Netflix has been absolutely going off when it comes to original true crime documentaries and has been showcasing one after another as they continue to roll on and display just why they are the biggest and most influential streaming giant in the business. Some of these selections are just flat out creepy and disturbing since the subjects they cover and the fact that they are real stories are simply too much to be believed. The level of depravity that some human beings go to is astounding, but the fact that some of them get away with it for a while before being caught is even worse. While Netflix certainly isn’t trying to glorify such incidents it does beg the question as to why they’re considered entertainment.
The answer is quite obvious though, people love to watch anything that smacks of drama in any sense. No matter how disturbing something is they’ll continue to watch just out of sheer, morbid curiosity. Any idea that any of these might not be real is easy enough to put to rest by a quick trip to a Google search so that you can find out the particulars that might be missing in the documentary, if any are that is. A lot of these shows tends to be spot on with the information that’s presented, though there is a certain allowance for bias at times.
It’s all part of the drama after all. Here are the top five at this time that Netflix has released on its site.
5. Evil Genius
The murder of Brian Wells was only the beginning in this strange case as the FBI soon found out that there was more to this matter than they initially realized. While the documentary didn’t break any new ground it did manage to highlight the strange and bizarre death of Wells and just who was responsible. This was like Saw movie in many ways if you really look at it, with the devices and the hidden clues everywhere that kept leading people in the direction that was intended. The only difference was that they got caught and seemed to think that it was amusing.
4. The Staircase
This is what happens when a murder trial becomes a show for those who are pushing an agenda to play with. Michael Peterson was never thought to be innocent by a good number of people, and despite the protests of his innocence the looks he received by law enforcement and the reality he had to face was quite harsh. It doesn’t matter at this point who was right and who was wrong, the evidence that was gathered versus the story that was told has made the entire thing a bit confusing and drew a very big line in the sand that many people quickly crossed seeking to stand on one side or the other. The only trouble that was to come was deciding to stick on the side one had chosen.
3. Making a Murderer
This docu-series was simply designed to get people’s reactions, no matter if he was guilty or not. The entire point of the program was to show just what could possibly happen if an individual and local law enforcement were at such odds with one another. You can imagine a person feeling some kind of way about the police that locked him away for eighteen years of his life, but after only two years of freedom it’s hard to think that anyone would give that up to go back in. The case itself was yet another chance for the legal system to pull a dog and pony show for the public, and it worked obviously.
2. The Keepers
Sometimes the biggest part of the story isn’t the story itself, but what lies underneath it. Sister Cathy’s murder was a horrible act that could have rocked a community had it not been covered up. While sensationalism in a docu-series is pretty normal it also seeks to highlight what might be hidden beneath the story that people don’t know about, and therefore can bring to light any ideas of what might have really happened so long ago.
1. Wormwood
Taking a documentary and making it into a film that is about the documentary and seeks to ask and possibly answer questions about a case that happened so long ago is a confusing bit of drama that is not unlike that which you’d find on TV. But the difference here is that a documentary seems to have fewer limits and a lot more freedom to ask the questions that could truly get a person into trouble if they dug too deep. Sometimes secrets are simply too dangerous to be kept or shared with anyone and are meant to locked away where they can’t harm those that don’t need to know about them.
If you want to ask questions, watching Netflix is the right place to go.
