One viewer, journalist Eric Anders, accused the show of “gleefully [displaying] horrific crime scene images on screen”.

The documentary does have a fan in The Exorcist director William Friedkin, though, who called it the “best procedural [he’s] ever seen”.

For each of the limited series’s four episodes, the streaming service includes warnings of “sexual images” and “sexual violence references”.

Night Stalker is available to stream on Netflix now – read our review here.