Streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are flooded with true crime documentary movies and TV shows that probe into the dark recesses of human behaviour. If you wish to watch one but cannot decide, here is a handpicked list of the best true crime documentaries to watch on your favourite streaming service.
Dive into murderous cults, cold-blooded serial killers and chilling mysteries with these compulsively watchable true crime documentaries.
What is the appeal of documentaries based on actual crimes? “There’s a beast in every man and it stirs when you put a sword in his hand,” said Game of Thrones character Jorah Mormont (played by Iain Glen). This is an unnerving truth. Humanity is capable of great evil. If you do not believe me, just riffle through today’s newspaper — it is likely peppered with reports of people doing unspeakably terrible things to their fellow beings.
Here’s our list of the best serial killer documentaries
While we are also capable of compassion and love, inside each of us is an abyss where there is utter darkness. No form of media captures this chilling duality of human nature like true crime documentaries. And that is why true crime docs and even dramatised movies and shows based on actual crimes are so compelling.
Explore humanity’s depths with these top true crime documentaries to watch
IMDb rating: 8.6
Directed by: Andrew Jarecki
No. of episodes: 12
Approximate duration of each episode: 45 minutes
Synopsis: Robert Durst was a rich real estate heir accused of his hand in numerous unsolved murders. Filmmaker Andrew Jarecki closely examines Durst’s past, the disappearance of his wife Kathir in 1982, the murder of his friend Susan Berman in 2000 and the death and dismemberment of his neighbour Morris Black in 2001. He also interviews Durst himself, who in a rare departure agrees to talk. The reason he agreed was Durst had liked 2010’s movie All Good Things directed by Jarecki, starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella.
Why you should watch it: The Jinx was not just a scoop in the journalistic sense, it also had real-world legal ramifications when Durst was arrested for Berman’s murder a day before the season 1 finale aired. The arrest was a direct consequence of evidence unearthed by the docuseries. Oh, and it is a superbly directed series with a tone that would not be out of place in a horror thriller feature film.
IMDb rating: 8.5
Directed by: Moira Demos, Laura Ricciardi
No. of episodes: 20
Approximate duration of each episode: 65 minutes
Synopsis: A Wisconsin man called Steven Avery is wrongly imprisoned for 18 years for a rape. Finally proven innocent by DNA evidence, he sues the authorities for millions. Just as he feels justice has been served, he becomes a prime suspect in a murder and finds himself at the centre of a new legal battle. Through his frustrating case, the docuseries aims at the corruption and malpractices prevalent in American law enforcement institutions, which are meant to protect citizens but often fall short of the stated goal.
Why you should watch it: Wish to get all the morbid true crime thrillers while also learning about the failings of the criminal justice system? Look no further than Making a Murderer. In all seriousness, an examination of a wrongful conviction doesn’t get as comprehensive as this. The second season is not as strong as the first, but it is also worth watching.
IMDb rating: 8.1
Directed by: Chapman Way, Maclain Way
No. of episodes: 6
Approximate duration of each episode: 60-70 minutes
Synopsis: Controversial Indian godman Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers found a supposedly Rajneeshpuram commune in rural Oregon in the United States. Their idea of utopia is not well-received by the locals, and the resulting conflict escalates into bioterrorism, attempted assassinations and other legal troubles.
Why you should watch it: I know the title of this docuseries insists the story it tells is wild. Twice. But you have no idea how wild it is. Most of us knew a little of what Osho and his followers were up to, but this series digs up details that will leave you utterly astonished.
Awards won: Wild Wild Country was bestowed with a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.
IMDb rating: 7.9
Directed by: Bryan Fogel
Duration: 121 minutes
Synopsis: Filmmaker Bryan Fogel is investigating the illegal use of performance-enhancement drugs in international sports. He decides to dope himself and poses as an amateur athlete to see if he can escape notice. However, he finds himself linked to the head of the Moscow anti-doping lab, Grigory Rodchenkov, who eventually reveals himself as an overseer of Russia’s doping programme for the Olympics.
Why you should watch it: Icarus is different from other titles on the list as it does not have a sensational crime at its centre. However, it is somehow even more fascinating as it unmasks, in excruciating detail, a real-life conspiracy of monumental proportions. Indeed, it does not get bigger than an entire country orchestrating a massive doping programme to cheat at the highest international level of competitive sports. Also, it is stunning to imagine how this documentary began its life as a humble exploration of doping in sports and turned into a full-blown investigative piece and an exposé of the Russian government.
Awards won: Icarus won an Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature category in 2018.
IMDb rating: 7.5
Directed by: Eric Goode, Rebecca Chaiklin
No. of episodes: 13
Approximate duration of each episode: 45 minutes
Synopsis: Joe Exotic, the flamboyant owner of a private tiger zoo in Oklahoma feuds with activist and big cat sanctuary owner Carole Baskin over accusations of animal abuse. The documentary series explores the surprisingly competitive world of big cat ownership in the United States in general and the involved people who are some of the weirdest human beings you will ever meet.
Why you should watch it: It is a perfect companion piece to Wild Wild Country since it is also about a cult and similarly features some downright kooky people who — and isn’t that a horrifying thought? — live among us.
IMDb rating: 7.5
Directed by: Bernadette Higgins, Felicity Morris
No. of episodes: 3
Approximate duration of each episode: 45 minutes
Synopsis: In March 2015, a woman called Denise Huskins was kidnapped in Vallejo, California from a home in which she lived with her boyfriend Aaron Quinn. She came back two days later, claiming she had managed to free herself. The local police department and FBI concluded that the apparent “kidnapping” was really a hoax orchestrated by Huskins and Quinn. The media called the case the real-life Gone Girl — referring to David Fincher’s 2014 thriller movie in which Rosamund Pike’s Amy Dunne fakes her kidnapping, unbeknownst to her husband Nicholas Dunne, played by Ben Affleck. However, the couple were proven innocent of any wrongdoing when the incident was connected to another home invasion in a town 64.3 km south of the same state.
Why you should watch it: This three-part docuseries is not only gripping but raises questions about public perception, prejudice and a flawed law enforcement system that judges not criminals but victims without ample evidence.
IMDb rating: 7.4
Directed by: Anubhav Chopra, Leena Yadav
No. of episodes: 3
Approximate duration of each episode: 45 minutes
Synopsis: This docuseries goes deep into the unfathomably chilling incident of 11 deaths in the Burari village of Delhi, termed Burari deaths in the media. While the police deemed the incident a mass suicide, we may never know for certain what actually happened. But across three episodes, the docuseries aims to give you an explanation. It painstakingly presents the details through interviews, archival footage and analysis to piece together the web of events leading up to the tragedy. Was that a shared delusion that led the family to kill themselves? Did they really kill themselves or did somebody else make it look like they did?
Why you should watch it: The Burari Deaths case has sparked a lot of public interest over the years for the simple reason that this is an intriguing puzzle for which we are never really going to get a clear answer. This elusive nature of the case and the thoroughness by which this docuseries explores it makes it a must-watch. It will also likely teach you quite a bit about the dark side of the human psyche. The 2023 series Aakhri Sach, starring Tamannaah Bhatia, was also based on the same incident.
IMDb rating: 7.1
Directed by: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
No. of episodes: 3
Approximate duration of each episode: 56 minutes
Synopsis: The third docuseries in the Indian Predator franchise, Murder in a Courtroom is about Akku Yadav, a serial rapist and murderer who operated in Nagpur’s Kasturba Nagar slum from 1991 to 2003. As you probably guessed from the title, he was murdered in a courtroom as women who had waited for years for justice finally became desperate enough to take matters into their own hands. About 200 women stormed the courtroom, overpowered the policemen guarding Yadav, and brutally lynched him.
Why you should watch it: There is a legal maxim that goes, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” And if we consider it applicable, justice is denied every single day in India. It is particularly true in sexual crimes when the victim (s) are poor and marginalised. Murder in a Courtroom is a sobering watch. It is both interesting and thought-provoking. It asks for urgent reform in the Indian judicial system, a system in which predators like Yadav are allowed to operate with impunity for years.
IMDb rating: 7.4
Directed by: Elizabeth Wolff, Liz Garbus, Myles Kane, Josh Koury
No. of episodes: 7
Approximate duration of each episode: 60 minutes
Synopsis: The Zodiac Killer was not the only serial killer who operated in California in the latter half of the 20th century. The Golden State Killer was a serial rapist and killer who was responsible for at least 13 murders and 51 rapes in the state in the 1970s and 1980s. But for decades, he remained elusive. A true crime writer called Michelle McNamara became obsessed with unmasking his identity. Poring through police reports, accounts by victims and case files, she meticulously constructed his profile. McNamara sadly died before she could finish the manuscript, but her research proved crucial. A man called Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested in 2018 based on her research.
Why you should watch it: This six-part docuseries explores the chilling crimes of the killer and thus those looking for true crime thrillers will be well-satisfied. But it also dives into the human aspect of the whole story and poignantly examines the toll McNamara’s obsession took on her. The series and the source material (book of the same name) are also a shining of citizen journalism and the impact individuals, as opposed to bureaucracy-driven institutions, can have on bringing justice to light.
Interesting tidbit: McNamara was comedian-actor Patton Oswalt’s wife. Oswalt appears prominently in the series.
IMDb rating: 7.1
Directed by: Felicity Morris
Duration: 114 minutes
Synopsis: A con artist called Simon Leviev used the popular dating app Tinder to fool a lot of women into funding his extravagant lifestyle. He did this by posing as the son of a Russian-Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev (an actual diamond mogul, by the way). The documentary is about his victims fighting to expose him and reclaim their money.
Why you should watch it: Besides the fact that it is extremely well-directed and engaging, this documentary is also a worthy cautionary tale for the digital age. You don’t really know the person on the other side of the screen, no matter what they are telling you about them and how credible it all appears.
IMDb rating: 7
Directed by: Patrick Graham
No. of episodes: 4
Approximate duration of each episode: 35 minutes
Synopsis: This docuseries follows the unsolved murder of socialite and granddaughter of renowned statesman Mirza Ismail called Shakereh Khaleeli in the 1990s Bengaluru (then Bangalore). She was found buried alive in the courtyard of her own home. The four-part series features interviews with her husband Swami Shradhananda, who was tried and convicted of Khaleeli’s murder, thanks mainly due to relentless attempts by her daughter. Shradhananda, incarcerated, still claims innocence and seeks release.
Why you should watch it: The trouble with some true crime stories is that sometimes there is no conclusive resolution. But sometimes those lingering questions and conflicting perspectives are what make these narratives so haunting. Sometimes, lack of denouement is the appeal. And that holds quite true for Dancing on the Grave.
IMDb rating: 6.7
Directed by: Eva Orner
Duration: 86 minutes
Synopsis: Indian yoga guru Bikram Choudhury was the founder of ‘hot yoga’ (basically yoga that takes place in a heated room and a lot of sweat is shed) who became an important figure in the United States from the early 1970s. The documentary is about the sexual assault and harassment allegations that multiple women levelled against him. We also explore the cult-like following he managed to cultivate around himself and how he allegedly used his power and manipulation against his female students.
Why you should watch it: Predatory men using their power and influence to prey on women is a tale as old as time. But the tale of Bikram and his alleged victims is not as well-known as some of the others. For this purpose mainly, Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, is an important watch. It also highlights how some in the West are particularly susceptible to exotic ideas spouted by Indian gurus or godmen.
IMDb rating: 6.7
Directed by: Christo Tomy
Duration: 98 minutes
Synopsis: Jolly Joseph, a woman from Kerala, is accused of poisoning six of her family members, including her husband, with food laced with cyanide. Her motive? To inherit the family property and marry her husband’s cousin, her lover.
Why you should watch it: Mainly because it would satisfy your cravings for true crime thrills. What is, after all, better than witnessing the grisly details of depraved crime come to light in the comfort of your couch (or bed, if that’s your thing)?
Know the true story behind Curry & Cyanide: The Jolly Joseph Case
IMDb rating: 6.6
Directed by: Lucie Jourdan
Duration: 97 minutes
Synopsis: In a real-world horror story that beggars belief, an Indianapolis-based fertility doctor called Dr. Donald Cline used his own sperm to inseminate his multiple patients without their consent rather than sperm from anonymous donors. This fact was uncovered by one of his own biological children, Jacoba Ballard, who found out about it through a DNA test. She subsequently reached out to many of her half-siblings, all of whom were fathered by Cline.
Why you should watch it: I keep returning to Twain’s “truth is stranger than fiction” quote and how well it captures true crime documentaries. The horrifying story of Cline feels concocted by a febrile imagination, but it is a painful, shocking reality.
IMDb rating: 6.1
Directed by: Jenny Popplewell
Duration: 87 minutes
Synopsis: A young woman called Jennifer Pan’s parents are killed in an apparent home invasion. While the three gunmen shot her parents dead, she was bound and gagged. But detectives begin to suspect her after holes begin to appear in her story. Could it be that the whole thing was planned by her, as it appears?
Why you should watch it: Author Mark Twain rightly said that truth is stranger than fiction. Whatever dark twists that a thriller writer’s mind can conjure, it is likely that reality has already outdone it. And the twist at the centre of this documentary movie is a prime example. The doc is not as well-directed as it could have been, but if you are not aware of this terrifying true story, it will still draw you in.
The post <i>What Jennifer Did</i> and other engrossing true crime documentaries to watch appeared first on Lifestyle Asia India.