Before the invention of OTT platforms, crime documentaries were not very accessible to the audience. However, most people craved crime documentaries even though they knew that in the end, they would end up questioning our sanity and definition of humanity. The advent of OTT platforms paved the way for filmmakers to experiment with crime documentaries which otherwise would not be paid not much attention to, except the local population.
Generally, there are two types of crime documentaries based on solved and unsolved crimes. These documentaries can either focus on killers or killings. What hooks the viewers in crime documentaries is the hard work done by detectives for months and years to find out the accused.
Let’s take a look at some of the top-class crime documentaries available on the streaming platform Netflix:
1. House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths
The gut-wrenching three-part documentary by Leena Yadav focuses on the mysterious death of 11 members of a family in Delhi’s Burari. The blizzard incident happened in 2018. Leena’s narrative and the use of a booming voice to narrate the letters from the deceased family member give an eerie feeling that is hard to shake off. Several people said that after watching it, they felt restless even though there is no gore, mutilation, blood involved incident or how is it covered.
2. Don’t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer
This crime documentary revolved around how a group of internet investigators came together to catch a man who filmed himself suffocating kittens and then went on to kill a person. The incident involving harm to animals was difficult for viewing but what was more disturbing was how the killer used the Internet to commit a heinous crime and play psychological games with people and taunt those who are trying to catch him.
3. Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel
This documentary gained the spotlight as it highlighted a place associated with a heinous crime. Such a place is Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. The documentary focuses on the vanishing of a young female student named Elisa Lam in 2013. The girl’s body was found in a water tank on the hotel’s roof. But what happened to Elisa, who was involved in her death remains a mystery till death. The documentary showed Lam’s disappearance through grainy CCTV footage, which makes it creepier.
4. Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
This documentary is sourced mostly from the original interviews of a kidnapper, rapist, and murderer Ted Bundy. It gives an insight into the twisted mind of one of the notorious and popular serial killers in our history. Described as handsome and charismatic, Ted Bundy used these traits to lure his victims. Reportedly, in the 70s he confessed to committing 30 homicides, in seven states.
5. Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich
The 2020 documentary will scare you owing to a large number of crimes and what a rich man with powerful connections was able to get away with for a long time. The documentary focuses on an infamous American financier, Jeffrey Epstein. It starts with visuals of the sunny and exotic house in Palm Beach, Florida. But the perception of the place changes when numerous survivors, who were sexually abused as a minor, recount their ordeal.
