Jason Blum’s production house is developing a miniseries in cahoots with Fox based on the story of Son Of Sam. Reportedly a six-hour series, the project led by Blumhouse Productions will delve into the inner workings of David Berkowitz and his killing spree in New York City. What’s exciting to us about the show is that it was written by Steven Katz – who also penned Steven Soderbergh’s latest hit The Knick.
The synopsis as revealed by Deadline, goes into further detail:
Son of Sam juxtaposes David Richard Berkowitz’s murder confession of Satan worship and human sacrifice with the actual police investigation of December 1975-1977. For almost two years, the self-proclaimed Son of Sam terrorized New York City, killing six people while eluding a massive manhunt and taunting the police with brazen letters. The spree finally came to an end in August 1977 when Berkowitz was arrested and confessed to the crimes claiming he was possessed by demons. In the 1990s, while serving six life sentences, he recanted part of his original confession, insisting that he was part of of a Satanic cult with fellow members carrying out some of the killings, but those claims were never substantiated.
With Blumhouse’s reputation established on horror franchises like Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge and Sinister, it’s kinda nifty that they’re branching out into televisual output. They’ve so far co-produced with ABC, Syfy and HBO, the latter project – The Normal Heart – even bagging an Emmy win.
And while those projects lean less toward the obviousness of the horror genre, it appears as if Son Of Sam has the potential to do just that. The exploits of Berkowitz were explored in Spike Lee’s 1999 hit Summer Of Sam, and to a lesser extent in the 1985 TV movie, Out Of The Darkness. It makes for an intriguing premise, particularly if it follows the Berkowitz’s journey from his perspective.
What do you make of the Son Of Sam miniseries? Would you tune in for another grisly serial? Let us know.
