Product Details

• Actors: Bret Roberts, Joseph McKelheer, Roxanne Day, Julian Garcia, Christine Long
• Directors: Chris Fisher
• Writers: Chris Fisher
• Producers: Danny Trejo, Chris Fisher, Anthony Fiorino, Ash R. Shah, Françoise Koster
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: December 2, 2003
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009XN9G
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,025 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars innovative, powerful, original -- true crime told as horror film/religious parable, September 28, 2009

By 

Thomas M. Sipos (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nightstalker (DVD)

NIGHTSTALKER doesn't follow the Richard Ramirez serial killer facts too closely. But that's not what this film is about.

This is history told as a horror film. Indeed, as a religious parable.

We see Ramirez's killings through his own eyes. He stalks and kills his victims while an albino Satan with a blood-stained mouth flashes about him, head shaking quickly. Ramirez himself flashes about the scene. It's a series of killings seen through the eyes of an insane drug addict. It sets the mood of Evil. It works.

(Although the fast head shaking was first used in JACOB'S LADDER, it may be that this film's albino Satan later inspired THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST.)

Evil is the theme, to the point of religious parable. Ramirez not only sees Satan, he orders his victims, "Say you love Satan!" He tells Satan, "I did it for you!" Naturally, his apartment abounds in upturned pentagrams, written in blood.

Ramirez's nemesis is Rosalyn Sanchez, who plays an East L.A. cop--who's also a devout Catholic. She prays fervently every night, the camera hovering in extreme closeup about her quivering lips, her tightly clutched rosary, focusing in and out at the aged crucifix she prays before.

Sanchez (Detective Martinez) is surrounded by encroaching evil. Her black police lieutenant boss sexually harasses her. His head shakes quickly (as does Satan's head), thus linking him to Evil. Sanchez's Latino partner snorts coke in the squad car, his head shaking quickly. Sanchez's white partner turns vigilante, his head shaking quickly. The Evil is everywhere, in all races.

All three men 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, surfacing on occasion, but always beneath the surface of those Sanchez might trust.

The Evil lurks in women too. Sanchez is betrayed by a gal reporter, who uses Sanchez as a source, then breaks confidence, exposing Sanchez as her source. Sanchez had given a police sketch of Ramirez to the reporter, hoping it would save lives. Sanchez's motives were pure, but the reporter didn't care about saving lives, only making a name for herself; exposing Sanchez saved no one, but made the story juicier. The reporter also snorts coke, her head shaking quickly.

Sanchez has other problems. Her aging mother is senile, a burden on Sanchez, who's turned down better job offers to stay in East L.A. and care for her mother. These problems are additional crosses for Sanchez to bear as she prays to Jesus.

The Evil is everywhere. The film is set in 1985, and TV sets throughout the film carry newscasts of crises in the Mideast, the poison plant leakage in India, US support of Iraq, and the Ramirez killings.

No, this is not a "true crime" film. It's shot in the aesthetic style of a horror film, and it's about a devoutly Catholic woman seeking divine help in her fight against Evil. Sanchez is the moral core of this darkening universe as Evil encroaches on her from all directions.

I can see that many true crime fans were disappointed. I don't think horror fans would be upset. The cinematography is beautiful. (And yes, so is Sanchez.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars docudrama plays more like mockudrama, April 2, 2005

By 

kmc "k" (houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightstalker (DVD)

This movie is based on a True Story<<--i used capitol letters, wow. However, it is not from the real world that i know of and really is a "slasher" with three conflicting tones or more like formulas, maybe even four: the brutal realism of a docudrama, the "slasher" horror flick, feminist pic a la "silence of the lambs" and then fourth, even a thriller. All have loose ends.


Roselyn Sanchez and Frank Luis both competently play partners in the LAPD who arrive at the first murder scene where a victims eyeball was taken out found by Sanchez in the fridge. Then their dialogue suspiciously seemed a bit too light to the whole situation--Luis decides to one-up a homicide detective in his own way as they leave the scene and they seem to want to just get some donuts afterwards. Then they arrive at more crimes and even Sanchez religious mother seems to have been saved by her godly aura from the killer as he breaks in her house. Meanwhile, in between barfing at crime scenes, Sanchez at first seems to have a knack for catching homicidal killers. Then, of course having little to no reaction AGAIN as she did at first crime scene, she does nothing at numerous inappropriately sexist advances during her new "promotion" to homicide. She does nothing apparently because she may get fired.


Surprisingly, all these things i pointed out are the only good things in this movie and would have worked if it werent for this director trying to add in all these other tones. All these things would be okay if this were a docudrama. We learn nothing about Richard Ramirez except that he hides his face with his long hair and needs streetwise prostitutes for company before saying never mind and killing and raping them and everyone else that seems more helpless. All these things are intercut with the killer's perspective as he kills and kills and kills hiding his face from anyone who looks at it, yes, even his victims are not allowed to look which is why they say her eyes were cut out at the first scene.


I should have known immediately, as another Amazon review pointed out, that the music the killer listens to is modern satanic rock that couldnt have existed at his time. That should have immediately told me that this film is lacking in its realistic docudrama portrayal. And everytime we see him we also see flashes of a devil demonic guy that jumps around like well, a modern satanic rocker would with vampire teeth and white painted skin. This is supposed to show us the killer's mindset which we find out is more of a satanic ritual--he paints things like devil and pentagrams in blood at various murders.


So, the movie turns into a "slasher" after all. The movie portrays Richard Ramirez as some plot marker just like everyone else in the movie. Sanchez is religious at home, but lets her partner sniff coke while in police car with her. Then being chased by an imaginary killer(slashers do that, uh, oh, its a cat), and then the actual killer. She also allows herself to be sexually harassed numerous times just so she can stay as homicide detective to catch the killer and oh, yea, its personal because her mother was almost killed and now she is almost killed after all that.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disgrace, February 12, 2005

By 

Mandy Manson "Mandy Manson <3" (MICHIGAN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightstalker (DVD)

I am a true crime/serial killer fanatic. I have not once been able to find a serial killer movie that can portray them correctly. The ending is completely wrong. Ramirez was chased down by a guy after attempting to steal a car.