What is The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness about?

All of you true crime junkies out there are in for a treat come May, as Netflix is releasing a new limited series all about the notorious serial killer David Berkowitz called The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness. In case you are unfamiliar, Berkowitz committed his crimes in the 1970s, killing several people in New York City between ’76 and ’77. He’s been known by multiple nicknames, including “The .44 Caliber Killer” because of the gun he used, and “The Son of Sam.”

According to History.com, the name “The Son of Sam” came about from one of Berkowitz’s letters addressed to the police and journalist Jimmy Breslin, where he wrote:

"“…I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam. I love to hunt, prowling the streets looking for fair game. The weman are prettyist of all [sic]…”"

The reason the Berkowitz case is so interesting is what happened after he was taken into custody and was sentenced to life in prison. And it looks like this is what the new Netflix series is going to be covering.

What is The Sons of Sam documentary about?

Here’s the official synopsis from Netflix:

"The Son of Sam case grew into a lifelong obsession for journalist Maury Terry, who became convinced that the murders were linked to a satanic cult."

As evidenced in the plot description above, it looks like The Sons of Sam docuseries is going to follow the reopening of the Berkowitz case when it was brought to life that people believed the serial killer did not do his work alone. A journalist named Maury Terry had been very adamant for years that others had to be involved, even publishing a book about it in 1988 called The Ultimate Evil.

Berkowitz himself has said that he was actually part of a Satanic cult and committed his murders because of that. Needless to say, there’s a ton of moving parts to this case, and as someone who only knows the basics about Berkowitz, I’m definitely interested to check out this documentary.

The Sons of Sam documentary trailer

Check out the official trailer for the Netflix documentary miniseries below.

The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness begins streaming on Netflix on May 5, 2021.