Lionsgate/American International PicturesSerial killers. Cannibals. Death row inmates. Cult leaders-turned-murderers. Bank robbers. What do all of these things have in common?
Aside from the fact they’re all criminals, all of the above have been explored time and time again in a number of Netflix true crime documentaries.
Now though, it seems the streaming giant is taking a slightly different approach to its docuseries, having acquired a new series that appears to be of the horror genre.
PixabayThe new series, from Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s company, Imagine Entertainment, will be directed by Joe Berlinger and so – without even having a release date – the stakes are already pretty high.
For those of you who are into true crime, Berlinger’s name will ring a bell; he directed the hit documentary Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and the feature-length film on Ted Bundy’s life starring Zac Efron, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.
Basically, we’re in for a treat. Particularly if the untitled series lives up to its description from Variety as ‘a gritty and meticulous study of some of America’s most notorious haunted locations’.
PixabayImagine Entertainment’s documentary unit was founded in September 2018 and is going from strength to strength; headed by former RadicalMedia executive Justin Wilkes and HBO Documentary Films senior vice president Sara Bernstein, it so far has nearly 20 documentary feature and TV series projects in the works.
Wilkes explained:
It is incredible how much we’ve been able to get off the ground. It’s a testament to the marketplace right now. There’s such enthusiasm for premium non-scripted content from A-list talent.
The pair say they’ve been able to produce such powerful content in such a short space of time because of the value of the Imagine Entertainment brand, and because of the overall explosion of documentaries in the digital age.
PA ImagesHowever, the director of original documentaries at Netflix, Gabe Spitzer, put the unit’s success down to Wilkes and Bernstein’s hard work, praising them for the effort they’ve put in.
Spitzer said:
Justin, Sara, and the Imagine team have quickly built a first-rate division working with many of the industry’s top documentary filmmakers. We’re excited about the rich and compelling series coming to Netflix and look forward to sharing these with our members around the world.
There are no further details about Berlinger’s docuseries, but a quick Google search tells me America’s most haunted places range anywhere from an old prison supposedly haunted by its former inmates to a cruise ship reportedly haunted by the spirits of those who died aboard.
It’s not yet known when the series will be released, but I personally can’t wait. Happy belated Halloween!
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).