'Mindhunter': Dark Netflix series delves into the heads of serial killers

It's been on most lists of "shows to look out for in 2017" but when the David Fincher and Charlize Theron-produced Mindhunter landed on Netflix earlier this month it was with little in the way of pre-promotion or fanfare. In the Netflix universe that's usually a sign that the streaming channel is a little unsure of the content.

However, for viewers who take the plunge and stick with the slow-burning story of FBI agents in the '70s interviewing "sequence killers" in an effort to build psychological profiles, it's an ultimately rewarding experience that steers away from most of the familiar tropes of the police procedural genre.

It's not in the gothic, macabre, dark and grotesque vein of Fincher's Seven but rather the eerie, slowly building terror of his later serial-killer film Zodiac - focusing not on gory visual representations of the crimes but rather the chillingly deadpan descriptions given by their psychopathic white male perpetrators.

It's 1977 and the FBI, five years after the death of founder J. Edgar Hoover and in a seemingly nihilistic America still living in the shadow of Watergate, is faced with a new type of killer - personified by the not-for-material-profit killings of men guided by voices in their heads like Charles Manson and "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz.

Hostage negotiator Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) is a straitlaced, square, earnest but dedicated crime fighter who's young and smart enough to see that the institution he works for is in desperate need of a new approach to a new type of sociopath.

While he finds little support at the FBI's training academy for his project, he does attract the attention of the behavioural science unit's Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) who recruits the young upstart for his road-school - travelling to small-town police departments across the country teaching local cops new techniques.

WATCH | The trailer for Mindhunter

Along the way the show gets very talky - the focus is not so much on the two agents' adventures but rather on their discussions and gradual realisation that the only way to understand the new type of criminal is to interview those who are currently serving life sentences.

The roadshow also provides for some current-day investigations of grisly murders that provide a link between their research and its application in the field.

It's in this gradual exploration of the initial idea, and its expansion into a project that attracts the attention of academic Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), that the show distinguishes itself from most police procedurals. It focuses on the science and its development rather than on a stream of dead bodies.

Part of the enjoyment is trying to figure out who will be interviewed next, whether they'll ever get to Manson or Berkowitz and when the hell they'll realise that "sequence killer" just doesn't have the right ring to it.

Their first subject is "Co-ed Killer" Edmund Kemper (played with menacing calm by Cameron Britton) who serves as the project's Hannibal Lecter - a necrophile who murdered his mother and did unspeakable things to her decapitated head - but whose ego and superior intelligence make him all too willing to talk about his crimes.

There's also an unnamed creepy man in Kansas who appears in the beginning of several episodes but whose identity is yet to be revealed - a second season teaser perhaps, on his way to earning a suitably grim moniker once he's discovered or captured.

Populated by a string of little known but perfectly cast actors and painting a picture of the '70s that's more grey and brown than flashy-sequined-disco-fabulous, Mindhunter draws you in with little to distract from its timely portrait of the toxic masculinities that shape the horrific actions of its subjects.

While less may happen in the way of plot than you might expect, atmospherically and psychologically there's a great deal going on.

The first season is essentially the story of Holden and how he morphs from bright-eyed, new-methods-for-new-times evangelist into a man whose hubris rises to boiling point, making him unbearable and almost unable to bear the effects of his work. How thin is the line between those who kill and those who hunt them?

In the end the show needs little in the way of hype to prove to those who like their entertainment with a little intellectual intrigue that it's one of the smartest and - in its own quiet way - audaciously provocative dramas in a long time. It will be fascinating to see if it maintains that status in seasons to come. After all, as any True Detective fan will tell you, the second season is always the true test of any new show's real mettle.

• All 10 episodes of Mindhunter are available on Netflix.