The market can seem a little flooded with true crime documentaries these days because the genre is so popular.
That’s where we come in: we’re here to recommend some great crime docs that you should watch while you’re stuck at home.
The first movie on the list will look very familiar if you’ve been paying attention to any kind of social media lately.
Happy watching!
1. Tiger King
I have something terrible to admit…I still haven’t seen Tiger King. I know, I’m sorry. I’m gonna get around to it soon.
If you haven’t either, we’re in for one hell of a ride. I haven’t heard people rave about a documentary like this before ever in my entire life. It sounds like it has all the key ingredients that make a true crime documentary great!
2. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
When I first saw this film when it was released in 1996, it blew my freaking mind. To this day, it still remains one of my favorite documentaries of all time and I still find myself devouring new articles and TV specials about the case.
Three young boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993 and three local teenagers who were into heavy metal and the occult were blamed for the gruesome killings.
A truly exceptional film.
3. McMillions
This HBO series explores the McDonald’s Monopoly game that we’ve all played at some point and how the whole thing was an elaborate scheme with no winners.
What a weird story!
The series is 6 parts so you know there’s a lot to dig into.
4. Wild Wild Country
This Netflix documentary was a huge hit a couple of years ago. The story concerns an Indian guru named Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who ran a cult-like community in Oregon in the 1980s.
Wild, wild stuff!
5. Abducted in Plain Sight
This is an insane story and it’s almost hard to believe that it’s even true.
A young girl in Idaho was abducted by her next-door neighbor not once, but twice. Then an alien story gets involved and things get really weird.
6. Long Shot
What are the odds of something like this happening…?
A man named Juan Catalan was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. To prove his innocence, Catalan has to prove that he was at an LA Dodgers game the night of the murder…
Oh, and Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm is part of the story, as well. You can’t make this kind of stuff up…
7. Beware the Slenderman
The whole saga of the Slenderman story is just totally bizarre.
If you haven’t heard of it before, here’s the short version: two 12-year-old girls lured a friend of theirs into the woods in Wisconsin and stabbed her.
The young girl lived, and it was revealed that the girls tried to kill their friend as an offering to “Slenderman”, an Internet legend that became frighteningly real for these young kids.
8. Sour Grapes
One of the great things about documentaries is that they explore strange things that you probably never knew existed before.
For instance, did you know that wine fraud exists and that a con man made millions of dollars scamming wine auctions?
Yes, it’s true.
9. Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist
I remember reading about this very odd, true story when it happened in 2003 and thinking it would make a good movie or documentary. It turns out I wasn’t the only person with that idea…
This documentary tells the story of a man who was kidnapped, had a bomb attached to his neck, and was forced to rob a bank in Pennsylvania. The man died when the bomb later detonated but that was just the beginning of this story filled with twists and turns.
Add those to your list if you haven’t seen them yet.
Do you have any other documentary recommendations?
Share them with us in the comments!
