Why are we obsessed with crime documentaries? No, don’t worry, it is not because we could be potential criminals ourselves. Or at least I hope not!
I would say that it is because we are a curious species. We wonder what could provoke a person to go to such extreme extents. And, in a way, crime documentaries offer us some perspective.
Now, Netflix has created some really chilling true crime documentaries. If you’re wondering what should be your next watch, here are some remarkable recommendations.
1. House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths (2021)
A deluded joint family commits joint suicide. The series is a close examination of this unusual case that became a national sensation. Encapsulating the perspectives of journalists, doctors, and inspectors associated with the case, this gut-wrenching docuseries raises some important questions and concerns about our belief system.
2. Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019)
Ted Bundy was an American serial killer in the 1970s who abducted, tortured, raped, and murdered a series of women and girls. Bundy was a handsome looking man with a charming smile and a devil inside. The story leading to his infamous trial was full of twists and turns. And listening to the man himself is nothing less than sinister.
3. The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann (2019)
On a vacation in Portugal, 3-year-old Madeleine is mysteriously abducted from the hotel room while her siblings were asleep and her parents were out for dinner. The media begins to obsess over the case that ultimately becomes the most famous missing-persons case of all time. Parents try to raise their two other children while leaving no stones unturned to find Madeleine. This happened in 2003. Was Madeleine ever found?
4. The Tinder Swindler (2022)
In a digitized world where we are all smitten with the idea of online dating, this documentary is a reality check. A group of women defrauded by the same person come together to hunt down the man who stole from them in the name of love. Cat-fishers, scammers, fraudsters, ghosters are common on dating apps. Case in point: this series.
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5. Wild Wild Country (2018)
This shocking docuseries is centered around an Indian Spiritual Guru, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), his personal assistant Ma Anand Sheela, and his utopian community Rajneeshpuram. Osho decides to move his ashram from India to a secluded place in Oregon, US. Soon after, the wild and free-spirited community enters into troubled relations with the US locals and what follows is one of the biggest scandals in US history.
6. American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)
This horrific documentary follows the murder of Shanann Watts and her children. By weaving archival footage, text messages, and social media posts associated with this infamous murder case, the series proves that what you perceive from outside cannot be trusted. It was just another family next door until the pandora’s box opened.
7. Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer (2020)
In the glitz and glam of LA moves a sadistic sociopath who is on a killing spree. This child molester, serial killer, and serial rapist, infamously named ‘The Night Stalker,’ haunts the streets of LA until two detectives make it the mission of their life to hunt him down.
8. The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (2020)
Gabriel Fernandez, an 8-year-old boy, was perpetually tormented and abused at the hands of his own mother and her boyfriend in California. At the center of this heartbreaking docuseries lie important questions to be asked. Why didn’t anybody help Gabriel? Why was the case mishandled? Why isn’t the system to protect our children strong enough? Why are children’s concerns so easily dismissed?
9. Why Did You Kill Me? (2021)
Nobody is more powerful than a grieving, raging mother. Belinda Lane is unstoppable in her quest to find who murdered her daughter, Crystal Theobald. Having witnessed the unfortunate attack in front of her eyes, Belinda sets off on a decade-long hunt to get justice for her daughter.
10. The Keepers (2017)
An unsolved case of the death of Sister Catherine Cesnik, an English and Drama High School teacher at Archbishop Keough High School, comes to the fore decades later when her former students file sexual abuse complaints against the school priest. They believe that the death, investigation, and reporting of Sister’s disappearance were suspiciously hushed up. In this horrific docuseries, the victims also reveal some really gory details about the Catholic Church. The series also reflects how the trauma of child abuse really stays with the victims in their lifetime.
So, which one are you watching?
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