Des

There are movies and series that list horror as one of its genres, and I often have no idea why. Des does not have this genre in its description, but I wouldn’t object if it did. Unlike in many "horror movies", the creators didn’t go for bloodshed or shots of the bits and pieces of human insides, however, the well-written dialogues and David Tennant’s great performance ensured a chilling atmosphere as well as the fact that this certainly wasn’t a feel-good miniseries (which, in this case, is a compliment). It was intense. (2021.01.01)

A 3 hour intense case about a notorious Scottish serial killer named Dennis Nilsen, who confessed to 15 murders of men, whom he strangled, dismembered, boiled their heads and had homosexual intercourse with. He is now being questioned and tried. The series has a Mindhunter vibe and the atmosphere is pretty tense and chilling in places. The dialogue is polished, David Tennant's performance is absolutely gripping, and I enjoyed Daniel Mays as the detective a lot. I liked that you has no idea whether Dennis Nilsen is telling the truth or whether he is pulling all the cops' legs, and there is power in uncertainty. The highlight is the trial, which is breathtaking. The opening scene when the killer is caught after finding the remains of human bodies in the garbage and the killer tells the police to go upstairs, he has the rest in the closet! Very good and definitely a must see for serial killer fans! 8/10. (2021.03.18)

I honestly have no complaints about Des. In just three hours, the Brits dive deep into the psychological unraveling of one of the UK’s most infamous serial killers. And leading the charge is David Tennant, who is absolutely phenomenal in the role. You can really tell he’s putting everything into it. I spent the entire runtime glued to the screen, trying to understand through Tennant’s performance why Dennis Nilsen did what he did. Spoiler alert: I didn’t figure it out. (2021.03.13)

In a nutshell, Des is the story of a murderer who killed 15 boys, hid their corpses in his sideboard, confessed to the murders to the police completely unashamedly, but went to trial saying he was "not guilty" and later tried to play the insanity card to the jury. The series is more or less three hours long and a drawn out conversation where not a single racy thing happens and it's all talk all the time, but thanks to David Tennant (who was born for psychopathic roles, see Bad Samaritan, and is incredibly dazzling and sleazy in them, while at the same time doing voice acting in children's fairy tales) and the interesting subject matter, the series can be binged through even if you're not the target audience. The case is interesting and I'm glad I know about it today, the performances and dialogue are polished and the trial was suspenseful and makes you wonder how it will all end. I'm just not one for long series like this where nothing happens for the entire time, so I'm rating it average, but for fans of the genre, this is more or less a must-see and a fine way to educate yourself on serial killers. Dennis Nilsen's personality is one of the most interesting for me, because getting caught, not protesting, showing the police the corpses, giving the names and numbers of the victims and at the end still "thanking" them for locking him up and saying that as soon as he remembers more names he'll write them down, now that's bizarre. (2021.04.09)