The 10 Best True Crime Documentaries
Sometimes facts are more unbelievable than fiction. When it comes to true crime, that’s particularly the case. Harrowing as psychological horror and tragic as a biopic drama, true crime stories are twice as devastating as any Hollywood creation. Covering some of the most shocking cases in recent memory, these 10 true crime documentaries drag the hard facts kicking and screaming into the light. Media circuses, cold cases, serial killers, each documentary explores the darker aspects of society, and its uncomfortable dangers that most people would rather not consider. Case studies of criminality and living testaments to its victims, these are the 10 best true crime documentary series ever made.
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Created by Kurt Kuenne for his close friend Andrew Bagby, Dear Zachary retells the tragedy of Bagby’s death at the hands of a former romantic partner and the suffering that took place in his absence. Beginning as a tribute to his fallen friend, Kuenne’s film emotionally snowballs after the filmmaker finds out that Bagby’s killer was pregnant with his friend’s child while creating the documentary. After a fierce custody battle over their grandson and a series of appeals, Bagby’s parents were forced to concede visitation rights to his killer — leading to devastating consequences. Possibly the most gut-wrenching documentary film ever made, Dear Zachary exposed flaws in the Canadian legal system that allowed the preventable tragedy to occur, and later helped change them. Sadly, for Babgy’s parents and their grandson, the change came too little, too late.
The Central Park Five
Created by Ken Burns and his daughter Sarah, The Central Park Five documents one of the most infamous criminal cases in United States history. Now known as the Exonerated Five, the subjects of this documentary were arrested as teenagers for the rape of a jogger in Central Park — their convictions fueled by police misconduct and systemic racism. One of the most publicized cases of the 1980s, the court proceedings quickly devolved into a media circus, and the vulnerable teens suffered widespread social persecution. Though the group was later cleared of all charges when DNA testing pointed to a different culprit, the damage to The Five had already been done. Through interviews and expert analysis, the documentary explores faults in a justice system that assumes some are guilty until proven innocent, and the devastating effects on those it persecutes. Despite the odds stacked against them, the Exonerated Five finally achieved justice long denied — this film is a devastating, necessary chronicle of their journey.
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, Paradise Lost is a documentary film that tells the story of the West Memphis Three — three teenage boys who were wrongfully convicted of murdering three young children. After the bodies of the children were found mutilated, Steve Edward Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore were arrested under suspicion of being ritual killers — fueled by the paranoia of their conservative Christian community. A study of satanic panic and its effects on the ostracized, Paradise Lost and its sequels explore how hysteria and grief can lead even the most well-intentioned to search for scapegoats. Judged unfairly for their secular interests by closed-minded neighbors, the West Memphis Three are a real-life parable of how cultural prejudice can lead to tragic consequences.
The Keepers
The Keepers is a seven-part docuseries investigating the mysterious death of Catherine Cesnik, a nun and teacher at Catholic high school in Baltimore. The oldest Catholic archdiocese in the United States, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has a long history of abuse and cover-ups by church officials, and many believe Cesnik was a victim of that abuse. According to interviews with her former students, Cesnik suspected that one of the school’s priests was abusing children, and that Cesnik was murdered to cover up the crime. A harrowing study of ecclesiastical conspiracy, The Keepers painfully explores abuse in the Catholic church, and helped victims eventually pursue legal justice in the state of Maryland.
O.J.: Made in America
A study of one of the most polarizing figures in American pop culture, O.J.: Made in America chronicles the rise and fall of actor and athlete O.J. Simpson. Beginning with his budding sports career and trailing through his legal battles, Simpson’s journey from media darling to accused killer is illustrated with painstaking detail. His murder trial was arguably the single most infamous in United States history — televised legal proceedings that defined the modern idea of a “media circus.” An Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, O.J.: Made in America is a singular film that provides no easy answers about the case, but a clear-eyed portrait of the man involved.
The Thin Blue Line
Directed by Errol Morris, The Thin Blue Line tells the story of Randall Dale Adams, a man wrongfully convicted for the 1976 murder of Dallas police officer Robert W. Wood. One of the first documentaries to use reenactments as a narrative device, the film became a blueprint for countless other true crime films, singlehandedly codifying the genre’s key features. While its artistic influence on true crime cannot be overstated, the film was also one of the first crime documentaries with real-world results. Through its careful study of the case and interviews with those involved, The Thin Blue Line eventually led to the exoneration of Randall Dale Adams, who spent years in prison for a crime he did not commit. True crime documentaries can change the world for the better, and this film proved it.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
I’ll Be Gone In The Dark is the story of Michelle McNamara, a woman who spent her life trying to uncover the identity of the Golden State Killer. The film is a tragic subversion of the true crime genre. While McNamara’s work helped move the investigation forward, she ultimately didn’t survive to see the killer caught. In fact, the film isn’t really about the Golden State Killer at all; it’s about McNamara herself. The case weighed heavily on her, and those close to her believe that it took a toll on her mental health and potentially led to her untimely death. It’s hard not to empathize with McNamara, her sensitivity and burning desire to do good make her unravelling all the more difficult to watch. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark holds a mirror to the true crime viewer themself, and cautions them not to travel too far down the rabbit hole.
The Jinx
Directed by Andrew Jarecki, The Jinx is the story of Robert Durst: real estate heir and serial killer. Told over two seasons, the series explores the unsolved disappearance of Durst’s first wife, as well as the gruesome murder of his next-door neighbor and the killing of Durst’s friend Susan Berman. Created in a bizarre collaboration with Durst himself, the film hinges on interviews with the killer, resulting in one of the most jaw-dropping hot mic confessions in documentary history. The “who” is clear from the documentary’s beginning —Robert Durst murdered all three victims. The most gripping aspect of the series is figuring out the “how” and the “why.”
Tiger King
One of the most outrageous documentaries of the decade, Tiger King changed the perception of true crime forever. Directed by Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin, the film follows the rise and fall of Joe Exotic: tiger-tamer, presidential candidate, country singer, and attempted murderer. Flying in the face of true crime convention, Tiger King traded the genre’s focus on somber tragedy for high-octane absurdity. Everything from Exotic’s flamboyant style to his bitter rivalry with fellow big-cat enthusiast Carol Baskin made the documentary an internet smash hit, one of the most-watched and most-memed series in recent history. It’s hysterical, irreverent, and yet ultimately tragic — a portrait of a man obsessed with courting attention, ultimately undone by earning it. Like standing in a cage with a tiger, Tiger King is all fun and games until the documentary finally shows its teeth.
The Act of Killing
One of the most profound documentaries ever made, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing recounts one of Indonesia’s greatest tragedies through the eyes of its perpetrators. The film follows Anwar Congo, a gangster who estimates that he murdered over 1,000 people during the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66. At the request of Oppenheimer, Congo and his associates re-enact their killings in the style of old Hollywood movies — the result is as disturbing as it is surreal. An exploration of human evils and the act of justifying them, this documentary is a terrifying look into the minds of murderers. And while Congo may not have regretted his crimes when he was perpetrating them, his resolve begins to crack when he’s asked to re-create the murders from his victims’ perspective. The Act of Killing forces its subjects to empathize, trying to teach them what audiences knew all along: the act itself was never justified, though the actors tried their best to make it so.
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