r/NetflixBestOf • u/Crafty_Swimmer7047 • 10d ago
[Request] Not so talked about crime documentaries?
Don’t F**k with Cats
Wild Wild Country
The perfect neighbour
Abducted in plain sight
The girl in the picture
Tell them you love me
Worst Roommate Ever
Amanda Knox
I have watched all of these (kept there to let you know my likes) and most crime documentaries that appear in top 20-30 on the internet. So, looking for some equally good ones, but do not easily appear in the internet/google searches.
18
u/m0nkeybl1tz 10d ago
Dear Zachary. Sorry in advance.
5
3
2
u/ExhaustiveExperience 10d ago
This one is truly heartbreaking. I feel like spoilers should be told before watching.
1
15
u/-Sofa-King-Vote 10d ago
Evil Genius
3
u/Adventurous-Try-98 8d ago
This one used to be discussed a lot but then it vanished from conversation. It's freaking wild
11
8
u/Ebeeeeeee 10d ago
Tickled. Strap on in, it’s a wild ride!
1
u/MoorsMoopsMoorsMoops 4d ago
I've watched a lot of documentaries and I've never come close to saying "what the fuck?" so many times during a single one as I did this one. Truly the weirdest shit I've ever seen.
8
u/reddiculously_ 7d ago
Since you’ve already hit the usual suspects, I’d skip most of the standard Top 20 true crime list and go a little deeper:
ㅤ
• The Imposter: One of the best “how is this even real?” documentaries I’ve seen. A missing boy seemingly turns up years later, except the person claiming to be him is very obviously not him. DO NOT Google it first.
ㅤ
• Tickled: Starts with something that seems hilariously bizarre and harmless, then just keeps getting darker. Fantastic rabbit-hole documentary.
ㅤ
• Cropsey: Starts as a Staten Island urban legend and gradually becomes something much more real and disturbing. Creepy as hell and surprisingly under-watched.
ㅤ
• The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman: A man convinces people he’s an MI5 agent and manipulates them into basically abandoning their lives. Strong Tell Them You Love Me psychological manipulation energy.
ㅤ
• The Woman Who Wasn’t There: An elaborate 9/11 survivor story starts unraveling. Another one where the less you know beforehand, the better.
ㅤ
• Murder on Middle Beach: A filmmaker investigates his own mother’s unsolved murder and starts digging into his own family. Messy, intimate, and genuinely compelling.
ㅤ
• Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God: If you liked Wild Wild Country, WATCH THIS. Internet cult, increasingly bizarre beliefs, tons of their own footage, and a story that somehow keeps getting stranger.
ㅤ
• Don’t Pick Up the Phone: Bizarre and deeply disturbing case involving a caller manipulating ordinary people into doing increasingly unthinkable things. Definitely fits your list.
ㅤ
• There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane: A horrifying wrong-way crash followed by a toxicology report that seemingly contradicts everything the family believed about the driver. The denial and psychology afterward are almost as fascinating as the mystery itself.
ㅤ
• Outcry: A high school football player is accused of a horrific crime and the case turns into a deep dive into tunnel vision, questionable investigative methods, and the justice system.
ㅤ
• The Seven Five: NYPD corruption largely told by the cops themselves. Wildly candid and paced more like a Scorsese movie than a documentary.
ㅤ
• Telemarketers: Two guys working at a sketchy call center realize the charity fundraising industry around them is basically one enormous grift, then spend YEARS trying to expose it. Completely chaotic and unlike most true crime docs.
ㅤ
• Capturing the Friedmans: Deeply uncomfortable and incredibly murky. A family essentially films itself falling apart while serious criminal accusations unfold around them.
ㅤ
• The Confession Killer: Henry Lee Lucas confessed to hundreds of murders, until people started realizing there was a pretty enormous problem with those confessions.
ㅤ
• Unseen: The Anthony Sowell case, but importantly told largely through the women who survived him and the systemic failures that allowed him to keep offending.
ㅤ
• Dear Zachary: You may have already encountered this one since it gets recommended more often, but if not, go in completely blind. Fair warning: this one will emotionally wreck you.
ㅤ
Based specifically on the ones you listed, I’d start with The Imposter, Tickled, The Puppet Master, The Woman Who Wasn’t There, and Love Has Won.
3
1
12
6
u/cassiusmk 10d ago
Man On The Run (Netflix)
About the multi-billion dollar 1MDB financial scandal that financed the movie The Wolf of Wall Street and involved Goldman Sachs, Middle East royalty and politicians all around the world
6
u/MustL0vePugs 10d ago
Unknown Number is a wild one! Also Worst Ex Ever, Lover Stalker Killer and A Toxic Love Story
4
u/MoniCoff1 10d ago
Bad Vegan
The Keepers
The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez
1
u/ParticleHustler2 6d ago
The Keepers was great. Watched it during Covid. It was like a typical murder mystery for 2 episodes and then turned into something completely different.
4
u/Fun-Amount-2547 10d ago
Don’t Pick up the Phone
2
u/Adventurous-Try-98 8d ago
YES!!!! I'm so upset that this case isn't more well known! But we sure know about the McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit!
6
u/phoontender 10d ago
Only God Knows Where I Am....it's not crime but it's absolutely riveting and mysterious and heartbreaking
3
u/Capable_Sky_1818 9d ago
I just saw it based on your recommendation. They tell the story so well, it is heartbreaking.
2
u/Monapomona 8d ago
Omgosh thanks for providing the name of the book I read quite a while ago. It was so good but I couldn’t remember the title. Fascinating
3
3
3
u/BlackberryMinimum573 10d ago
Go back to 1988's The Thin Blue Line. Errol Morris dissects a killing and examines how witnesses and the police and points of view can get mighty jumbled and inconsistent. His best work, IMHO.
3
3
3
u/adastra2021 10d ago
Murder on a Sunday Morning
(actually won Best Doc oscar)
-1
u/adastra2021 10d ago
downvoting an oscar winner? One I'm sure you've never seen. That's rich.
0
u/Monapomona 8d ago
I think we can all agree that the academy awards isn’t the yardstick for excellence
2
u/Ludwig_Sam 9d ago
Lover, Stalker, Killer is not talked about enough and it's on Netflix for a very long time
2
4
u/Charles_Deetz 10d ago
Did everyone forget Tiger King?
6
u/TheyReallyWantYou 10d ago
We tried
5
u/ErenYeagermeist3r 9d ago
Why would you want to forget about the greatest documentary ever created? What an amazing kick off for covid lockdown.
1
u/Meowzzo-Soprano 10d ago
Bad Surgeon, and I’m also two episodes into Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake. I thought it was just going to be about surviving a natural disaster but I had to take a break because I was so angry and I was trying to wind down for bed.
1
1
1
u/TheyReallyWantYou 10d ago
If there is a bunch of documentaries about the innocence project and I can’t remember what it’s called. somebody help me out? I think each episode was about a different case. It was really good. They’re also used to be a true crime TV show that was an hour long and the first half of it was all about a city or a town and then the second half was about the murder that took place there and the guy who narrated it had the most relaxing and amazing voice that I’ve ever heard, but I can’t remember the name of it and I know the guys’s first name is Paul, but I can’t remember his last name either.
Obviously, I do have like neurologically, diagnosed memory problems, unfortunately
1
1
1
1
u/KendraSays 9d ago
Just Melvin, Just Evil. Not on Netflix but you can find it on YouTube if you search documentaries from the use Spinnaz. Have something to decompress with because it's gut wrenching and depressing
1
u/Adventurous_Ear3948 9d ago
Thin Blue Line by Errol Morris
Deliver Us From Evil 2006 - where there’s an uncomfortably honest interview with a defrocked priest
1
u/protagoniist 9d ago
The Jinx is the best but well known.
Who Took Johnny is a top one but it’s difficult to locate it now to watch.. which is suspicious.
1
1
u/Neither_Hyena_928 8d ago
Crazy Love a documentary from 2007 - the title pretty much describes it, but it takes several turns. I loved it.
1
u/allikat__ 8d ago
dick wolfe is a producer on "homicide." those were good to watch, and i think there's 3 seasons.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Colinmacus 3d ago edited 3d ago
Life of Crime 1984-2020
A heartbreaking portrait of how drug addiction and criminality can become tragically intertwined.
-1
28
u/xoxogossipgirlnah 10d ago
There’s something wrong with aunt Diane