One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is to browse through Netflix, Hulu, or HBO and find random things to watch. Usually I end up watching a crime documentary, the weirder and crazier the better. Here are some of my favorites. These can be either stand-alone documentary movies or multi-episode documentary tv shows.
1. There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane (HBO): A suburban mother drives the wrong way on an upstate New York highway for miles, then crashes into an SUV, killing herself and seven others, including several children. Was she drunk or high, or both? Did she suffer some other sort of medical emergency, which caused her to lose her mind? The filmmakers interview family members and others, getting conflicting opinions on what possibly could have caused the accident. The story takes several fascinating turns, and I was hooked throughout.
There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane trailer
2. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About his Father (Netflix): Young Andrew Bagby was murdered by an unhinged woman after he ended their relationship. Afterwards she revealed that she was pregnant with his child. The filmmaker was a close friend of Andrew, and he aimed to make the film as a way for Bagby's son to learn about the father that he would never know, by interviewing friends and relatives about the deceased man. But as the film is being made another murder takes place, and the story takes a much darker and shocking turn. It's particularly fascinating to watch Bagby's parents have to spend visitations with the woman who killed their son, so that they can remain in their grandson's life (she somehow retained custody of the child).
Dear Zachary trailer
3. Evil Genius (Netflix): In 2003 a man with a bomb locked around his neck robbed a local bank in Erie, PA, then he died when the bomb exploded on live tv as the cops had him in custody. He was a pizza delivery man that was seemingly forced to commit the robbery, but was he really in on the plot too? Over 4 episodes the series examines an oddball group of characters who planned the heist and later all gave conflicting stories about what had actually happened. A body in a freezer and other murders are perhaps related to the robbery as well, and the film finds the connections between these odd events. The group's leader is crazy woman Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, who had murdered others in the past and who is interviewed extensively for the series. She is truly a fascinating character, and the extent of her power to manipulate others is mind-blowing.
Evil Genius trailer
4. Beware the Slenderman (HBO): This film follows the case of two young girls who brutally stabbed their friend at a local park, in attempt to appease the fictional monster Slenderman. In examining the case, viewers also learn about the Slenderman urban legend and the recent trend of other such urban legends being discussed on internet message boards like CreepyPasta. Were the girls just naïve and easily manipulated, or were they diabolical young women just using the Slenderman as an excuse for their crime?
Beware the Slenderman trailer
5. Making a Murderer (Netflix): Perhaps the most well-known documentary series in recent years, Making a Murder follows the case of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who was wrongly convicted of attempted murder and sexual assault and was released after spending 18 years in prison. While filing suit against the local police for his wrongful conviction, he was arrested for another murder along with his nephew Brendan Dassey. Did they really commit the crime, or did the police frame him to end the lawsuit and cover up their own crimes? The story takes several shocking turns over the course of 10 episodes, and at the end I was still torn about what had actually happened.
Making a Murderer trailer
6. The Keepers (Netflix): In the 1960s a young nun named Sister Cathy, a teacher at a Catholic high school, mysteriously went missing. It turns out that a priest at the school was sexually abusing students. Did Sister Cathy find out about the abuse, and was she silenced by the priest or someone close to him before the crimes could be reported? This series and case were of particular interest to me, since I live right down the street from the school where the abuse allegedly took place (now closed), and many of the former students and faculty that were interviewed live in my own neighborhood. But this series would be fascinating and frightening even if I wasn't close to it.
The Keepers trailer
7. Mommy Dead and Dearest (HBO): This film tells the fascinating tale of Gypsy Rose Blancharde, a young girl who was manipulated by her mother Dee Dee for years into pretending that she suffered from a number of physical ailments. A case of Munchausen by Proxy syndrome, Dee Dee thrived on the attention and money she received to help her supposedly sick daughter. One day Gypsy Rose, tired of pretending and seeking independence as a young adult, snapped and murdered her mom with the help of a boyfriend that she had met online. The film offers a fascinating portrait of a truly deranged woman who manipulated her daughter to the point where she simply couldn't take it anymore.
Mommy Dead and Dearest trailer
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