Best crime documentaries, as well as media sensations that have previously enchanted the country, abound nowadays. Serial, a true-crime podcast that debuted in 2014 and was quickly followed by filmmaker Andrew Jarecki’s HBO best crime documentaries The Jinx about alleged serial killer documentaries Robert Durst and Netflix’s Making a Murderer, sparked the newest wave of America’s ravenous hunger for the genre.
Cults (NXIVM), fraud (Fyre Festival, Elizabeth Holmes), murder (Joe Exotic), and tigers (Joe Exotic) have all been the subject of unlikely stories that have gone on to become rating hits in the years since. With so many options, ET has narrowed it down to six compelling documentaries that are now accessible on Amazon, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, and other streaming platforms. you can also watch the best crime movies on Netflix.
1. Abducted in Plain Sight
Nothing can prepare you for all the twists and turns in this extraordinary true story, which is why Abducted in Plain Sight is one of the most talked-about Netflix true-crime documentaries. The story follows the Broberg family as they succumb to the seductive charms of their next-door neighbor, Robert “B” Berchtold, who kidnaps their teenage daughter. Twice. But that’s only the beginning of the story; the rest of the film peels back even more layers of what occurred between the family and Berchtold.
2. Amanda Knox
Amanda Knox, a 20-year-old American girl in Italy who was found guilty and later exonerated of the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, is one of the true-crime sensations to get a second look as directors Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn let the key players involved — Knox, co-defendant and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, and Daily Mail reporter Nick Pisa — “We honestly believe the video depicts each of these people who are caught up in something much larger than themselves,” Blackhurst says, adding that “nobody had taken the time to realize who they were as individuals.”
“We wanted to both understand why it happened and what it would feel like for all of these people caught up in it,” he continues. For this reason, the directors believed it was “extremely worth” presenting the story from the first-person perspective, with the four individuals sitting down for an open and honest debate about their versions of events.
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3. Fyre Fraud and Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
In 2017, CEO Billy McFarland teamed up with rapper Ja Rule to develop the Fyre Festival, a brand-new luxury music festival aimed at promoting McFarland’s talent booking company. Thousands of fans converged to a Bahamian island venue that was not fully prepared to accommodate the multi-day event, which was widely promoted by social media influencers and models like Kendall Jenner.
Two years later, two rival documentaries — one from best crime documentaries on Hulu and the other from best Netflix crime documentaries — tracked the rise of “the most renowned festival that never happened” and the ensuing debate. The two films, which were released within a week of one other, sparked an unofficial battle between the two streaming services. While both films have been lauded for their accessibility and storylines, it is recommended that you watch them both at the same time.
4. I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter
Erin Lee Carr’s haunting HBO best crime documentaries is about Michelle Carter, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the case of Conrad Roy’s death in 2014. The two-part series focuses on the “Texting Suicide Case,” a 2017 precedent-setting criminal prosecution of a young girl accused of sending messages that appeared to encourage her boyfriend to commit suicide. Carr attributes Carter’s beauty, prosperity, and, most crucially, her gender to the case’s quick national acclaim.
When the boyfriend is the victim and the girlfriend is the perpetrator, according to Carr, it gets a lot of people talking and causes a big debate about digital technology, social media, and mental health.
5. The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
Before her collapse in 2017, Elizabeth Holmes, the deep-voiced, blonde CEO and founder of Theranos, had set out to create a home device that people could use to test their blood for a range of diseases. However, investigative newshounds observed that she become allegedly falsifying information and use business gadgets to achieve this at the same time as receiving hundreds of thousands of greenbacks from buyers and selling herself as Silicon Valley’s undisputed star. By the time police got involved in 2018, she had been charged with nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Her story was first described in the nonfiction book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silico, which was released in 2018. Her case is currently pending in court. Her story was initially presented in the nonfiction book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies at a Silicon Valley Startup, published in 2018, and then converted into an HBO best crime documentaries produced by Alex Gibney, while her case is still continuing in court.
6. The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst
According to director Andrew Jarecki’s acclaimed docuseries, Robert Durst is accused of three murders, including the kidnapping of Kathleen McCormack, the murdering of acquaintance Susan Berman, and the dismemberment of Morris Black. Durst was able to tell his story while also refuting accusations that he was guilty of any of the crimes for which he has long been suspected.
Durst acknowledged lying to the police for 25 hours about the night McCormack vanished in two different interviews and was found to have written a letter with handwriting that matched a note to police warning them of Berman’s murder. The series’ success, however, was due to the much-anticipated finale. The series became a phenomenon thanks to the widely publicized finale, which was spoiled at the time due to a New York Times app push alert, as well as Durst’s arrest in New Orleans less than a day before it aired.
7. John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise
Devil in Disguise is a terrifying six-part true-crime documentary about serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who famously pretended to be a clown to seduce his victims. New interviews with one of Gacy’s closest confidantes and his second ex-wife are included in the series, as well as a previously undisclosed multi-hour conversation with Gacy conducted from prison.
Despite being convicted of 33 killings, many people believe that Gacy, who was sentenced to death and died in 1994, was responsible for further unsolved deaths or disappearances. “One of the most compelling reasons to revisit this narrative is that there are just so many unanswered issues regarding the case,” executive producer Alexa Danner tells ET. “There’s still a lot of mystery,” says the author.
8. Lorena
Jordan Peele executive produced a four-part docuseries that reexamines the basic moral dilemmas and heartbreaking human tragedies at the heart of an American controversy in which Lorena Bobbitt famously hacked off her then-penis husband’s with a kitchen knife while he was sleeping. Lorena, directed by Joshua Rofé, delves into the dark mysteries behind the historic case and challenges the long-held narrative surrounding the tragedy, with both Lorena and John presenting fresh perspectives.
“We immediately think of one of the most dramatic incidents ever to become a full-fledged media sensation when we hear the word, Bobbitt. As a result of our project, Lorena now has a platform to tell her story and engage in a critical dialogue about gender dynamics, abuse, and her need for justice. “This is Lorena’s story to tell, and we’re happy to be able to help her,” Peele said of the series.
9. Making a Murderer
Netflix murderer documentary follows Steven Avery, who was mistakenly imprisoned for sexual assault and later exonerated after serving 18 years in prison, only to be charged with Teresa Halbach’s murder after his release. Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos recorded the series over a ten-year period, delving further into the prosecution’s investigation and exposing the likely injustice in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
The series was renewed for a second season after its initial success, and it follows Ricciardi and Demos as they return to the Midwest to learn more about Avery, his nephew Brendan Dassey, their families, and the legal teams battling for them.
10. The Preppy Murder
“Before O.J. Simpson, the Preppy Killer was the trial of the century,” New York Post columnist Steve Dunleavy says in the Sundance Now documentary about Robert Chambers’ 1986 murder of Jennifer Levin. The story was front-page news at the time, with the media scrutinizing and sensationalizing both Chambers and Levin’s lives. The murder was adapted into a TV movie in 1989 starring William Baldwin and Lara Flynn Boyle, and it has subsequently inspired countless episodes of the Law & Order franchise.
The docuseries, on the other hand, is the first of its kind to look into what really happened and tell the story from Levin’s point of view. Executive producer Robert Friedman, who grew up in New York City and used to visit Dorrian’s, the same tavern where Chambers and Levin met as kids, adds, “What really troubled me was that I never really got to look at Jennifer’s recollection.” “The entire case, and the numerous different ways it was portrayed, was an assault on her memory.”
11. Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy’s longtime lover Elizabeth Kendall and her daughter Molly speak out for the first time in over 40 years in the five-part Amazon docuseries documenting their relationship with the serial killer from 1974 to 1978. “Men have told this story countless times. Because we survived while so many others did not, now is the time to tell our own story from beginning to end,” Elizabeth explains.
In addition to revealing new, terrifying truths about their time with Ted, the mother and daughter have countless never-before-seen photographs of themselves with a man they did not believe to be a killer at the time. “They look to be in love, which adds an element of mystery to the hypotheses I hadn’t expected. “You can’t look at pictures and not think that maybe he actually did love her,” says filmmaker Trish Wood, who discovered their collection of photo albums.
12. Tiger King
The bizarre Netflix docuseries delves into the myriad tensions that abound in the lucrative but illegal exotic animal breeding industry. In the words of Saturday Night Live’s Stefon, this unbelievable true crime documentaries “has it all”: a gay polygamist roadside zoo owner; a wild animal rescuer accused of feeding her missing husband to a tiger; a local zoo owner with a cult-like hold over his female employees; a strip club owner; a Las Vegas con man and his cohort of convicted criminals; a failed murder-for-hire plot; arson;
Joe Exotic, the self-proclaimed “Tiger King,” has made headlines in recent months as a result of a New York Magazine investigation and a Wondery podcast detailing his fervent love for big cats, his escalating antics, and his tumultuous battle with Carole Baskin, an animal activist and the owner of a big cat sanctuary who is attempting to put him out of business.
Last Thought Of Best Crime Documentaries
Documentaries and series suddenly take hype in a pandemic situation, if we are talking about the best crime documentaries on Netflix there are many options if you fail to search on Netflix then directly search in google best true crime documentaries on Netflix and you get results. Else here is the second option you can also see the best crime documentaries on amazon prime.
Mainly this type of series is available on the paid streaming app but sometimes it’s available on youtube which is free. If you want to search on youtube here is some keyword which you directly search and get a filtered result.
