20 Best True Crime Documentaries Movies to Watch (Page 2)

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16. Lover, Stalker, Killer, 2024

The story of how Dave Kroupa excitedly joined online dating sites only to meet a murderous stalker is both distressing and fascinating. You feel for the guy and wonder how a person could commit such heinous crimes. That in itself is a feat: to be genuinely shocked despite the prevalence of true crime documentaries. But Lover, Stalker, Killer takes way too long to get to the point. For a good chunk of the documentary, you’re left wondering how the pieces will fall into place, all while the interviewees are hyping it up to be something truly horrific as if it were a movie or a game, and not an actually traumatic moment that forever altered the course of Kroupa and his family’s life. It’s good that we get a first-hand account of the case from Kroupa himself because otherwise, this would be another case of desensitized, sensationalized fare. The central story is interesting to be sure, but a lack of technical flare and in-depth questioning makes it, overall, flimsy and overlong.Genre: Crime, Documentary
Actor: Cari Farver, Chris Maher, Dave Kroupa, Katie Otten, Ryan Avis
Director: Sam Hobkinson
Rating: R

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17. Cyberbunker: The Criminal Underworld, 2023

If you’re expecting a twisty and thrilling look at a dangerous group of hackers who hide deep within a military bunker in Europe, and who refer to their entire operation as “straight from a James Bond movie,” then you might be disappointed with Cyberbunker, a dragging documentary that relies too heavily on talking heads for momentum. It takes 30 minutes to establish the relevance of these figures, and a full hour before it finally explains the actual crime and wrongdoings they’re complicit in. The most interesting parts of the case, like the FBI’s involvement, Cyberbunker’s links to the propagation of child pornography, and the group’s advocacy on internet privacy, are completely buried beneath a stack of unnecessary tidbits. I appreciate the effort of the filmmakers and the interviewees coming together to make something decently informative, but by the end of it, you’re left wondering whether all this was better off as a Wikipedia article.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Director: Kilian Lieb, Max Rainer

Rating: PG-13

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18. Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal, 2024

If you’re not familiar with the Ashley Madison scandal like me, then this series—at least initially—comes as a highly addictive watch. Of course you’ll want to know how a dating site promoting infidelity was created, used by millions, and eventually hacked. Who wouldn’t? But the intrigue quickly fades once you realize it’s coming from the subject matter alone. The documentary itself adds little to the discussion. There are no new discoveries to be had and no new angles to look at it from. It could’ve gone philosophical or sociological and looked deeper into why people craved discreet relationships and affairs in the first place. Or it could’ve gone technical and explored the business development side of the story more. It also could’ve conducted its own investigation of the data breach, if not to know who was behind it, then to get closer to cracking the case at least. But as it stands, this Netflix series is just a mere retelling of a Wikipedia page that only occasionally grips you.

Genre: Documentary

Rating: TV-MA

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19. How to Become a Cult Leader, 2023

In the style of a handbook, How to Be A Cult Leader chronicles the manipulative tactics of infamous cult leaders, from their upbringing and early interests to the failures that honed their charismatic pull. Each episode profiles a leader (Charles Manson and Jim Jones for the first two episodes) with ex-followers and specialists that break down how the cults were sustained and eventually toppled tremendously. The overall tone is unsettling at first, and as the lies and crimes of these leaders are exposed, the lessons of the handbook mostly manage to be warnings. News (and stock) footage, meme-esque inserts, and animated renditions of events round out Peter Dinklage's narration and keep this unorthodox docuseries dynamic — but to what end?

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Peter Dinklage

Rating: TV-MA

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20. The Lady of Silence: The Mataviejitas Murders (2023)

As far as documentaries go, The Lady of Silence doesn't deviate much from the true-crime formula. It follows a serial killer in charge of a series of attacks against elderly women from the late 1990s to 2003 in Mexico City. But the show stands out for highlighting just how unfamiliar the Mexican government was with understanding and handling serial killers at the time. There's also an insightful exploration into the socio-political implications of the case; political parties fueled the incompetence of the police, and the case remained ignored allegedly because women were the only victims. But it's jarring how much of the victims' stories are sidelined to make way for sensationalism. It's a tasteless and heartless choice made by the filmmakers.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Actor: Aileen Wuornos, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Juana Barraza, Ted Bundy

Director: María José Cuevas

Rating: R

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