NightStalker
(2002, dir: Chris Fisher; cast: Rosalyn Sanchez, Bret Roberts, Joseph McKelheer)
Serial
killer Richard Ramirez (aka "the Night Stalker") terrorized the Los
Angeles area from 1984 until his arrest a year later. He was
sentenced to death in 1989, and died of natural causes in 2013 while
on Death Row.
Documentaries
aside, four films have so far been made about Ramirez.
Nightstalker (2002) is the second.
"True crime" fans complain that
Nightstalker veers far from facts. That's true. But this film is
not about the facts of any particular case, but about the underlying
moral order that gives rise to a Richard Ramirez.
Nightstalker is history told as horror film. Indeed, as a
religious parable.
We see Ramirez's (Bret Roberts) killings through his own eyes. As he
stalks and murders his victims, an albino Satan (Joseph McKelheer),
with a blood-stained mouth, flashes and flickers about him.
Writer/director Chris Fisher makes heavy use of such jump cuts. He
also borrows a technique first used in the supernatural horror film,
Jacob's Ladder: the rapidly shaking head, which has become
a cinematic cliché for evil and/or possession (e.g.,
Lost Souls). Fisher's Satan often
rapidly shakes his head. As do a surprisingly large number of
"normal" people throughout the film.
Why is Satan
flickering about Ramirez? The real Ramirez was a Satanist and drug
user. The one in the film believes Satan is ordering him to kill. ("I
did it for you!" he exclaims.) Like his master, Ramirez also
flashes and flickers about the rooms as he kills his victims. Are we
seeing murders through the eyes of an insane drug addict? Or is Satan
real?
Fisher's
cinematic tricks don't work for a "true crime" film. But they go far
in establishing the right mood for
Nightstalker. Los Angeles in 1985 is saturated by Evil.
Ramirez's
nemesis is LAPD Detective Gabriella Martinez (Rosalyn Sanchez).
She's a devout Catholic who cares for her ailing mother in East L.A.
She prays fervently every night before a crucifix, the camera
hovering in extreme closeups about her quivering lips and tightly
clutched rosary.
She is a fortress of Faith surrounded by encroaching evil. Her black
police lieutenant boss (Evan Parker) sexually harasses her. When he
does so, his head, briefly, shakes rapidly. He too is possessed by
Evil. Sanchez's Latino partner (Danny Trejo) snorts cocaine in the
squad car, his head shaking rapidly. Martinez's white partner (Derek
Hamilton) turns vigilante, his head shaking rapidly.
The Evil is everywhere, corrupting even the police and pervading all
races.
All three cops behave in a mostly decent (if roughshod) manner
throughout the film. None of their indiscretions are followed up
plotwise. Rather, the Evil just lurks there, manifesting on
occasion, but always beneath the surface of those Martinez might
ttrust.
The Evil lurks
in women too. A gal reporter (Brandi Emma) convinces Martinez to give
her a confidential police sketch of Ramirez, then breaks her word and
exposes Martinez as her source. Martinez hoped that the newspaper
publishing the sketch would save lives. But the reporter didn't care
about saving lives, only making a name for herself. Exposing Martinez
as the source saved no one, but made the story juicier.
The reporter also snorts coke, her head shaking rapidly.
Martinez has
other troubles. Her elderly mother is senile, a burden on Martinez,
who's turned down better job offers to stay in East L.A. and care
for her mom. The mother claims that Satan visited her. Was it Ramirez,
or Satan, or her dementia? These problems are additional crosses
for Martinez to bear, emphasizing Satan's assaults upon her faith
and character.
Nightstalker is set in 1985, and TV sets throughout the film
carry newscasts of crises in the Middle East, the poison plant
leakage in Bhopal, India (which actually occurred in 1984), our deals with Iraq, and the Ramirez killings.
Evil pervades not only Los Angeles but the world.
No, this is not a "true crime" film. Displaying the aesthetic style
of a horror film,
Nightstalker is about a devoutly Catholic woman seeking divine
help in her fight against Evil. Detective Martinez is the moral core
of a darkening universe as Evil encroaches on her from all
directions.
I can see why "true crime" fans were disappointed. I don't think
horror fans, or even the religiously inclined, will be upset.
Review copyright by Thomas
M. Sipos
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