After executive producing and directing the crtically-acclaimed political drama House of Cards, David Fincher is returning to Netflix with a brand new series called Mindhunter that looks as chilling as it does gorgeous. The trailer shows the series to be dark and cerebral in true David Fincher style, bringing a new level of cinematic grit to the big red streaming giant.
Mindhunter is based on the book Mind Hunter: Inside FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit and is executive produced by Fincher and Charlize Theron. The series revolves around two young FBI agents who go inside maximum security prisons to interview imprisoned serial killers in 1979 just as the term “serial killer” was being popularized. The two agents, played by Jonathan Groff (Glee) and Holt McCallany (Fight Club), conduct the interviews in attempt to get inside killers’ heads and begin understanding the minds of monsters. “It’s not easy butchering people. It’s hard work physically and mentally,” one of the killers tells a terrified FBI agent Holden Ford (Groff) in the trailer, “I don’t think people realize you need to vent. You know, there’s a lot more like me.”
The series bears Fincher’s typical washed-out and green-tinged color palette and some gorgeous costuming work to really make the setting feel as authentic as it does creepy. The two FBI agents in the series must delve deep into the deranged minds of psychopaths and heartless killers, asking questions along the way like “Are criminals born, or are they formed?” and “How do we get ahead of crazy if we don’t know how crazy thinks?”
David Fincher is no stranger to projects which explore the darker side of the human psyche. Both Se7en (1995) and Zodiac (2007) revolve around the complicated relationships between law enforcement and serial killers and the struggles of ‘sane’ individuals to understand criminal minds.
Mindhunter premieres on October 13, 2017 exclusively on Netflix.
