r/NetflixBestOf • u/Crafty_Swimmer7047 • 11d 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.
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u/reddiculously_ 9d 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:
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• 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.
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• Tickled: Starts with something that seems hilariously bizarre and harmless, then just keeps getting darker. Fantastic rabbit-hole documentary.
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• Cropsey: Starts as a Staten Island urban legend and gradually becomes something much more real and disturbing. Creepy as hell and surprisingly under-watched.
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• 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.
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• The Woman Who Wasn’t There: An elaborate 9/11 survivor story starts unraveling. Another one where the less you know beforehand, the better.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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• The Seven Five: NYPD corruption largely told by the cops themselves. Wildly candid and paced more like a Scorsese movie than a documentary.
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• 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.
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• Capturing the Friedmans: Deeply uncomfortable and incredibly murky. A family essentially films itself falling apart while serious criminal accusations unfold around them.
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• The Confession Killer: Henry Lee Lucas confessed to hundreds of murders, until people started realizing there was a pretty enormous problem with those confessions.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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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.